EXCERCISE #1
Directions: Discuss the italicized verbs. Do they expree present time or past time? Do the Verbs describe an activity or situation....
a. is in progress right now?
b. is usual or is a general statement of fact?
c. began and ended in the past?
d. was in progress at a time in the past?
1. Jennifer works for an insurance company.
2. When people need help with their automobile insurance, they call her.
3. Right now it is 9:05 A.M., and Jennifer is sitting at her desk.
4. She came to work on time this morning.
5. Yesterday Jennifer was late to work because she had a minor auto accident.
6. While she was driving to work, her cell phone rang.
7. She answered it. It was her friend Rob.
8. She was happy to here from him because she likes Rob and always enjoys
her conversations with him.
9. While they were talking, Jennifer, who is allergic to bee stings, noticed two bees in her car.
10. She quickly opened the car windows and swatted at the bees while she was talking to Rob on the phone.
11. Her hands left the steering wheel, and she lost control of the car. Her car ran into a row of mailboxes beside the road.
12. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident.
13. Jennifer is okay, but her car isn't. It needs repairs.
14. When Jennifer got to work this morning, she talked to her automobile insurance agent.
15. That was easy to do because she works at the desk right next to hers.
EXCERCISE #2
Directions: Write the correct pronunciations and practice sayin the words aloud. / T / D / ED /
1. cooked= T 6. dropped= drop/ / 11. returned= return/
2. served = D 7. pulled= pull/ / 12. touched= touch/ /
3. wanted= ED 8. pushed= push/ / 13. waved= wave/ /
4. asked = ask/ / 9. added= add/ / 14. pointed= point/ /
5. started= start/ / 10. passed= pass/ / 15.agreed= agree/ /
Directions: Read the following the paragraphs and answer the questions?
News reporters are taught to start their stories with the most important information. The first sentence, called the lead, cantains the most essential elements of the story. A good lead can convey a lot of information, as in these two leads from srticles that won awards from the American Society of Newpaper Editors: A healthy 17-year -old heart pumped the gift of life through 34- year -old Bruce Murray Friday, following a four- hour transplant operation that doctors said went without a hitch.
1. Is this story about?
A. Child
B. Cat
C. News reporters
2.How old are the people in the story?
A. 17-year -old 34- year -old
B. 21-year -old 72-year -old
C. 28-year -old 82-year -old
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Many market participants believe the end of the Federal Reserves quantitative easing program in June will signal the government's exit from the extraordinary interventions made during the financial crisis. After a healthy earnings season, they say, it is time now for our free market to stand on its own two feet.Not so fast, says Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy for Brown Brothers Harriman. He and others believe that the incredible amount of borrowing by the U.S. and the European Union to get out of the credit crisis will force governments to stay involved to ensure an orderly decline of this debt load.
It's a concept called financial repression, akin to what occurred after the Great Depression and WWII. Financial repression refers to official actions that run counter to the market-based incentive structure, said Chandler in a note to clients. The ostensible goal is to support the government bond markets. Moral suasion, the cajoling of investors are soft forms of financial repression, where the government can impose such cooperation by fiat.
The Federal Reserves second round of quantitative easing, the purchase of $600 billion longer-dated Treasury securities, is scheduled to end June 30. Despite successfully keeping interest rates low, the program didnt stop housing prices from hitting a new post-recession low, according to Case-Shiller data released Tuesday. Bernanke, Paulson and Geithner had visions of Tina Turner in a burlap outfit and cage matches in Thunderdome especially when the AIG situation exploded on them right after the Lehman bankruptcy, said Alec Levine of WallachBeth Capital. The hindsight lesson is not that we overreacted, but that we were this close to the abyss. So-called free market countries will be much less free for a longer time than people realize.Over in Europe, a second aid package to Greece is being put together to avoid the default of Greek bonds, which could set off a catastrophic domino effect for the European banks holding the debt.
The US debt hit its legal limit of $14.3 trillion last month. Congress is currently fighting over an increase in the so-called debt ceiling, with Republicans wanting such a vote linked to heavy spending cuts. Congress has no choice, but to ultimately pass the increase in order to avoid a U.S. default.
Spending cuts, tax increaseseven organic growth wont do much of anything to solve a debt load of this magnitude, according to an NBER working paper referenced by Chandler on financial repression.
Earlier this year, Standard & Poors put Americas triple-A rating on negative watch in part because of concerns about Congress not having the political will to instill strict austerity measures. It may all be a moot point Hoping that substantial public and private debt overhangs are resolved by growth may be uplifting, but it is not particularly practical from a policy standpoint, states an NBER Working Paper by Carmen Reinhart and M. Belen Sbrancia entitled The Liquidation of Government Debt. The evidence, at any rate, is not particularly encouraging, as high levels of public debt appear to be associated with lower growth.
