Title:
Finding Capital in 'Dark Pools' and Angel Investors
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
Big stock exchanges in the United States are linked
in what is known as the national market system plan.
The idea is to process deals and report the best
available prices to the public as quickly as
possible. But there are other ways of investing that
operate outside the national market system. In the
late nineteen nineties, the Securities and Exchange
Commission wanted to make room for new ideas in
financial trading. The commission developed new
rules for exchanges and for what are known as
alternative trading systems. Alternative trading
systems are operated by brokers or dealers. They
mainly serve big investors like retirement funds,
universities and financial companies. These systems
trade the same public stocks as other market players
do. But they do not publicly report their trades.
This secrecy explains why they also have another
name: "dark pools." As of October, there were
eighty-six alternative trading systems registered
with the Securities and Exchange Commission.A buy or
sell order for a large amount of stock can move
markets. It can influence other investors to try to
buy or sell shares of that same stock. Supporters of
alternative trading systems say the secrecy reduces
the risk of a disorderly market. But the
International Monetary Fund has concerns about
alternative trading systems. It says they limit the
ability of the investing public to price a security
effectively. Also, the IMF says the activity of
these trading systems is largely outside the reach
of market regulators. Another alternative to the
investing methods that most people know is the work
of so-called angel investors. These are individuals
who invest in new projects -- and not just Internet
startups that hope to become the next Google or
Facebook. They could also be small, local
businesses. Steve Moore made a lot of money in the
software business. After he retired he made an
interest-free loan to Crystie and Keith Kisler. The
couple operate a small organic farm in Washington
state. They could not get a bank loan to build their
business.In return, Mr. Moore received a minority
share of their business. The Center for Venture
Research at the University of New Hampshire says
angel investing fell more than six percent
nationwide in the first half of last year. Still,
angel investments during that period totaled eight
and a half billion dollars.For VOA Special English
I'm Alex Villarreal.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
