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The finance world famously has almost a language all of its own, ranging
from complex financial jargon to the playful slang of the stock market. What
that means is that within the thicket of terms like VaR, backwardation,contango,
tranche, and junk bond, we find some familiar animal friends — although often in
some strange contexts.
金融世界有一套广为流传的自己的语言,包括复杂的金融术语,以及戏谑的股票市场俏话。而在错综复杂的诸如加值型经销商、现货溢价、期货溢价、一期款项、垃圾债券这类术语中,还有一些我们熟悉的动物伙伴——尽管它们也常出现在奇怪的语境中。
The bulls and the bears
牛和熊
When it comes to the wildlife of Wall Street, two animals should
immediately come to mind: bulls and bears. With the bear standing in for a
downward-trending market and the bull in for an upward-trending one, these two
have stood in opposition to one another since the 18th century.
说道华尔街的野生动物,人们立刻就会想起牛和熊。自18世纪以来,熊就代表着股市下跌,而牛代表着股市上扬。
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) frames this financial use of bear as
preceding that of bull, suggesting that this use of “bear” probably extends from
the idiom “to sell the bear’s skin before one has caught the bear.” These
bearskin traders then hope for a downturn in the market so that they might make
a larger profit on the transaction.
牛津英语词典认为“熊市”的用法先于“牛市”。它的用法是由谚语“熊未捕到先卖皮”延伸而来的,熊皮贩售商希望借此在市场上价格出现下跌,这样他们就能在交易中牟大利。
On the other end of the market, the emergence of the bull is unclear. Some
suggest that the term was drawn from the practice of bull- and bear-baiting, or
even from the fighting styles of the two animals (a bear swipes down with its
paws where a bull thrusts upwards with its horns).
相对地,“牛市”一词的出现则没有清楚的定义。有人认为该词源于斗熊和斗牛,或者两种动物的打斗风格(熊用爪子向下扫,而牛则用角向上顶)。
So while bear and bull originally referred to the actual speculators, bear
market and bull market came to refer to the market conditions favorable to those
investors, though they did not appear until the late 19th century. Other
derivatives include bear raid – when investors try to profit on the falling
price of a stock, or cause the fall to happen – and bear squeeze – the financial
pressure experienced by bear speculators when the market rises.
因此,两种动物最初指的是实际投机者的行为,在19世纪末才用来形容金融市场状况。其他衍生词包括“熊袭”(疯狂抛售以获利的行为)、以及“熊压”(股市上涨时投机者体会到的金融压力)。
Lame ducks
跛脚鸭
The term lame duck is more commonly associated with politics today. Despite
those present-day political leanings, the term was used earlier in 18th-century
British finance.In the context of the business world the term refers to someone
who has defaulted on debts or entered bankruptcy. Today, the financial use of
the term is considered dated.
“跛脚鸭”现在和政治联系比较紧密。而在18世纪,它是和英国金融联系在一起的。生意场上,“跛脚鸭”指负债或将要破产的投资者。如今这个说法有些过时。
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