Once QE2 has ended, regulation may be used to force large institutions to reduce risk and hold more of the safest assets (i.e. Treasurys), said BBHs Chandler. Economists have been downgrading their second half growth estimates recently on fears that high unemployment may be here for a while and that manufacturing growth is slowing. This makes it all the more likely that the governments hand, and not an invisible one, will stay involved in this market to keep interest rates low and allow for the country to refinance this debt load.
The U.S. could still win under this scenario as long as it doesnt get too drastic in its continued intervention efforts and inflation doesnt explode, some investors said.
Despite this, the U.S. is still running at a much more free market mechanism vs. other market regulations, namely those in Europe and Asia where official controls and quotas are even more comprehensive and daunting and effect all asset classes, said Ron Shah of Jina Ventures in an interview from India.
Many market participants believe the end of the Federal Reserves quantitative easing program in June will signal the government's exit from the extraordinary interventions?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
The Federal Reserves second round of quantitative easing, the purchase of $600 billion longer-dated Treasury securities, is scheduled to end June 30?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
DIRECTIONS: Read the following and answer the questions?
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economy has weakened in recent weeks, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke noted Tuesday. But he stuck with a message he's delivered since April: The slowdown from high gas prices and Japan's crises is temporary, and growth should pick up later this year.
Bernanke made no mention of any new steps the Fed might take to boost the economy. The Fed's $600 billion Treasury bond-buying program is ending this month. The program was intended to keep interest rates low to strengthen the economy. But critics said it raised the risk of high inflation.
The Fed chairman said the economy still needs the benefit of low interest rates. The Fed is scheduled to meet in two weeks and is all but certain to keep those rates at record lows.
Stocks fell after Bernanke began speaking. The Dow Jones industrial average erased gains made earlier in the day and closed down for the fifth straight day, as did broader indexes.
"The market was disappointed," said David Jones, head of DMJ Economic Advisors, a private consulting firm. "Wall Street investors were hoping for the promise of another round of credit easing, and they didn't get it."
Bernanke noted the May jobs report released last week was a setback. It showed the unemployment rate ticked up to 9.1 percent and the economy added just 54,000 jobs, the fewest in eight months. But he said he expected job creation and overall economic growth to rebound in coming months.
"The economic recovery appears to be continuing at a moderate pace, albeit at a rate that is both uneven across sectors and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of unemployed and underemployed workers," he said at a banking conference in Atlanta.
Bernanke said the central bank would not consider the recovery well-established "until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation."
He repeated a pledge that central bank officials have been making for more than two years: that they will keep interest rates at record lows "for an extended period."
Bernanke said that consumer inflation has jumped 3.5 percent in the six months ending in April -- well above the average of less than 1 percent over the preceding two years. But he noted that most of the increase had been caused by higher gas prices, which have been creeping down in recent weeks. Excluding food and energy, inflation has been tame, he noted.
He also noted that supply disruptions stemming from the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan have hampered growth in the April-June quarter. But he said the effect on manufacturing output will likely ease in the coming months.
Bernanke disagreed with critics who say the Fed's policies are raising inflation risks by weakening the dollar and contributing to the jump in oil and commodity prices. He said that slow growth in the United States and a persistent trade deficit were the fundamental reasons for the dollar's decline, and not the Fed's interest rate policies.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., asked Bernanke if he was concerned that rules from last year's financial overhaul law will take effect just as the economy is slowing.
Bernanke responded that the worst financial since the Great Depression "revealed a lot of weak spots" that needed to be addressed. But he said regulators were trying to make sure financial institutions would not be overburdened with costs to meet the rules.
Did he also noted that supply disruptions stemming from the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan have hampered growth in the April-June quarter?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
The economy has weakened in recent weeks, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke noted Tuesday?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street bounced in light volume on Tuesday, a day after the S&P 500 fell to its lowest in over two months, with some describing the S&P's losses in the past five weeks as overdone.
The S&P 500 has fallen 4.9 percent since a recent high at the start of May. On Monday, the benchmark index closed at its lowest level since March 18.
Tuesday's move "is just an uptick off some oversold levels," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co in San Francisco.
"Friday set us up with a low close. We had a cascading, selling kind of situation that got, in my opinion, a little bit overdone in the very short term."
Recently battered energy shares bounced back despite a drop in U.S. crude prices, though Brent crude rose, helped in part by a weaker U.S. dollar. Healthcare and utility stocks also ranked among the leaders.
Some investors are seeing an opportunity after weeks of soft economic data failed to create a panic in the U.S. stock market. Expectation of strong earnings reports in July could bring in buyers who want to get ahead of the expected move up next month.
