Now more than ever, Wall Street seems to resemble an immense game of chance in which the tables are often tilted and the house always wins.
尔街看起来类似一个很大的赌博游戏，只是赌桌有些倾斜，庄家总是赢家。现在更是如此。
If you can't beat 'em, perhaps you should join 'em.
如果打不过他们，那不妨加入其中。
Other than double-dealing by investment" target="_blank" title="n.投资；(时间等)投入">investment banks, few things have upset individual investors more than the way corporate executives use stock options to avoid any downside while capturing all the upside in share prices. A new research paper, however, suggests that outsiders may be able to go along for the ride as insiders profit.
除了投资银行的两面派做法，很少有什么比公司高管使用股票期权更让个人投资者感到沮丧的了，高管们借此得以避开股价下滑却能把握住所有股价上涨的机会。但一份新出炉的研究报告显示，内部人士盈利之时，外部人或许也可以借借光。
It long has been assumed that the pay packages of chief executive officers are determined partly by rolling with loaded dice. Accounting rules leave wiggle room on how high inventories can pile up, how quickly bills ought to be paid or how soon payments should be collected.
一直有人认为首席执行长(CEO)的报酬在一定程度上是由掷那种灌了铅的骰子决定的。至于存货可囤积多少、付账的速度应有多快、收账的时限该有多短等等，会计制度为此留有余地。
A powerful CEO can tweak such factors, shaving a few million dollars off quarterly earnings. That, in turn, will knock down the stock-creating a temporary opportunity to issue options at bargain levels. When the bottom line bounces right back, the CEO is already in the black on his options.
一位强有力的CEO能调节这些因素。他在季度收益数字中减去几百万美元便可压低股价，从而为以低价发放期权创造出短暂的机会。当公司收益反弹时，这名CEO的期权已经盈利。
That may explain the left panel above: On average, stocks fall more than one percentage point behind the market right before CEOs are granted options and shoot up afterwards.
这或许能解释上图：平均而言，在CEO获得期权前夕，公司股票会落后于市场一个百分点以上，而期权一旦发放股票迅即上涨。
What about companies that tend to award options to the CEO around the same date every year? Could you make money if you knew the exact date of the grants?
倾向于在每年同一时间向CEO发放期权的公司会怎样？如果你知道确切的发放日期，你能否从中渔利？
In a paper to be published this fall in the Financial Analysts Journal, Ivo Jansen of Rutgers University and Lee Sanning of the University of Wyoming show that you might be able to do just that.
罗格斯大学(Rutgers University)的詹森(Ivo Jansen)和怀俄明大学(University of Wyoming)的桑宁（Lee Sanning）将于今年秋季在《金融分析师杂志》(Financial Analysts Journal)上发表的文章显示你或许能做得到。
The professors found that investors can beat the market by about two percentage points a year, after trading costs, but only by piggybacking on the shares of every company that engages in this practice. Twenty days before a company's annual options grant to its CEO, you would sell its shares short; on or about the award date, you would close out your short sale and buy the stock.
两位教授发现，仅靠追踪每一家保持这一作法的公司的股票，除去交易成本之后，投资者每年可跑赢市场两个百分点。在一家公司每年向CEO发放期权之前的20天，你应当卖空它的股票；在发放日前后，你应当停止卖空并买入这支股票。
Neither professor has any plans to invest like this. But, says Prof. Sanning, 'it's a way that regular, rank-and-file investors could profit from the other side of what appears to be manipulative trading by insiders.'
两位教授均无照此投资的计划，但桑宁说，这是内部人士明显操纵交易之时，常规、普通投资者可从中渔利的一种方法。
My take is somewhat different. By publishing their findings, the professors may unleash a flood of trades by hedge funds and other market sharks seeking to pick off the excessive profits hitherto made by CEOs on their options. That, in turn, may discourage at least some CEOs from putting their thumbs on the scale.
我的看法却有些不同。两位教授公布了他们的发现，那些试图摘取CEO们迄今为止在期权上获得的超额利润的对冲基金和其它市场大鳄们或许会随之进行大量的交易，从而或许能防止至少部分CEO从中作弊。
In any case, it is impractical for most individual investors to make all these trades. Many people regard short-selling as unsavory. And trading costs may be higher than the professors estimated.
无论如何，大多数个人投资者完成所有这些交易有些不切实际。许多人认为卖空的行为令人生厌。而且交易成本或许高于教授估计的成本。
So I don't think Prof. Jansen and Sanning's strategy is generally suitable. But it does have one specificapplication that could be useful. If there's a company you've long been waiting to buy, then page through its annual proxy statement. You should be able to find the date its CEO is awarded an options grant. If earlier proxies show that the CEO keeps getting options around that date, then that is highly likely to be an opportune time for you to buy.
因此我不认为詹森和桑宁的策略是一个普遍合适的作法。但它有一个特殊的用途。如果你一直想买一家公司的股票，就翻阅这家公司的年度委托书。你应当能发现它的CEO获得期权的日期。如果之前的委托书显示CEO总是在这一天左右得到期权，那么很可能这就是你买入的好时机。
Jason Zweig
- resemble [ri´zembəl]
vt.类似，象 (初中英语单词) - immense [i´mens] a.广大的，无限的 (初中英语单词)
- investment [in´vestmənt] n.投资；(时间等)投入 (初中英语单词)
- research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
- executive [ig´zekjutiv] a.行政的 n.行政官 (初中英语单词)
- partly [´pɑ:tli] ad.部分地；不完全地 (初中英语单词)
- bargain [´bɑ:gin] n.买卖合同 v.议(价) (初中英语单词)
- percentage [pə´sentidʒ] n.百分数；比例；部分 (初中英语单词)
- financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
- journal [´dʒə:nəl] n.日记；日报；杂志 (初中英语单词)
- annual [´ænjuəl] a.每年的 n.年刊 (初中英语单词)
- invest [in´vest] v.投资；授予 (初中英语单词)
- discourage [dis´kʌridʒ] vt.使泄气，使沮丧 (初中英语单词)
- suitable [´su:təbəl, ´sju:-] a.合适的，适当的 (初中英语单词)
- application [,æpli´keiʃən] n.申请；申请书；应用 (初中英语单词)
- waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- temporary [´tempərəri] a.暂时的 n.临时工 (高中英语单词)
- excessive [ik´sesiv] a.过分的；极端的 (高中英语单词)
- hitherto [,hiðə´tu:] ad.至今，迄今 (高中英语单词)
- specific [spi´sifik] a.具体的；特有的 (高中英语单词)
- upside [´ʌpsaid] n.上边，上段，上部 (英语四级单词)
- wyoming [wai´əumiŋ] n.怀俄明(州) (英语四级单词)
- shaving [´ʃeiviŋ] n.剃(须)；修面 (英语六级单词)
- earnings [´ə:niŋz] n.收益；报酬；获得 (英语六级单词)
- strategy [´strætidʒi] n.兵法；战略 (英语六级单词)
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