澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2014-10-08

 And fears of an economic slowdown have sparked big falls on world markets. The International Monetary¹ Fund has downgraded its global forecast for the next two years.

 

Wall Street closed more than 1.5% lower and there're also big falls across in Europe. 

 

Since uh, when the International Monetary Fund starts talking about a possible correction uh, because some uh, certain share markets around the world have reached uh, frosty or unsustainable levels, investors² uh, get the message and start selling.

 

Peter Ryan there. 

 

Now the chairman of Fairfax Media Roger Corbett has announced his intention to stand down. Mr. Corbett says that if he's reelected at the company's annual general meeting, he will step aside some time during his next three-year term.

 

The former Woolworth Chief Executive has been a Fairfax board member for eleven years, and has been chairman for five.

 

And now of those big market falls: 

 

The Dow in fact closed 1.6% lower, shedding 273 points. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 followed the Dow lower with both indices losing about 1.5% in value. In London, the FTSE lost about 1%. 

 

Checking commodity prices: 

 

West Texas Crude is trading at 89 US dollars a barrel. Gold is worth 1,210 US dollars an ounce. And the Australian Dollar is buying 88 US cents.

1 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。

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