"We are doing as typical a market move as you could possibly imagine," Pado said.
"We have no base at this point so we need to bounce and construct a base, then you can make the case for the next bull leg to start."
The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - News) gained 63.72 points, or 0.53 percent, to 12,153.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - News) rose 6.87 points, or 0.53 percent, to 1,293.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC - News) added 8.87 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,711.43.
Bank stocks, heavily sold in recent weeks, were among the biggest gainers. JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM - News) rose 1.9 percent to $41.28, while the KBW bank index (^BKX - News) was up 1 percent.
But not all market participants were ready to call the end of the downturn. Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey, said light volume and lack of buyers could mean any bounce is short-lived.
"The problem for institutions on a day like today is the volume being light. Any concerted effort to raise funds (sell positions) could have a disproportionate impact on pricing as buyers will be on the thin side," he wrote in a note to clients.
In company news, International Paper Co (IP - News) launched a $3.3 billion unsolicited offer for rival Temple-Inland Inc (TIN - News). Shares of Temple-Inland shot up 40.4 percent to $29.50, while IP's stock rose 1.3 percent to $30.05. Temple-Inland said it adopted a stockholder rights plan to fend off the hostile takeover.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to speak on the U.S. economic outlook at a banking conference in Atlanta.
Did the Fed officials have said recent data was a disappointment, with Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Fed, suggesting it could delay the Fed's exit from its extremely easy monetary policy. Bernanke is set to start speaking shortly before the market closes?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
Did the Recently battered energy shares bounced back despite a drop in U.S. crude prices, though Brent crude rose, helped in part by a weaker U.S. dollar?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
My family use to enjoy going to the beach?
A.tmetals tend to have a dark view of the world. Scratch a gold bug, and you might find a canned-goods enthusiast, or someone who thinks the world's currencies one day will collapse.
Sure, gold and silver have been great investments over the past couple of years. But silver seems to have taken on a more manic stripe, while gold has retained a degree of restraint. It is that divergence that argues for looking at these two metals differently.
Take the last two weeks. Silver is down nearly 30% this month in volatile trading. Such a move in the Dow Jones Industrial Average would equate to an eye-popping drop of more than 3,700 points. of Pacific Investment Management Co. called silver's parabolic rise and subsequent skid a "tulip mania-style move."
Silver backers counter that even with its recent drop, the lesser precious metal has retained a nearly 80% gain over the past year. Of course, it was up nearly 150% two weeks ago. Over the past year, gold is up 23% and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is up 15%.
Even before last week's dive, things had gotten pretty crazy in the silver markets. On April 25, the exchange-traded fund traded nearly as much dollar volume as the S&P 500 ETF. And , which oversees silver trading at its Nymex unit, tightened silver margin requirements four times in the last few weeks as the speculative fever got hotter.
1. Take the last two weeks. Silver is down nearly?
A. 50%
B. 30%
C. 15%.
2. Silver's halcyon days may be fading?
A. and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is up 15%.
B. Even before last week's dive.
C. but gold still looks like it has some spunk.
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Private debtholders, including euro zone banks, should accept a debt extension or other form of "soft default" to alleviate the debt burden for countries such as Greece if Europe wants a solution to the sovereign debt crisis, Bill Gross, Co-CIO of PIMCO told CNBC on Tuesday."We wouldn't go so far as to suggest that Greece or any other country leave the euro," Gross said. "What I think needs to be done....is for private debtholders and Euroland banks...to take a debt extension or some kind of soft default that alleviates the burden for these countries."
Gross admitted it was difficult to suggest that countries such as Germany, which have been more forthright and fiscally conservative, should help peripheral nations."But if they want a consolidated solution, that's really the way to go," he said.
"Countries like Greece and Ireland are subject to the euro currency and can't lower their high debt to GDP ratio by offering interest rates in the low to negative range such that a country can pay for its debt by real growth," Gross said.
That might have provided a solution, he said. "It's a rather surreptitious and sneaky way to do it, but it's quite effective."
Despite concerns that European banks have taken on too much risk and will not be able to withstand future shocks to the economy, Gross believes they are an attractive investment.
"Lloyds [LLOY-LN 49.74 -1.13 (-2.22%)] and Royal Bank of Scotland [RBS-LN 40.44 -0.44 (-1.08%)]and Rabobank all have cocos (contingent convertible bonds) which provide yields of 300-400 basis points more than typical senior bank capital, and we think it's attractive. Admittedly there is a risk and if these banks move down to a certain equity as a percentage of capital level then the price has to be paid, but ultimately we think banks such as those are in the process of recapitalizing... and that going forward they will be much more careful in terms of riskiness," he said.
Bond investors needed to look for opportunities from the standpoint of currencies where real interest rates are high as opposed to low or negative, Gross said.
