澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2012-04-04

 To finance news. 

And the former finance minister, Lindsay Tanner, says trying to raise debt is a growing challenge for Australia's mid-sized companies. Mr. Tanner says the weakness of the corporate¹ bond market is a major constraint² for companies with the market capitalization of between one and two billion dollars. He says big companies like BHP Billiton and Telstra can easily go offshore³ to borrow money. 

 

At the moment, very low interest rates in international markets skew the balance in favor of placing your debt offshore. If you are big enough and serious enough to be able to do that, even though of course there is currency risk involved, but the critical fact underneath⁴ all these issues that if there is not much for market domestically, particularly not much of a retail⁵ market either, well then you do have a significant worry and you're gonna be up for pretty hefty investment bank fees to underwrite your issue. So there is a quite complicated problem with a number of different factors here. 

 

Lindsay Tanner there. Let's go to the markets. And the Dow Jones has closed 64 points lower overnight. The NASDAQ ended six points down. The S&P 500 fell eight and across in London, the FTSE shed 36 points. Checking commodity prices. West Texas crude is trading at $104 a barrel. Tapis crude is at $132 a barrel. And Gold this morning is at $1644 an ounce. The Australian dollar is buying 103 US cents, 78 euro cents and 64 pence sterling⁶.

1 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

2 constraint   

n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物

参考例句：

• The boy felt constraint in her presence.那男孩在她面前感到局促不安。
• The lack of capital is major constraint on activities in the informal sector.资本短缺也是影响非正规部门生产经营的一个重要制约因素。

3 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

4 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

5 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

6 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。