[ti:In the Red] [ar: Rich Kleinfeldt] [al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]go to 51voa.com for more... [00:10.11]Now, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, [00:12.91]a VOA Special English program [00:15.26]about American expressions. [00:17.95]I'm Rich Kleinfeldt [00:20.19]with some financial words [00:21.58]and expressions used [00:23.57]in business and the stock market. [00:26.51]Our first expression [00:28.61]is "in the red." [00:30.56]It is another way of saying [00:32.95]that a business is losing money. [00:35.44]In the past, numbers [00:38.43]in the financial records [00:40.17]of a company were written [00:42.06]in red ink to show a loss. [00:44.75]A business magazine recently [00:48.13]published a report about [00:50.02]a television company. [00:51.47]The report said the company [00:54.06]was still in the red, [00:56.15]but was able to cut its loss [00:58.88]from the year before. [01:00.57]A profit by a business [01:04.17]is written in black numbers. [01:07.05]So a company that is [01:09.39]"in the black" is making money. [01:12.43]An international news service [01:15.71]reported that a private [01:17.36]health insurer in Australia [01:19.65]announced it was "back [01:22.18]in the black with its first [01:24.37]profit in three years." [01:26.71]Another financial expression [01:29.85]is "run on the bank." [01:32.48]That is what happens [01:34.87]when many people try to [01:37.01]withdraw all their money [01:38.85]from a bank. [01:40.05]A "run on the bank" usually [01:43.53]happens when people believe [01:45.52]there is danger a bank [01:47.81]may fail or close. [01:50.00]Newspaper reports about [01:52.85]a banking crisis in Russia [01:55.69]used that expression. [01:57.83]They said the government acted [02:01.11]because of fears that the crisis [02:03.95]would cause a run on the banks. [02:06.64]"When a run on the banks [02:09.38]was starting, there was [02:11.57]not much they could do," [02:13.06]said a banking expert. [02:15.25]"Day trading" [02:18.56]is a new expression [02:20.20]about exsystem [02:21.75]that lets investors trade [02:23.29]directly on an electronic [02:25.43]market system. [02:27.12]The system is known as NASDAQ, [02:31.00]short for The National Association [02:34.22]of Securities Dealers [02:36.31] Automated Quotation. [02:38.05]It was the first completely [02:40.64]computerized stock market. [02:43.22]It sells stocks of companies [02:46.01]not listed on any stock exchange. [02:49.25]Many high technology companies [02:52.23]are listed on it. [02:53.73]Day trading companies provide [02:57.46]a desk and a computer system [02:59.85]to an investor who wants to trade. [03:02.83]Individuals must provide [03:06.51]fifty thousand dollars or more [03:08.90]to the trading company [03:11.39]to pay for the stocks they buy. [03:13.73]Thousands of other investors [03:16.82]do day trading from computers [03:19.55]in their homes. [03:21.05]A day trader watches [03:24.53]stock prices carefully. [03:26.07]When he sees a stock rise [03:29.31]in price, he uses the computer [03:31.85]to buy shares of the stock. [03:34.18]If the stock continues [03:36.82]to rise in price [03:38.46]in the next few minutes, [03:40.31]the day trader sells [03:42.50]the shares quickly [03:43.84]to make a small profit. [03:45.78]Then he looks for [03:48.77]another stock to buy. [03:49.97]If a stock goes down [03:53.54]instead of up, he sells it [03:56.03]and accepts the loss. [03:57.82]The idea is to make a small profit [04:02.35]many times during the day. [04:04.49]Day traders may buy [04:07.48]and sell stocks hundreds [04:09.77]of times each day. [04:11.56]Many day traders lose [04:14.80]all their money in a week or so. [04:17.19]Only about thirty percent [04:20.32]succeed in earning enough [04:23.50]from their efforts [04:24.45]to continue day trading. [04:27.05](MUSIC) [04:37.34]This VOA Special English program, [04:40.58]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, [04:42.67]was written by Frank Beardsley. [04:45.51]This is Rich Kleinfeldt.