| ECONOMICS
REPORT - Mutual Funds
This is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Economics
Report.
People invest money in the hope their wealth will
grow over time. Some have financial advisers make their investments
for them. But even people without very much money can invest. Of course,
there are no guarantees. So one way investors try to limit their risk
is to buy shares（份额）in a mutual
fund（共有基金）. A mutual fund is a collection of different financial
securities（有价证券）.
Securities include stocks（股票）and
bonds（证券）. Stock in a company gives the
buyer a chance to vote on company issues. Stockholders（股东）have
a financial share in the company. They may receive a small payment,
a dividend（股息，红利）, from time to time
for each share owned. But the value of stocks can change greatly in
a short time.
Bonds represent a loan（贷款）.
Companies or governments sell bonds as a way to borrow money. Buyers
earn interest as they wait for the bonds to reach full value over a
period of years.
Mutual funds gather money from many investors and
buy many different securities. A mutual fund can spread money over hundreds
of investments.
In the United States, the mutual fund industry controls
seven-million-million dollars of investments. The oldest fund is Massachusetts
Investors Trust（麻省投资者信托基金）, begun in nineteen-twenty-four.
The biggest fund is the Vanguard Five-hundred Index
Fund of the Vanguard Group. This fund is valued at eighty-two-thousand-million
dollars. It invests in companies listed on the Standard and Poor's Five-hundred
Index. The S-and-P Five-hundred is often used as a measure of the stock
market in the United States.
There is risk in mutual funds. They may lose value.
And, recently, some activity in the mutual fund industry has been under
investigation. In September, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
brought charges against a top officer of a mutual fund company.
Mister Spitzer said the former vice chairman of Fred
Alger Management permitted some big investors to trade in ways that
other investors could not. Last week James Connelly pleaded guilty to
interfering with an investigation.
Federal officials are also investigating illegal trading
activities. The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission,
William Donaldson, has called for new rules for mutual funds. Government
lawyers are expected to make proposals next month.
This VOA Special English Economics Report was written
by Mario Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.
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