"We're looking currencies and bonds in those currencies which offer high real interest rates. Brazil does that at 6-7 percent real. Canada... basically offers a half to 1 percent higher real interest rate. Same thing for Mexico," he said.
Bill Gross, Co-CIO of PIMCO told CNBC on Tuesday."We wouldn't go so far as to suggest that Greece or any other country leave the euro," Gross said?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
Despite concerns that European banks have taken on too much risk and will not be able to withstand future shocks to the economy, Gross believes they are an attractive investment?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
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Take a helping of Russian genius, add a portion of risk appetite and stir in a lot of patience, and you have the recipe for the resounding success of search engine Yandex's U.S. stock market float.
The Nasdaq listing values Russia's leading internet search engine [YNDX 35.0799 10.0799
at $8 billion, an eye-popping 500 times its worth when private equity investors bought into the company in 2000.
That year the business, founded in 1997 by mathematician Arkady Volozh and geophysicist Ilya Segalovich, had revenue of $72,000 and lost $2 million.
Eyeing a long-term prospect, Yelena Ivashentseva of private equity fund Baring Vostok Capital Partners put together an investor group that bought a 36 percent stake in Yandex for just over $5 million.
Talks to buy into Yandex lasted seven months, Ivashentseva said recently, recalling the horror of the fund's backers over the deal. "It was really difficult to explain this to our investors, who en masse demanded that we get rid of the stake," she told Forbes magazine's Russian edition.
It turned out to be the only round of fund-raising that the company did until the initial public offering (IPO), which featured a slug of new shares. Investors who came into Yandex in recent years bought stock from existing shareholders. (Update: Yandex launched its $1.3 billion IPO on the Nasdaq Tuesday. Shares began trading at around $40 a share, after the offering was priced at $25 a share.)
Yandex went on to richly reward that investment, with the algorithm driving its search engineconceived to scan the Bible, Russian classical literature and patent textsproving consistently superior to that of rival Google [GOOG 520.71 2.32 (+0.45%) ], whose co-founder, Sergey Brin, was born in Russia.
The company's home site yandex.ru has a market share of 65 percent in Russia, compared with Google's 22 percent, capitalising on a boom in online advertising to generate sales of $445 million last year, up 43 percent, while earnings rose 90 percent to $135 million.
Volozh is a slight man with a quiet manner and, since the earliest days of the Internet boom, a wry scepticism about the millions, then billions of dollars flooding into his industry.
"We used to be very conservative, until we started meeting so many excited people," Volozh joked in 2000.
He resisted the overtures of suitors dangling the prospect of a huge payday through, telling Reuters in 2005 that bankers "are promising us a golden future, diamonds in the sky, if we do an IPO."
Patience Pays
Bankers say plans for a long-awaited float were prepared in 2008, only to be derailed by the global financial crisis. The company's core investors decided to sit out the crash and Yandex, bucking an 8 percent contraction in the Russian economy in 2009, delivered top-line growth that year although earnings shrank by 17 percent.
"The investors waited for long enough and this strategy was successful. They weren't trying to push Yandex into an IPO as soon as possible," said Anna Lepetukhina, an analyst at Moscow brokerage Troika Dialog.
"There were rumours that they were going to do an IPO in 2008. Then the crisis came and they were prepared to wait. They got a good return on that investment."
Russia Returns
For the investors, the Yandex story amounts to proof that Russia's investment climate is by no means as hostile as many say.
Baring Vostok, which retains a 26 percent stake as Yandex's largest shareholder, abides by a few golden rules to avoid the pitfalls that others have fallen into, founding partner Michael Calvey told Reuters on Tuesday.
The fund's 19-firm portfolio is weighted towards services, avoids industries where it might clash with state firms and relies on equity funding, not debt, to shield its investments against Russia's often vicious business cycle.
Calvey, an American who founded Baring Vostok in 1994, said in an interview that the fund's strategy had enabled it to ride out the 2008-09 crash without having to make any disposals.
"We don't expect there to be any fatalities in our portfolio as a result of the crisis," Calvey said. He declined to comment on the Yandex IPO, citing regulatory restrictions.
What business man founded in 1997 company?
A. Arkady Volozh
B. Gerald Kesler
C. Harold Keller
Who was the American who founded Baring Vostok?
A. Calvey
B. London
C. Jason
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Traders are eagerly awaiting indications from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that interest rate hikes aren't likely anytime soon.
The hope that Bernanke will make that clear in remarks scheduled for Tuesday afternoon is keeping stocks afloat. Stocks recovered some of their losses Tuesday after sliding for four straight days.
