Episode 0208

That's right, we are going to talk about the stock market. So a very interesting topic, very current as well because, well, throughout the world, stock markets are not doing very well.

That's right, and you may have seen on the television a lot of information about this. So today we're going to hopefully explain some of the things and phrases and words that you've been hearing.

But first, we've got a couple of important indicators, a couple of acronyms actually, that you're going to hear about. So let's look at those in today's vocabulary preview.

Vocabulary preview.

All right, so the first word that we have on vocabulary preview is the NASDAQ, NASDAQ.

NASDAQ, N.A.S.D.A.Q. So this is basically the American stock market.

Right. It's an acronym. Now, it's a really, really long acronym, so we're not going to get into it, but it is basically the American stock market where all these companies are trading stock.

Publicly traded companies.

Great. So publicly traded companies, um, you're basically trading their stocks through NASDAQ.

Right.

Mhm. And now the next one that we have is uh an indicator that which tells us how well some companies or some stock are doing. And that's the Dow Jones indicator.

Dow Jones indicator. So, um, maybe if the Dow Jones is really low for something, we think, man, it's not doing so well.

Right.

If it goes up, things are improving.

Right. So usually the Dow Jones has the, it's based upon the 50 biggest companies in the United States, the 50 biggest publicly traded companies.

Now, you can divide it into like industrial companies or pharmaceutical companies, etcetera, but in general that's the indicator and how it works.

Great. So let's take a listen to today's dialogue and find out how these words are used in context. And we're back in a moment to talk about what's going on.

What is it?

I know, sir. We didn't expect a bull market to become a bear market all of a sudden. On the other hand, you still have some high yield trash bonds and government bonds that will give us enough liquidity to cut our losses and reinvest in emerging markets.

We could potentially make this tragedy work for us and make us think outside the box.

Do what you have to do. One other thing, don't tell the rest of the stockholders about this. If they find out, it's the end of this company.

All right, we're back. So a lot of interesting words there. I think a lot of them were very specific to the stock market and very maybe a little bit difficult. So why don't we take a look at a couple of those in language takeaway?

Language takeaway.

Okay, so this first word is a very important word in banking and finance. We talk about portfolios a lot. So portfolio.

Right. So basically, a portfolio is the variety of uh things that you own. For example, in the stock market, it could be stocks, it could be bonds, it can be uh mutual funds, etcetera, or, for example, if you're a company, your product portfolio could be all the products that your company owns.

That's right. So in this case, our portfolio is worth half what it was a week ago. And so this is, this is a sentence that means, oh, we've lost half of the money we invested. All of our investments are in a portfolio.

We talk about them as a portfolio. And when we lose money, we mean our portfolio, we say our portfolio is worth less now than it was before.

Exactly.

And well, moving on, he starts to talk about the bull market and the bear market. So what is, what is this all about?

Right.

We're talking about special finance phrases.

Right. So the bull market would be a again, talking about companies and trading, it would be maybe a market that's growing very rapidly, that's very, very strong. That's a bull market.

So people often talk about China's bull market, right? How China continues to grow and grow and grow and grow.

Right.

Uh, but a market that slows down, like the United States last year, would be a bear market.

Right. So think of a bear, maybe it's sleeping, it goes uh into hibernation. That's a bear market. So a slow market. It's not really growing.

Very good. But talking about our portfolio again, we might have stocks, but in this case the two people are talking about their bonds. So he says, you still have some high yield trash bonds and government bonds.

What's a high yield bond and what's a trash bond?

Okay. So when we think about the word yield, is how much it gives, right? So how much we are getting from it. So something that is high yield means that you're getting a lot from it.

For example, this orange tree yields 300 oranges per year.

Okay, so That's how much we get from it.

Exactly. So we're getting 300 oranges. That's how much it's yielding. And uh so so basically that's what yield means. So when we talk about trash bonds, this on the other hand, it's a it's a word that's maybe a little bit tricky, but a bond is a promise that you get from the seller that he's going to pay you back the money that you give him with interest.

Right? But a trash bond is a very risky bond. It means that the seller might not pay you back because, you know, he's still trying to get all the money.

All right. But a high yield trash bond means that you might make a lot of money from this bond, unless, of course, it's not very dependable.

Exactly. So

It's risky.

Of course, since it's riskier, it has more yield.

Great. So high yield trash bond. And then what about this? They will give us liquidity to cut our losses. Liquidity, we hear all about liquidity in finance.

Exactly. Maybe in your company, the the accountant will talk about this. And that's basically just to have money cash in hand. So you have money to pay things or to buy things, right? Not with

Okay, so it's available.

Available, yeah. Not with credit, the opposite of credit.

Okay, liquidity.

And finally, instead, what are we going to do? Let's think outside the box. We could reinvest in emerging markets.

And this is a very hot topic lately, talking about emerging markets. So to emerge means to come up, right? To rise.

Yeah, to come out. So, uh, it's almost like new or growing markets.

Mhm.

