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Signs of Stress Grow at European Banks

By Peter Coy

 

    Europe’s debt mess has been festering for so long it sometimes feels more like a chronic condition than a life-or-death crisis. But as negotiations to prevent a Greek default drag on, investors and lenders increasingly are concerned that a banking crisis could break out, dragging down the Continental economy before Greece even has a chance to default. On Sept. 21 the International Monetary Fund estimated that Europe’s banks face more than $400 billion in losses and said that weak banks need to raise capital quickly.

    The core of the problem? Some European banks are in peril of losing what they need most: cheap funding. Banks profit by borrowing money for short periods—rolling over some of their debt as often as nightly—to fund long-term loans at higher rates. As concern about their exposure to a sovereign default grows, European banks are paying more to borrow. Doubt about banks can quickly become self-fulfilling if worried depositors and lenders yank out their money. Remember: Lehman Brothers went from O.K. to dead in less than a week in 2008, when hedge funds and other banks concluded that the company couldn’t pay its bills.

    Indicators of stress on European banks have risen sharply since midsummer. The eight largest U.S. money-market funds halved their lending to German, French, and U.K. banks over the past 12 months and stopped financing Italian and Spanish banks. Some Italian banks are so desperate for funds that they’re selling bonds to retail customers for five times the interest they offer on savings accounts.

    Also, one arcane but critical sign of distress is the cost of a “basis swap”—a measure of how much European banks pay when they raise dollars by trading euro-denominated loans for dollar loans. The price of basis swaps has risen from 28 basis points (0.28 percentage points) of the deal value in mid-July to 98 basis points on Sept. 20. When the spread exceeds 150 basis points, “we are in large European bank failure zone,” says Conor Howell, head of exchange-traded funds trading at Christopher Street Capital in London.

    The bottom line: Indicators of investor nervousness about the health of European banks are near or above their highest levels since 2008.

(www.businessweek.com/magazine/signs-of-stress-grow-at-europeanbanks-09222011.html. Adapted)

According to the text, negotiations to prevent Greece from defaulting

Leia o texto a seguir e responda à questão

 

Signs of Stress Grow at European Banks

By Peter Coy

 

    Europe’s debt mess has been festering for so long it sometimes feels more like a chronic condition than a life-or-death crisis. But as negotiations to prevent a Greek default drag on, investors and lenders increasingly are concerned that a banking crisis could break out, dragging down the Continental economy before Greece even has a chance to default. On Sept. 21 the International Monetary Fund estimated that Europe’s banks face more than $400 billion in losses and said that weak banks need to raise capital quickly.

    The core of the problem? Some European banks are in peril of losing what they need most: cheap funding. Banks profit by borrowing money for short periods—rolling over some of their debt as often as nightly—to fund long-term loans at higher rates. As concern about their exposure to a sovereign default grows, European banks are paying more to borrow. Doubt about banks can quickly become self-fulfilling if worried depositors and lenders yank out their money. Remember: Lehman Brothers went from O.K. to dead in less than a week in 2008, when hedge funds and other banks concluded that the company couldn’t pay its bills.

    Indicators of stress on European banks have risen sharply since midsummer. The eight largest U.S. money-market funds halved their lending to German, French, and U.K. banks over the past 12 months and stopped financing Italian and Spanish banks. Some Italian banks are so desperate for funds that they’re selling bonds to retail customers for five times the interest they offer on savings accounts.

    Also, one arcane but critical sign of distress is the cost of a “basis swap”—a measure of how much European banks pay when they raise dollars by trading euro-denominated loans for dollar loans. The price of basis swaps has risen from 28 basis points (0.28 percentage points) of the deal value in mid-July to 98 basis points on Sept. 20. When the spread exceeds 150 basis points, “we are in large European bank failure zone,” says Conor Howell, head of exchange-traded funds trading at Christopher Street Capital in London.

    The bottom line: Indicators of investor nervousness about the health of European banks are near or above their highest levels since 2008.

(www.businessweek.com/magazine/signs-of-stress-grow-at-europeanbanks-09222011.html. Adapted)

The language used in the first sentence of the text implicitly compares the European debt situation to

Instrução: Leia o texto para responder à questão.

 

London University Considers Alcohol Ban to Avoid Offending Muslims

 

  In a surprising and potentially controversial move that is being seen as a sign of changing attitudes in UK further education, a London university is considering ending the sale of alcohol on campus because of concerns from Muslim students.

  The London Metropolitan University is poised to take the action because a ‘high percentage’ of    10    Islamic students regard drinking as ‘immoral’, according to its vice chancellor Professor Malcolm Gillies.

