澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2016-03-02（在线收听）

Good morning, everyone. Australia’s growth figures are due out today. And most analysts expect they will show the economic growth has slowed. Now experts are tipping that gross domestic product grew by 0.4% in the December quarter that will see annual growth remain weaker than average at 2.5%. Now the slowdown is expected to be mainly due to shrinking mining exports and weak business investment. However, a jump in government’s spending will be an unexpected bright spot along with some solid employment growth.

Meanwhile, fresh data from China has confirmed that its economy is continuing to lose steam. Two major indexes, used to engage the country’s manufacturing activity, indicated a worsening contraction in the sector. The bad news comes just after Chinese central bank announced its latest stimulus measure to boost liquidity. China’s slowing growth has been dragging the global economy as Beijing hopes for a shift towards services and consumption in its domestic market.

Let’s go to the global markets now, and a couple of hours for the close. The Dow was up 1.9%. The Nasdaq is 2.33% higher while the S&P 500 is also up around 2%. In London, the FTSE gained 0.9% overnight. Checking commodity prices, West Texas Crude is trading at 34 US dollars a barrel. Tapis Crude is at 39 US dollars a barrel. And gold is trading at 1230 US dollars an ounce. The Australian dollar is currently buying 72 US cents, 66 euro cents and 51 pence sterling.