澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2014-08-13

 And the new owner of David Johns insists it's not planning any major changes to this department store chain; David Johns chief executive Paul Zahra has quit just a month after shareholders¹ approved the takeover by South Africa's Woolworths. 

 

Iain Nairn who is currently in charge of another Woolworths company Country Road has been appointed as Mr. Zahra's replacement². 

 

Woolworths has praised Paul Zahra for his leadership of David Johns through the recent difficult times. 

 

A surge in sales and profits has driven business conditions to a four-year high. The widely-watched NAB monthly business survey has found a surprise lift in business confidence buoyed³ by home construction and retail⁴. 

 

NAB's chief economist⁵ Alan Oster says while they are positive signs they are likely,  unlikely rather, to get, have too much impact on unemployment which he thinks could reach 6.5% by the end of the year. 

 

To the market: 

 

Wall Street fell slightly in lackluster trade overnight. The Dow lost nine points. Nasdaq shed 12 and the S&P 500 dropped three points. In London the FTSE finished steady. 

 

Checking commodity prices:

 

West Texas Crude is trading at 97 US dollars a barrel, and Tapis is at 105; gold's trading at 1,308 US dollars an ounce. 

 

The Aussie Dollar is buying 92.6 US cents, 69 Euro cents and 55 Pence Sterling⁶.

1 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

2 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

3 buoyed   

v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• Buoyed by their win yesterday the team feel confident of further success. 在昨天胜利的鼓舞下，该队有信心再次获胜。
• His encouragement buoyed her up during that difficult period. 他的鼓励使她在那段困难时期恢复了乐观的情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

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。