Welcome to Tuesday. Here are the five things I'm looking at today on the Australian sharemarket.
- The S&P/ ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has surged higher in early morning trade, following small gains on Wall Street overnight. Political turmoil over Ukraine appears to be subsiding, and as Bill Schultz, chief investment officer at McQueen, Ball & Associates told Bloomberg,
"We're at lower levels than we were two weeks ago, so there's a better entry point if you look to add stocks to your portfolio".
Yes folks, now may be the perfect to top up on those fully franked dividend shares – especially as.
- Lawyers Maurice Blackburn, with funding from Bentham IMF (ASX: IMF), have launched a huge class action against the banks in the NSW Supreme Court over late payment and other fees. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ), Citibank and Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX: WBC) are the first on the hit list, but the other majors and American Express are also in the queue. Anyone who has ever been charged a late payment fee by their bank could be included in the class action, and a win could see a major dent in bank profits.
- Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) has announced that it is buying video streaming platform Ooyala for US$270 million, as the giant telco moves into content delivery. As analyst Peter Esho tweeted, "This is a potential game changer for the domestic media space…with huge implications ahead."
- Top tweet of the day
RIP #robinwilliams One of the funniest comedians of our time.
Mike King (@TMFKinga) August 11, 2014Comedian Robin Williams has died from an apparent suicide, according to media reports. He was 63 and reportedly suffering depression. We salute you Robin, and our thoughts go out to his family.
- Stock of the day – brought to you by Tim McArthur is Woolworths Limited (ASX: WOW). Woolies shares have been pushed down 0.8%, after the company advised that its Home Improvement would not break even in 2016, as originally targeted. Tim suggests investors should hang onto their shares for three reasons.