So in this case, a market, an emerging market would be, uh, for example, the Southeast Asian market, which is growing quickly, or even, uh, you could say West African market. We're talking about places in the world that aren't established, they're not old and dependable, they're new and exciting.

Right. So they're coming up. So that's an emerging market.

So a lot of very interesting words and phrases there, very related to our topic. And so why don't we move on now, let's take a look at two key phrases on uh fluency builder.

Fluency builder.

This first phrase is something we've heard a lot about in the last year or two with things not going so well in the world of finance. The first one, here we go, to cut our losses.

Okay, so let's cut our losses. So, um, when you talk about cutting your losses, that means to try and stop losing money somehow, maybe sell early.

That's right. So in this case, we're losing money. Let's stop now. Let's stop doing everything, cut our losses, that means cut them away, forget about them, throw them away and start again.

Okay? So we could say, um, my business is failing. I'm going to cut my losses, sell the business, and start again.

Right. That's exactly it. So, to cut your losses means to stop doing something, maybe sell it and stop losing money.

Basically, you accept the fact that you lost it, you can't get it back and you start again.

Mhm. So when they were talking about investing in emerging markets, he said, well, maybe we could do this and uh that would force us to think outside the box.

Okay, this is a great phrase and you might hear this in meetings a lot or from your manager. What's going on here is these two people are talking about how they lost a lot of money. The economy is bad, and they've been doing things in a normal way for a long time. It's not working.

Let's think outside the box. That means let's be creative. Let's try and discover new ways of doing things that will yield positive results.

That's right. This is a very, very common phrase um very widely used in business or when you're talking about ideas is people tell you to think outside the box.

To maybe break some of the rules, right?

Right. Don't just think the way that you always do. Don't do the same thing over and over. Do something new, be creative, come up with something great. So that's thinking outside the box.

Right. Very good. So a lot of great phrases there. I think we've learned quite a bit. Uh why don't we listen to the dialogue one last time and we'll be back to talk a little bit more about this very interesting topic.

What is it?

I know, sir. We didn't expect a bull market to become a bear market all of a sudden. On the other hand, you still have some high yield trash bonds and government bonds that will give us enough liquidity to cut our losses and reinvest in emerging markets.

We could potentially make this tragedy work for us and make us think outside the box.

Do what you have to do. One other thing, don't tell the rest of the stockholders about this. If they find out, it's the end of this company.

Yeah, it's it's very complicated, especially if you take a look also in the newspaper sometimes it shows you different publicly trade companies and it has a bunch of numbers. It's a very interesting topic. It's it's almost a science, I think.

Very much a science. And some people have made a lot of money playing the stock, we say playing the stock market and um and trying to, you know, buy stocks when they're low, wait until they're high, sell them off and make tons.

Yeah, it's um, it's pretty much analyzing risk. So making calculated decisions, and that's why they use all these formulas and all these different ratios and ways to ponder how much they should invest or what would they gain. And uh so it's very, very interesting.

Many people compare it to gambling, but uh this it's kind of like gambling, but not really because you don't really depend on luck. You kind of make calculated decisions.

And sometimes you're trading for big, big companies or even parts of big markets, like parts of entire countries, businesses, yeah, so.

A lot of people, for example, stock brokers will invest a group of uh workers' retirement funds. They will take those funds and be like, hey, you're maybe getting 5% from the bank from for keeping your money there. Give me the money and I'll give you 25% yield on your investment.

So uh that's and so obviously they're playing not only their reputation, but also with other people's life savings.

And so you got to be careful with this kind of stuff and do your homework. Uh but that's about it for us today. Hope that you've enjoyed this lesson. If you have questions or comments, please do visit us on our website Englishpod.com.

The English part audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

A steep and rapid fall.

Plunge.

To contribute, especially in a discussion.

Weigh in.

Affording gain, benefit, or profit.

Profitable.

The amount of something that is produced.

Yield.

Take another look at something.

Think outside the box.

Let's try that faster.

To contribute, especially in a discussion.

Weigh in.

Affording gain, benefit, or profit.

Profitable.

Take another look at something.

Think outside the box.

The amount of something that is produced.

Yield.

A steep and rapid fall.

Plunge.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Plunge.

The prices of houses in the US took a huge plunge this month.

Plunge.

The car went off the road and plunged into the abyss.

Plunge.

The value of our stock has taken a major plunge.

Weigh in.

Carol usually weighs in with good ideas at our meetings.

Weigh in.

Many factors weighed into our decision to fire you.

Weigh in.

If you weigh in all the pros and cons of buying a new TV, you would see that we don't really need it.

Profitable.

Their business is very profitable.

Profitable.

I think we can be profitable if we reduce our operational costs.

Profitable.

Real estate is one of the most profitable businesses in the world.

Yield.

The stock you currently own yields about 10% per annum.

Yield.

Yield.

The yield on your securities could be greatly affected with inflation.

Think outside the box.

When you have to solve a problem, it's good to think outside the box.

Think outside the box.

Some of the great inventions of our time were invented because inventors decided to think outside the box.

Think outside the box.

Thinking outside the box can offer a different and novel perspective on things and life.