澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2009-12-26（在线收听）

Hello, US car giant General Motors is having trouble raising much needed capital after a spectacular fall from grace during the golbal financial crisis. It's failed to sell its Swedish car brand SAAB and will begin an orderly wind down of SAAB operations. GM had been in talks with the Dutch specialty car maker Spyker over the sale.

The US dollar's new found strength is keeping world market subdued. A further half of a percent climb by the greenback has put even more pressure on resource companies and weighed on exporters. But gains in Tech stocks kept the benchmarks in the black, the Dow Jones Industrial Average put on 21 points, the S&P 500 finished up seven points and the NASDAQ gained almost 1.5%.

In Europe, continued speculation about tough new financial regulations has weighed on markets for the fourth session in a row. Banks are concerned that higher capital-holding ratios will hit their bottom line while they are trying to recover from the financial slump. That led the FTSE down 21 points. The DAX and the Euro Stoxx 50 also fell.

And the Australian dollar has made up some ground against the strengthening US dollar. Early on the weekend, it was buying 89 US cents and 80 Japanese Yen.

And that’s ABC Business News.