s6

welcome to business english pod a great way to improve your english skills on the goal.two hundred and twenty million dollar typing error.
one of japan's top financial companies is trying hard to limit very large losses caused by a mistake by one of its brokers.
me so ho securities,the brokerage arm of japan's second largest bank,says it will lose at least two hundred twenty million dollars because of a typing error.
the advent of computerized share trading has opened up traditionally exclusive stock markets.
making them more accessible to ordinary investors and making the process of buying and,selling shares much faster for professional brokers.now miss US ho's securities in Japan has found out that there's a downside to all this.
under instruction from one of its clients to sell a single share in a Japanese company at the market price of six hundred ten thousand yen.or around five thousand dollars.
one of its brokers made what May be the most expensive typing error in history.instead,the order went out to sell six hundred ten thousand shares,more than forty times the total number of shares in the company.
at a price of just one yen each.mizo ho spotted their mistake in less than two minutes,but it was too late.the sale had already been author iz is ed and sharp eyed online investors began snapping up the shares at bargain prices.
me so ho,which failed to tell anyone about the mistake for several hours,is now trying to buy back all the shares at something close to the price that sold them for.
but it admits it will lose at least two hundred twenty million dollars.the Japanese government has demanded an inquiry into how the stock exchanges computer system failed to spot such an obviously nonsensical trade.
me so ho has cancelled its annual office party and there will presumably be fewer christmas bonuses this year as well.
well,that was a really interesting article about the two hundred and twenty million dollar typing era certainly was,how about some of these phrases?
can ask,what did you think about this term at brokerage arm? well,a brokerage is a company that buys and sells securities,for example,shares or bonds.
this was an article about the brokerage arm of me so ho,which is a big Japanese bank when we talk about the arm of a bank. we mean a separate division or a separate section of the bank.
uh,that deals in shares,so an arm is like a specific segment of a company,a bit like the human arm is a part of the body exactly.and so then it talked to the.
at the advent,the advent of computerized shared trading,what about this word advent APP d vent means the beginning of something so the start of something?
so in this case,they're talking about the start of computer trading you could use this word to describe the start of a significant event. so perhaps.
the people's lives have been transformed by the advent of the internet like the beginning or the time that the internet started began well,you could say the fall of the soviet union marked the advent.
of a new era in world politics,OK,so that's a new phrase,perhaps there's other phrases as well,like the downside. I think that's another common phrase that.
I think so,too downside means the negative aspect or the negative part of a situation May be a situation that's mostly positive.
and so here,for example,we talked about the advantages and the benefits that came from trading shares over the internet and.
uh,but there is a downside as well,which is that you can lose a lot of money very quickly with one mistake. so that's the disadvantage,the disadvantage exactly yeah,and there's also I mean the opposite there too,I think it's worth mansion ing of downside is UPS.
side,so it's another phrase. so what would be the upside to positive for the upside of trading shares by computer is the efficiency of.
yeah,you're talking about the advantages. yes,so upside is the advantages and the downside of something.is the disadvantage so,for example,you could say the downside of living in the city center is.
that it's expensive,the upside might be. it's more convenient,or that there are more things going on in the city center,so you have to strike the right balance between the advantages and the disadvantages of that location.
OK,well,I liked this word spotted musa hu spotted their mistake in less than two minutes. what do you think the meaning of this?
word spotted is well to spot something means to see,something to see,a thing or a person you could say,for example.i've just spotted malcolm over there.
but usually I think to spot something means to see something that's wrong or to see a mistake. we often use it actually together with mistakes or we often say spot the mistake.
it will spot the difference is another common yes,and it can mean to see something that maybe is not so easy to see something that's not very obvious. okay,so if you spot something,you could also say you're very sharp oh's in the.
article two,we said that the investors were sharp eyed and they began buying these very cheap shares before me so ho saw the mistake.
this phrase is really based on the word sharp,which I would say means in this context intelligent or able to.to figure things out or spot things quickly,so somebody who is sharp eyed is somebody who.
a of a or or a spot of difference more quickly than most,yes,I think it's not necessarily describing their eyesight.it's more a case of describing there,as you said,their ability to see an error you could,for example,say.
the sharp eyed secretary noticed the mistake just in time well in this case. it was sharp heart d investors and they began snapping up shares.so they were alert to the mistake,or perhaps the cheap shares. yes,exactly.
and what did they do? they started snapping up shares. this is a very Nice verb to use,it's af ras el verb to snap up something,and I like it,usually it means to buy something or to take something very quickly.
t maybe because it's at a very good price,or it's something that is very hard to find for sale nbsp.
some people say it's a snap,meaning it's very easy,or it's quick aha. I think the two words are related or the moment a snap we talk about snapping your fingers,so that's a quick.
sound we can also talk about a snap decision which is a decision that you make very quickly so to snap something up means to buy something as quickly as you can because it May not be around that much longer.
so these shares were such a bargain,perhaps that they needed to be snapped up quickly,right? OK? and this word bargain,perhaps,what does that mean to you?
well,a bargain price is a price that you might get by bargaining or negotiating a very good price or a low price that's attractive to somebody buying,for example,buying shares and.
but in this case,there was no negotiation right. what did they mean by bargain pricing? well,even though there was no negotiation,it was a very low price,a very appealing price,quite cheap,so the kind of price that maybe you would want to bargain for,but here they actually do.
have to OK,so i've heard plenty of people say I got this item for a bargain price,meaning they're very happy with the price they paid right. it means a cheap price,OK?
the final word there that stands out to me is right there at the end is nonsensical trade.
and what do we mean when we say something is nonsensical? well,it comes from the word nonsense,which means something that doesn't make sense or that doesn't have any meaning.
so usually when we use the word nonsensical,it means foolish or ridiculous.
we talked about a nonsensical price,a price that was so low that the stock exchange should have been able to tell that it was a mistake. it couldn't possibly be a real price,it was too ridiculous so they should have said,wait. this makes no sense.
exactly it's nonsense,right? so overall,this article,it really did sound like it was an unfortunate incident for missy hu securities. it was unfortunate for the brokerage,but not so unfortunate for the people who bought the cheap shares they got a good.
玩给。nbsp that's all today for our business english podcast.
thank you for listening to business english pod,we'll be back next week with a new podcast.