The Dow Jones industrial average rosleeker broadcast networks like
Directions: Discuss the italicized verbs. Do they expree present time or past time? Do the Verbs describe an activity or situation....
a. is in progress right now?
b. is usual or is a general statement of fact?
c. began and ended in the past?
d. was in progress at a time in the past?
1. Jennifer works for an insurance company.
2. When people need help with their automobile insurance, they call her.
3. Right now it is 9:05 A.M., and Jennifer is sitting at her desk.
4. She came to work on time this morning.
5. Yesterday Jennifer was late to work because she had a minor auto accident.
6. While she was driving to work, her cell phone rang.
7. She answered it. It was her friend Rob.
8. She was happy to here from him because she likes Rob and always enjoys
her conversations with him.
9. While they were talking, Jennifer, who is allergic to bee stings, noticed two bees in her car.
10. She quickly opened the car windows and swatted at the bees while she was talking to Rob on the phone.
11. Her hands left the steering wheel, and she lost control of the car. Her car ran into a row of mailboxes beside the road.
12. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident.
13. Jennifer is okay, but her car isn't. It needs repairs.
14. When Jennifer got to work this morning, she talked to her automobile insurance agent.
15. That was easy to do because she works at the desk right next to hers.
EXCERCISE #2
Directions: Write the correct pronunciations and practice sayin the words aloud. / T / D / ED /
1. cooked= T 6. dropped= drop/ / 11. returned= return/
2. served = D 7. pulled= pull/ / 12. touched= touch/ /
3. wanted= ED 8. pushed= push/ / 13. waved= wave/ /
4. asked = ask/ / 9. added= add/ / 14. pointed= point/ /
5. started= start/ / 10. passed= pass/ / 15.agreed= agree/ /
Directions: Read the following the paragraphs and answer the questions?
News reporters are taught to start their stories with the most important information. The first sentence, called the lead, cantains the most essential elements of the story. A good lead can convey a lot of information, as in these two leads from srticles that won awards from the American Society of Newpaper Editors: A healthy 17-year -old heart pumped the gift of life through 34- year -old Bruce Murray Friday, following a four- hour transplant operation that doctors said went without a hitch.
1. Is this story about?
A. Child
B. Cat
C. News reporters
2.How old are the people in the story?
A. 17-year -old 34- year -old
B. 21-year -old 72-year -old
C. 28-year -old 82-year -old
DIRECTIONS: Read the following and answer the questions?
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Many market participants believe the end of the Federal Reserves quantitative easing program in June will signal the government's exit from the extraordinary interventions made during the financial crisis. After a healthy earnings season, they say, it is time now for our free market to stand on its own two feet.Not so fast, says Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy for Brown Brothers Harriman. He and others believe that the incredible amount of borrowing by the U.S. and the European Union to get out of the credit crisis will force governments to stay involved to ensure an orderly decline of this debt load.
It's a concept called financial repression, akin to what occurred after the Great Depression and WWII. Financial repression refers to official actions that run counter to the market-based incentive structure, said Chandler in a note to clients. The ostensible goal is to support the government bond markets. Moral suasion, the cajoling of investors are soft forms of financial repression, where the government can impose such cooperation by fiat.
The Federal Reserves second round of quantitative easing, the purchase of $600 billion longer-dated Treasury securities, is scheduled to end June 30. Despite successfully keeping interest rates low, the program didnt stop housing prices from hitting a new post-recession low, according to Case-Shiller data released Tuesday. Bernanke, Paulson and Geithner had visions of Tina Turner in a burlap outfit and cage matches in Thunderdome especially when the AIG situation exploded on them right after the Lehman bankruptcy, said Alec Levine of WallachBeth Capital. The hindsight lesson is not that we overreacted, but that we were this close to the abyss. So-called free market countries will be much less free for a longer time than people realize.Over in Europe, a second aid package to Greece is being put together to avoid the default of Greek bonds, which could set off a catastrophic domino effect for the European banks holding the debt.
The US debt hit its legal limit of $14.3 trillion last month. Congress is currently fighting over an increase in the so-called debt ceiling, with Republicans wanting such a vote linked to heavy spending cuts. Congress has no choice, but to ultimately pass the increase in order to avoid a U.S. default.
Spending cuts, tax increaseseven organic growth wont do much of anything to solve a debt load of this magnitude, according to an NBER working paper referenced by Chandler on financial repression.
Earlier this year, Standard & Poors put Americas triple-A rating on negative watch in part because of concerns about Congress not having the political will to instill strict austerity measures. It may all be a moot point Hoping that substantial public and private debt overhangs are resolved by growth may be uplifting, but it is not particularly practical from a policy standpoint, states an NBER Working Paper by Carmen Reinhart and M. Belen Sbrancia entitled The Liquidation of Government Debt. The evidence, at any rate, is not particularly encouraging, as high levels of public debt appear to be associated with lower growth.
