单项选择题

In 10 years, the mutual-fund industry won’t even be called that. The term "mutual fund" will be much too confining to encompass(包括) the various types of mixed investment vehicles(手) that will be available to investors around the world. Technology, especially the Internet, will be the most significant driver, affecting every aspect of the mutual-fund industry, from products and delivery to providers and customers.
The future version of today’s mutual funds will be available for purchase across the globe by citizens of many nationalities in just about any currency. The average investor will be able to trade bonds as well as stocks with ease 24-hours a day, 365 days a year by using voice-held, satellitelinked PCs. A Brazilian citizen, for example, will be able to buy shares of the Vanguard 500 Index Fund in London at midnight, using its price in New York at 02:00 Greenwich Time, to be settled in Japanese yen.
With the vast amount of information and instantaneous (瞬间) service available to investors through the Internet, the merits of an investment product will drive its consumption. Investment products in the next decade will come in finer shades of investment objectives. Demand for investment products will be huge around the world. In the United States, there has been considerable discussion of the impact that maturing baby boomers will have on financial markets and levels of investment. The subsequent Generation X and Internet Generation groups are very likely to pick up any slack (呆滞,萧条) due to disinvestment by boomers, and on their own, elevate investment to a new level by 2008. Generation X’ers(新生的一代人) appear to be more highly motivated to invest than the boomers, while the Net Generation’ s comfort level with technology will stimulate investment as well.

The word "settle" (Par2) most probably means （）.

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