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ECONOMICS REPORT - Throwing Light on High Oil Prices and 'Dark Markets'
Thu, 19 Jun 2008
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
经济报道： 探求高油价与“黑市”
2008年6月19日，星期四。
这是VOA特别英语的经济报道。
First a crisis, then calls to investigate. This is happening now with high oil prices.
首先是危机，然后要求调查。这是目前高油价的状况。
Last Saturday, in Japan, finance ministers of the Group of Eight countries urged oil producing countries to increase production. But they also called on the International Monetary Fund and the International Energy Agency to jointly examine the recent price rise.
上周六，G8财长在日本敦促石油生产国增加产量。但是，他们也要求IMF(国际货币基金)和IEA(国际能源机构)联合调查近来油价的上涨。
I.M.F. chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that some G-Eight ministers were concerned about financial speculation. How important it is and what influence it has on the market will be investigated, he says. A report is expected in October.
IMF主席多米尼克.斯特劳斯.卡恩说，某些G8财长担心金融投机。他说，投机有多重要以及对市场的影响需进行调查。报告将于10月出笼。
In the United States, government agencies are already looking for ways to increase supervision of oil markets.
在美国，政府机构正在寻求提高石油市场监管的途径。
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission just reached an agreement with a London electronic exchange, ICE Futures Europe. ICE, the Intercontinental Exchange, agreed to observe the same trading limits as American markets. Some people have called ICE Futures Europe a "dark market," a market with little supervision.
美国商品期货交易委员会刚刚与伦敦电子交易所，即ICE欧洲期货交易所，达成协议。ICE(洲际交易所)同意遵守美国市场相同的交易限制。一些人士称ICE欧洲期货交易所为“黑市”，一个很少监管的市场。
Regulators want to know more about who is trading in oil futures. A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a quantity of a product at a set price and date in the future. The New York Mercantile Exchange began trading oil futures in nineteen eighty-three.
监管机构想知道是什么人进行石油期货交易。期货合约是在未来某个时间、以某个价格买卖一定数量的产品。纽约商品交易所于1983年开始交易石油期货。
Futures markets now largely set the price of oil. Yet these contracts rarely involve an exchange of real barrels of oil. Most oil is traded on what is called the spot market or through other contracts between producers and users. The prices, however, are usually based on futures prices.
目前，期货市场在很大程度上决定了石油的价格。但是，这些合约很少涉及石油真正数量的交易。大部分石油是在现货市场或通过生产商与消费者之间的其它合约进行交易。但是，价格通常依据期货的价格。
Doug MacIntyre is senior oil analyst with the United States Energy Information Administration. He notes that the position of the government is that market forces of supply and demand are driving today's high oil prices. But he also notes that more money has been going into futures.
道格. 麦克因特是美国能源信息署的资深石油分析师。他指出，政府的观点是供求的市场力量推高今日石油价格。但是，他也指出，更多的资金进入到期货领域。
This money can be from oil producers and users. But it also comes from banks, big investors called hedge funds and speculators with no need for oil. Speculators try to guess the direction a market will go; in some cases they profit when prices drop.
这一资金来源于石油生产商和消费者。但，也可能来自于银行、诸如对对冲基金的大投资者以及不需要石油的投机客。投机客尽力猜测市场的走向；在某些情况下，投机客在价格下跌时也获利。
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and others say it is not clear that speculators are to blame for high oil prices. They say markets need buyers and sellers willing to take more risk than average investors. But critics say oil prices have gone up too quickly recently to be explained by supply and demand alone.
美国财长亨利. 鲍尔森和其它人说，投机客是否是高油价的原因，尚不清楚。他们说，市场需要比普通投资者承担更多风险的买家和卖家。但是，批评人士说，石油价格近来上升太快，供求本身无法解释。
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.
这是由Mario Ritter编写的、VOA特别英语的经济报道。我是Steve Ember。
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