Practice English with NewsPractice with News
Business132 words1 min read

S&P 500 Falls as Oil Prices and Bond Yields Rise

waterfalls in forest during daytime
Photo by Cole Freeman on Unsplash
0:00 / 0:00

Listen to the story

The stock market went down in the United States. The S&P 500 is a big list of 500 companies. It fell today. The Dow and the Nasdaq also fell.

Oil prices went up. This happened because of problems between the US and Iran. The two countries have a stalemate. This means they cannot agree and nothing changes.

Bond yields also went up around the world. A bond is like a loan. A yield is the money you get back from it. When yields go up, stocks often go down.

Tech stocks are shares in technology companies. These stocks fell too. This made the whole market weaker.

People who buy and sell stocks are watching Iran and the US closely. They want to see what happens next. This will change stock prices.

Vocabulary15 words

stock market
a place where people buy and sell parts of companies
stalemate
a situation where nothing changes because two sides do not agree
bond yields
the money you earn from lending money to a government or company
tech stocks
shares in technology companies
Dow
a list of 30 big US companies
Nasdaq
a list of many technology companies
oil prices
how much it costs to buy oil
shares
small parts of a company that people can buy
market
the place or system where things are bought and sold
futures
deals to buy or sell something at a later time
tensions
a difficult or unfriendly feeling between people or countries
weigh on
to make something go down or become worse
global
happening in the whole world
elevated
higher than normal
loan
money that one person or group gives to another to pay back later

Quiz

1. What happened to the S&P 500?
2. Why did oil prices go up?
3. True or false: Tech stocks helped the market fall.

Fill-in-the-blank listening

Play the audio again and fill in the missing words as you listen.

The stock market went down in the United States. The S&P 500 is a big list of _____ companies. It fell today. The Dow and the _____ also fell.

Oil prices went up. This happened because of problems between the US and _____. The two countries have a _____.

_____ also went up around the world. A bond is like a loan. When yields go up, stocks often go _____.

Tech _____ are shares in technology companies. These stocks fell too. This made the whole market _____.

People who buy and sell stocks are watching Iran and the US closely. This will change stock _____.

More Business stories

Next story · Easy

Media Groups Back ABC Against Pressure From Trump Administration

→