Once QE2 has ended, regulation may be used to force large institutions to reduce risk and hold more of the safest assets (i.e. Treasurys), said BBHs Chandler. Economists have been downgrading their second half growth estimates recently on fears that high unemployment may be here for a while and that manufacturing growth is slowing. This makes it all the more likely that the governments hand, and not an invisible one, will stay involved in this market to keep interest rates low and allow for the country to refinance this debt load.
The U.S. could still win under this scenario as long as it doesnt get too drastic in its continued intervention efforts and inflation doesnt explode, some investors said.
Despite this, the U.S. is still running at a much more free market mechanism vs. other market regulations, namely those in Europe and Asia where official controls and quotas are even more comprehensive and daunting and effect all asset classes, said Ron Shah of Jina Ventures in an interview from India.
Many market participants believe the end of the Federal Reserves quantitative easing program in June will signal the government's exit from the extraordinary interventions?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
The Federal Reserves second round of quantitative easing, the purchase of $600 billion longer-dated Treasury securities, is scheduled to end June 30?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
DIRECTIONS: Read the following and answer the questions?
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http://grammar-help.blogspot.com/
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economy has weakened in recent weeks, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke noted Tuesday. But he stuck with a message he's delivered since April: The slowdown from high gas prices and Japan's crises is temporary, and growth should pick up later this year.
Bernanke made no mention of any new steps the Fed might take to boost the economy. The Fed's $600 billion Treasury bond-buying program is ending this month. The program was intended to keep interest rates low to strengthen the economy. But critics said it raised the risk of high inflation.
The Fed chairman said the economy still needs the benefit of low interest rates. The Fed is scheduled to meet in two weeks and is all but certain to keep those rates at record lows.
Stocks fell after Bernanke began speaking. The Dow Jones industrial average erased gains made earlier in the day and closed down for the fifth straight day, as did broader indexes.
"The market was disappointed," said David Jones, head of DMJ Economic Advisors, a private consulting firm. "Wall Street investors were hoping for the promise of another round of credit easing, and they didn't get it."
Bernanke noted the May jobs report released last week was a setback. It showed the unemployment rate ticked up to 9.1 percent and the economy added just 54,000 jobs, the fewest in eight months. But he said he expected job creation and overall economic growth to rebound in coming months.
"The economic recovery appears to be continuing at a moderate pace, albeit at a rate that is both uneven across sectors and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of unemployed and underemployed workers," he said at a banking conference in Atlanta.
Bernanke said the central bank would not consider the recovery well-established "until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation."
He repeated a pledge that central bank officials have been making for more than two years: that they will keep interest rates at record lows "for an extended period."
Bernanke said that consumer inflation has jumped 3.5 percent in the six months ending in April -- well above the average of less than 1 percent over the preceding two years. But he noted that most of the increase had been caused by higher gas prices, which have been creeping down in recent weeks. Excluding food and energy, inflation has been tame, he noted.
He also noted that supply disruptions stemming from the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan have hampered growth in the April-June quarter. But he said the effect on manufacturing output will likely ease in the coming months.
Bernanke disagreed with critics who say the Fed's policies are raising inflation risks by weakening the dollar and contributing to the jump in oil and commodity prices. He said that slow growth in the United States and a persistent trade deficit were the fundamental reasons for the dollar's decline, and not the Fed's interest rate policies.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., asked Bernanke if he was concerned that rules from last year's financial overhaul law will take effect just as the economy is slowing.
Bernanke responded that the worst financial since the Great Depression "revealed a lot of weak spots" that needed to be addressed. But he said regulators were trying to make sure financial institutions would not be overburdened with costs to meet the rules.
Did he also noted that supply disruptions stemming from the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan have hampered growth in the April-June quarter?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
The economy has weakened in recent weeks, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke noted Tuesday?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street bounced in light volume on Tuesday, a day after the S&P 500 fell to its lowest in over two months, with some describing the S&P's losses in the past five weeks as overdone.
The S&P 500 has fallen 4.9 percent since a recent high at the start of May. On Monday, the benchmark index closed at its lowest level since March 18.
Tuesday's move "is just an uptick off some oversold levels," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co in San Francisco.
"Friday set us up with a low close. We had a cascading, selling kind of situation that got, in my opinion, a little bit overdone in the very short term."
Recently battered energy shares bounced back despite a drop in U.S. crude prices, though Brent crude rose, helped in part by a weaker U.S. dollar. Healthcare and utility stocks also ranked among the leaders.
Some investors are seeing an opportunity after weeks of soft economic data failed to create a panic in the U.S. stock market. Expectation of strong earnings reports in July could bring in buyers who want to get ahead of the expected move up next month.
