澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2015-12-16

Good morning. The US Federal Reserve has kicked off its two-day meeting where they’ll decide whether to raise US interest rates for the first time in seven years. Now, as this meeting gets underway, the US Labor¹ Department released its call Consumer Price Index numbers, basically inflation numbers which showed an increase of 2%. Now, it’s a third month of the call inflation increased by that much. Most analysts² are expecting the US Fed will raise interest rates at the end of the 2-day meeting. Australia’s National Carrier Qantas has said it expects to report better than expected profits for the six months to December, boosted by lower oil prices and continued focused on its revival³ plans. Now, the airline has forecast underlining free tax profit between 835 million and 925 million dollars. Qantas has been aggressively reducing jobs and cutting capacity in recent months. The airlines shares have risen by almost 50% this year. Earlier this year, Qantas reported a returned annual profit for the 12 months to June and also announced plans to buy new planes. It’ll report its half-year results on the 23rd of February. Let’s go to the global markets and a couple of hours to put the close, the Dow and Nasdaq are both up 1.3%. The S&P 500 is up nearly 1.5% while in London, the FTSE gained 2.5% at the close. Checking commodity prices, West Texas Crude is at 37 US dollars a barrel. Tapis Crude is at 40 US dollars a barrel, and gold is trading at 1063 US dollars an ounce. The Australian dollar is currently buying 72 US cents, 66 euro cents and 48 pence sterling⁴.

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 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

3 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

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。