澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2009-12-05（在线收听）

Better than expected employment figures are raising hopes for a sustained economic recovery in the US. The labor 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 investors on Wall Street are also seeing the prospect 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 monetary 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 stimulus 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.