澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2012-08-01

 To finance now, and Italy's prime minister says he sees a light at the end tunnel for Europe's debt crisis, he has been in Paris for talks with the French president to discuss the crisis, but there wasn't much joy in the latest jobless figures, unemployment in the EU has hit a record high, the jobless rate in June was 11.2%, that's the highest level since the introduction of the Euro.

 

Swiss bank UBS is blaming the Facebook float for a big drop in its profit, the bank has lost more than 350 million dollars, more than halving¹ its profit, it's pointing the finger at the Nasdaq, exchange saying a mishandle of the float, UBS says system problems left it with more Facebook shares than it ordered and wants compensation.

 

Let's take a quick look at the markets, the Dow and Jones finished 64 points lower, the Nasdaq lost 60, S&P 500 did the same, and in London, the FTSE closed 58 points weaker.

 

To the commodity markets now, West Texas Crude is trading at 88 US dollars and 6 cents a barrel, Tapis is at 108 US dollars and 93 cents a barrel, and pick up finance gold, for 614 US.

 

To the currencies, the Australian dollar is buying a dollar and five US cents, 85 Euro cents, and 67 pence sterling².

1 halving   

n.对分，二等分，减半[航空、航海]等分v.把…分成两半( halve的现在分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊

参考例句：

• You searched those halving your salary cut your enthusiasm. 你呈现，薪水减半降低了你的任务热情。 来自互联网
• Halving the repeater spacing made it possible to quadruple the bandwidth. 把增音机间隔缩小一半，就能使带宽增加三倍。 来自互联网

2 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。