"We are doing as typical a market move as you could possibly imagine," Pado said.
"We have no base at this point so we need to bounce and construct a base, then you can make the case for the next bull leg to start."
The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - News) gained 63.72 points, or 0.53 percent, to 12,153.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - News) rose 6.87 points, or 0.53 percent, to 1,293.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC - News) added 8.87 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,711.43.
Bank stocks, heavily sold in recent weeks, were among the biggest gainers. JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM - News) rose 1.9 percent to $41.28, while the KBW bank index (^BKX - News) was up 1 percent.
But not all market participants were ready to call the end of the downturn. Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey, said light volume and lack of buyers could mean any bounce is short-lived.
"The problem for institutions on a day like today is the volume being light. Any concerted effort to raise funds (sell positions) could have a disproportionate impact on pricing as buyers will be on the thin side," he wrote in a note to clients.
In company news, International Paper Co (IP - News) launched a $3.3 billion unsolicited offer for rival Temple-Inland Inc (TIN - News). Shares of Temple-Inland shot up 40.4 percent to $29.50, while IP's stock rose 1.3 percent to $30.05. Temple-Inland said it adopted a stockholder rights plan to fend off the hostile takeover.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to speak on the U.S. economic outlook at a banking conference in Atlanta.
Did the Fed officials have said recent data was a disappointment, with Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Fed, suggesting it could delay the Fed's exit from its extremely easy monetary policy. Bernanke is set to start speaking shortly before the market closes?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
Did the Recently battered energy shares bounced back despite a drop in U.S. crude prices, though Brent crude rose, helped in part by a weaker U.S. dollar?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
My family use to enjoy going to the beach?
A.tmetals tend to have a dark view of the world. Scratch a gold bug, and you might find a canned-goods enthusiast, or someone who thinks the world's currencies one day will collapse.
Sure, gold and silver have been great investments over the past couple of years. But silver seems to have taken on a more manic stripe, while gold has retained a degree of restraint. It is that divergence that argues for looking at these two metals differently.
Take the last two weeks. Silver is down nearly 30% this month in volatile trading. Such a move in the Dow Jones Industrial Average would equate to an eye-popping drop of more than 3,700 points. of Pacific Investment Management Co. called silver's parabolic rise and subsequent skid a "tulip mania-style move."
Silver backers counter that even with its recent drop, the lesser precious metal has retained a nearly 80% gain over the past year. Of course, it was up nearly 150% two weeks ago. Over the past year, gold is up 23% and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is up 15%.
Even before last week's dive, things had gotten pretty crazy in the silver markets. On April 25, the exchange-traded fund traded nearly as much dollar volume as the S&P 500 ETF. And , which oversees silver trading at its Nymex unit, tightened silver margin requirements four times in the last few weeks as the speculative fever got hotter.
1. Take the last two weeks. Silver is down nearly?
A. 50%
B. 30%
C. 15%.
2. Silver's halcyon days may be fading?
A. and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is up 15%.
B. Even before last week's dive.
C. but gold still looks like it has some spunk.
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Private debtholders, including euro zone banks, should accept a debt extension or other form of "soft default" to alleviate the debt burden for countries such as Greece if Europe wants a solution to the sovereign debt crisis, Bill Gross, Co-CIO of PIMCO told CNBC on Tuesday."We wouldn't go so far as to suggest that Greece or any other country leave the euro," Gross said. "What I think needs to be done....is for private debtholders and Euroland banks...to take a debt extension or some kind of soft default that alleviates the burden for these countries."
Gross admitted it was difficult to suggest that countries such as Germany, which have been more forthright and fiscally conservative, should help peripheral nations."But if they want a consolidated solution, that's really the way to go," he said.
"Countries like Greece and Ireland are subject to the euro currency and can't lower their high debt to GDP ratio by offering interest rates in the low to negative range such that a country can pay for its debt by real growth," Gross said.
That might have provided a solution, he said. "It's a rather surreptitious and sneaky way to do it, but it's quite effective."
Despite concerns that European banks have taken on too much risk and will not be able to withstand future shocks to the economy, Gross believes they are an attractive investment.
"Lloyds [LLOY-LN 49.74 -1.13 (-2.22%)] and Royal Bank of Scotland [RBS-LN 40.44 -0.44 (-1.08%)]and Rabobank all have cocos (contingent convertible bonds) which provide yields of 300-400 basis points more than typical senior bank capital, and we think it's attractive. Admittedly there is a risk and if these banks move down to a certain equity as a percentage of capital level then the price has to be paid, but ultimately we think banks such as those are in the process of recapitalizing... and that going forward they will be much more careful in terms of riskiness," he said.
Bond investors needed to look for opportunities from the standpoint of currencies where real interest rates are high as opposed to low or negative, Gross said.
