澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2009-12-05

Better than expected employment figures are raising hopes for a sustained economic recovery in the US. The labor¹ market dramatically improved in November as the number of jobs loss narrowed to 11,000.

"When you think about how this year began, even before I was sworn in. And we were losing 700,000 jobs a month, a month!"

The US President says the figures show there are better days ahead. But investors² on Wall Street are also seeing the prospect³ of a rate rise. After a strong start, the Dow and the S&P 500 closed only slightly higher.

There were modest gains on European markets. London's FTSE finished higher on Friday. UK investors will get a look next week at the broad outlines of the British budget as well as the Bank of England's later stands on monetary⁴ policy.

Asian markets were mixed on Friday. Tokyo shares reversed losses to end the week higher. The market will likely be firm next week, with the government and central bank set to unveil an economic stimulus⁵ package. And the Australian share market is expected to push into a higher territory ahead of  New Years. The ASX 200 put on 2.85% across the week, despite closing almost 1.5% lower on Friday.

And that's ABC Business News.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

3 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

4 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

5 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。