澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2011-10-26

 And Eurozone leaders are meeting in Brussels tonight to come up with a strategy to confront Europe's worsening debt crisis. But there's already been a setback¹ with one of the scheduled meetings cancelled. The finance ministers were going to thrash out recapitalisation plans for Europe's banks. They are now waiting until after tonight's meeting of EU leaders, saying too many other details like Greek bond write-downs need to be decided² first. 

 

Back home and economists³ are expecting inflation to have dipped over the three months to the end of September. The latest inflation figures will be released today by the Bureau of Statistics. Economists expect inflation to have increased by 0.6 per cent over the quarter and that's down from nearly one per cent in the June quarter. 

 

To the markets, and sadly it hasn't been a great night on Wall Street with the markets now closed, the Dow Jones has lost more than 200 points, a drop of nearly two per cent. The NASDAQ was down 61. The S&P 500 was 25 points lower and across in London the FTSE has closed 23 points weaker. 

 

Checking commodity prices: West Texas Crude is trading at 92 US dollars and 95 cents a barrel. Tapis crude is at 123 US dollars and three cents a barrel. And Gold is at 1708 US dollars and nine cents an ounce. 

 

To the currencies, and the Australian dollar is buying one dollar and four US cents, 75 Euro cents and 65 pence sterling⁴.   

1 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 sterling   

adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑)

参考例句：

• Could you tell me the current rate for sterling, please?能否请您告诉我现行英国货币的兑换率？
• Sterling has recently been strong,which will help to abate inflationary pressures.英国货币最近非常坚挺，这有助于减轻通胀压力。