Business: The Financial Crisis 商业：金融危机
[audio]http://www.24en.com/bbc/dl_mp3/bbc_financial_crisis.mp3[/audio][color=#3f3f3f][font=Verdana, 宋体, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=12px]There is only one story in the European press this week – the[b]turmoil[/b] that has [b]engulfed[/b] world markets.
[p=21, 2, left]A few weeks ago everyone was talking about the credit crunch. This rather[b]cosy[/b] term has now been replaced in the press by [b]‘financial crisis[/b]’, reflecting the broadening and deepening of the emergency.[/p][p=21, 2, left]As stock markets opened on Monday, shares [b]plummeted[/b] across the world. On Tuesday, US [b]stocks[/b] hit their lowest levels in five years, while Japan's Nikkei closed down 952.58 points, or 9.4%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed 6.2% lower and markets in Australia, China and Taiwan all fell.[/p][p=21, 2, left]The sharp [b]downturn[/b] in the markets has continued despite massive government [b]interventions[/b] in the banking system.[/p][p=21, 2, left]On Saturday, the US Congress finally passed a $700bn (4.7 trillion Yuan)[b]bail-out[/b] plan. The US government will buy the bad mortgage debts which[b]triggered[/b] the crisis in exchange for a [b]stake[/b] in the banks they rescue.[/p][p=21, 2, left]On Monday, the entire economy of Iceland came [b]precariously[/b] close to[b]bankruptcy[/b]. The government introduced [b]emergency legislation[/b] to allow them to [b]effectively[/b] run banks’ operations.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Today it was the British government’s turn, offering banks that are interested a slice of £50bn (596 billion Yuan) in exchange for a stake. It is also offering loans of up to £250bn (2.98 trillion Yuan) which banks can use for a fee. Banks won’t lend to one another at the moment, so the hope is that this measure will increase liquidity – get money flowing again.[/p][p=21, 2, left]This is vital since the [b]ripples[/b] of the credit crisis are already reaching smaller businesses, who have seen their interest rates on loans increase. [b]Consumer confidence[/b] is also down, affecting sales on [b]the high street[/b].[/p][p=21, 2, left]If the plans work and banks in the UK and US recover, tax-payers in both countries could make a profit from their governments’ interventions. If the plans fail, the banking system will simply collapse.[/p][p=21, 2, left]Either way, we should be prepared for another [b]escalation[/b] in language, as the ‘financial crisis’ perhaps becomes a ‘severe economic [b]recession[/b]’.[/p][/size][/font][/color]
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