"We're looking currencies and bonds in those currencies which offer high real interest rates. Brazil does that at 6-7 percent real. Canada... basically offers a half to 1 percent higher real interest rate. Same thing for Mexico," he said.
Bill Gross, Co-CIO of PIMCO told CNBC on Tuesday."We wouldn't go so far as to suggest that Greece or any other country leave the euro," Gross said?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
Despite concerns that European banks have taken on too much risk and will not be able to withstand future shocks to the economy, Gross believes they are an attractive investment?
A. TRUE
B. FALSE
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Take a helping of Russian genius, add a portion of risk appetite and stir in a lot of patience, and you have the recipe for the resounding success of search engine Yandex's U.S. stock market float.
The Nasdaq listing values Russia's leading internet search engine [YNDX 35.0799 10.0799
at $8 billion, an eye-popping 500 times its worth when private equity investors bought into the company in 2000.
That year the business, founded in 1997 by mathematician Arkady Volozh and geophysicist Ilya Segalovich, had revenue of $72,000 and lost $2 million.
Eyeing a long-term prospect, Yelena Ivashentseva of private equity fund Baring Vostok Capital Partners put together an investor group that bought a 36 percent stake in Yandex for just over $5 million.
Talks to buy into Yandex lasted seven months, Ivashentseva said recently, recalling the horror of the fund's backers over the deal. "It was really difficult to explain this to our investors, who en masse demanded that we get rid of the stake," she told Forbes magazine's Russian edition.
It turned out to be the only round of fund-raising that the company did until the initial public offering (IPO), which featured a slug of new shares. Investors who came into Yandex in recent years bought stock from existing shareholders. (Update: Yandex launched its $1.3 billion IPO on the Nasdaq Tuesday. Shares began trading at around $40 a share, after the offering was priced at $25 a share.)
Yandex went on to richly reward that investment, with the algorithm driving its search engineconceived to scan the Bible, Russian classical literature and patent textsproving consistently superior to that of rival Google [GOOG 520.71 2.32 (+0.45%) ], whose co-founder, Sergey Brin, was born in Russia.
The company's home site yandex.ru has a market share of 65 percent in Russia, compared with Google's 22 percent, capitalising on a boom in online advertising to generate sales of $445 million last year, up 43 percent, while earnings rose 90 percent to $135 million.
Volozh is a slight man with a quiet manner and, since the earliest days of the Internet boom, a wry scepticism about the millions, then billions of dollars flooding into his industry.
"We used to be very conservative, until we started meeting so many excited people," Volozh joked in 2000.
He resisted the overtures of suitors dangling the prospect of a huge payday through, telling Reuters in 2005 that bankers "are promising us a golden future, diamonds in the sky, if we do an IPO."
Patience Pays
Bankers say plans for a long-awaited float were prepared in 2008, only to be derailed by the global financial crisis. The company's core investors decided to sit out the crash and Yandex, bucking an 8 percent contraction in the Russian economy in 2009, delivered top-line growth that year although earnings shrank by 17 percent.
"The investors waited for long enough and this strategy was successful. They weren't trying to push Yandex into an IPO as soon as possible," said Anna Lepetukhina, an analyst at Moscow brokerage Troika Dialog.
"There were rumours that they were going to do an IPO in 2008. Then the crisis came and they were prepared to wait. They got a good return on that investment."
Russia Returns
For the investors, the Yandex story amounts to proof that Russia's investment climate is by no means as hostile as many say.
Baring Vostok, which retains a 26 percent stake as Yandex's largest shareholder, abides by a few golden rules to avoid the pitfalls that others have fallen into, founding partner Michael Calvey told Reuters on Tuesday.
The fund's 19-firm portfolio is weighted towards services, avoids industries where it might clash with state firms and relies on equity funding, not debt, to shield its investments against Russia's often vicious business cycle.
Calvey, an American who founded Baring Vostok in 1994, said in an interview that the fund's strategy had enabled it to ride out the 2008-09 crash without having to make any disposals.
"We don't expect there to be any fatalities in our portfolio as a result of the crisis," Calvey said. He declined to comment on the Yandex IPO, citing regulatory restrictions.
What business man founded in 1997 company?
A. Arkady Volozh
B. Gerald Kesler
C. Harold Keller
Who was the American who founded Baring Vostok?
A. Calvey
B. London
C. Jason
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Traders are eagerly awaiting indications from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that interest rate hikes aren't likely anytime soon.
The hope that Bernanke will make that clear in remarks scheduled for Tuesday afternoon is keeping stocks afloat. Stocks recovered some of their losses Tuesday after sliding for four straight days.
The Dow Jones industrial average rosleeker broadcast networks like
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