  Gillies   11    the idea after talking to a large number of new students to the University. ‘I was raising the issue of changing values in student populations and the question of how a responsible university responds. London Metropolitan University is a highly diverse university ethnically and in religious terms. Our students come from all over the world and they come with changing balance of values. So the issue of how we cater for those values while still remaining true to being a British university is one of the constant issues any responsible university would be considering,’ he explained.

(www.school-to-university.com/Adaptado.)

 

Instrução: Assinale as alternativas que completam, correta e respectivamente, as lacunas numeradas no texto.

INSTRUCTION: Answer question in relation to text.

 

TEXT

 

The symbols, the memory and the history of the
Olympic Games are an important legacy, since the
material things created strengthen the image of the
event in the local population’s memory, along with the
[5] memory of viewers everywhere who have watched the
competitions. They also represent a source of income
as they are goods sold during the event.

 

One of the most effective ways to ensure that the host
city will get the legacy of the Olympic Games is to
[10] have the population participate in planning the work
to be done. It is the very community who knows what
a neighborhood needs, in terms of facilities, and how
these can be of use after the event. The best legacy is
the one that is incorporated into the life of and brings
[15] benefits to the community. The organization process
shared with the community may give the legacy a
meaningful dimension. Learning how to discuss the
needs of the community, democratically facing the
differences in interests, and gathering partnerships for
[20] the viability of projects are unique experiences which
can alter the relationship of the population with their
politicians in a dramatic way.

RUBIO, K. & MESQUITA, R. M. (2011) Olympic Studies and Olympism - the Brazilian and the International Scenarios. EDIPUCRS, p.171.

The statements below are related to words used in the text. The only one which is NOT correct is

INSTRUCTION: Answer question in relation to text.

 

TEXT

 

The symbols, the memory and the history of the
Olympic Games are an important legacy, since the
material things created strengthen the image of the
event in the local population’s memory, along with the
[5] memory of viewers everywhere who have watched the
competitions. They also represent a source of income
as they are goods sold during the event.

 

One of the most effective ways to ensure that the host
city will get the legacy of the Olympic Games is to
[10] have the population participate in planning the work
to be done. It is the very community who knows what
a neighborhood needs, in terms of facilities, and how
these can be of use after the event. The best legacy is
the one that is incorporated into the life of and brings
[15] benefits to the community. The organization process
shared with the community may give the legacy a
meaningful dimension. Learning how to discuss the
needs of the community, democratically facing the
differences in interests, and gathering partnerships for
[20] the viability of projects are unique experiences which
can alter the relationship of the population with their
politicians in a dramatic way.

RUBIO, K. & MESQUITA, R. M. (2011) Olympic Studies and Olympism - the Brazilian and the International Scenarios. EDIPUCRS, p.171.

INSTRUCTION: In order to answer question, read the statements below.

 

I. The people who plan and organize Olympic Games know everything about the ways to do it.

II. The citizens are responsible for the income resulting from Olympic Games.

III. The people who live in a host city for Olympic Games know a lot about what’s best for them.

IV. The host city for Olympic Games can become better after they are held. 

 

According to text, the only correct statements are

INSTRUCTION: Answer question in relation to text.

 

TEXT 

 

If you are one of more than 600 million people on
Facebook, it’s likely that you regularly friend (and
sometimes unfriend) others. This extending of language
– verbing of nouns – brings growing pains. Some rail
[5] against it.

 

Why verb a noun when a perfectly serviceable verb ‘to
befriend’ is already a part of the language? But language
grows with need, and ‘to friend’ someone online is not
necessarily the same as ‘to befriend’. Each new verb or
[10] noun adds a new shade to the mosaic of the language.

 

And it happens all the time. We have the verb ‘serve’
and the noun ‘service’, but we extend ‘service’ to use it
as a verb again because ‘to service’ is not necessarily
the same as ‘to serve’.

 

[15] Put new verbs into service in your conversation and
writing, at work, home, and beyond. Friend them into your
vocabulary, and don’t worry about those who complain
against the verbing of nouns. It has been going on for
quite a while now.

 

[20] The Oxford English Dictionary has the first citation for
the word friend as a verb from the year 1225. In fact, ‘to
friend’ has an older pedigree than ‘to befriend’ (1559).

 

There was no Facebook, no Web, no computers, not
even electricity back in the 13th century. But there was
[25] language, and a need to stretch it to fill a need. And long
after Facebook is gone, we’ll continue using language
in ways that fit. Here’s to verbing of nouns (and nouning
of verbs)!

(http://wordsmith.org/awad, 468, June 19, 2011)

The expression “Here’s to” (line 27) is used for