Welcome to the start of a new week. 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 opened flat, dragged down by the big miners as the iron ore price slumped 2% to US$90.10 per tonne. On Friday, US markets dropped, with both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 down 0.2%, while the NASDAQ was up slightly at 0.1%.
Geopolitical concerns, particularly tensions between Russia and Ukraine, still appear to be major factors influencing investor sentiment and global stockmarkets. - BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX: BSL), the $3 billion steel company, has seen its shares hammered in early morning trade. Shares were changing hands at %5.35, down 12.3%, after the steel maker reported a loss of $82.4 million, lower than last financial year. The company says it doesn't expect its situation to improve dramatically in the current six month period.
Bluescope is a company we have long avoided, which appears to be justified after the current result and outlook. The company still has the end of Ford, Toyota and Holden automotive manufacturing to factor into its future. - Refiner and oil importer, Caltex Australia Limited (ASX: CTX) shares are up 3% at $26.34, despite the company reporting a 17% fall in net income for the first half of the 2014 financial year. It probably doesn't matter much in the overall scheme of things – Caltex is moving from a refiner to an importer and retailer of petroleum products, which is still in process.
- Tweet of the day
The big banks are nervous now, but there could be worse to come https://t.co/d2gUHAz0Kp
Financial Review (@FinancialReview) August 24, 2014
