Welcome to Tuesday Fools. 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, despite US markets setting new records on Wall Street overnight. The S&P 500 hit the 2,000 mark for the first time ever. The index has climbed on 9 out of the past 12 days, and more than US$900 billion added to the value of American equities, according to Bloomberg.
This bull market could still be headed higher after Europe's central bank president Mario 'whatever it takes' Draghi signalled that policy makers were ready to add more stimulus to Europe's economies. - Iron ore miners will be in focus today, after the spot iron ore price suffered a 1% drop to US$89.20 a tonne. The commodity's price has now dropped 32% for the year, and junior miners with higher production costs like Atlas Iron Limited (ASX: AGO), Arrium Limited (ASX: ARI) and Mount Gibson Iron Limited (ASX: MGX) could come under heavy selling pressure today. In early trade, Arrium is down 1.7%, while Atlas Iron and Mount Gibson had posted positive starts.
- Troubled mining services company Boart Longyear Limited (ASX: BLY) says there is material uncertainty whether it can survive, without a substantial recapitalisation of the business. Boart Longyear's shares are down 7.7% to just 18 cents in early trading. We were warning about this major risk when we posted back in early July.
- Tweet of the Day
300,000 SMSFs avoid paying tax due to pension mode, franking credits and property investment https://t.co/uGiK2i3Jmt
Mike King (@TMFKinga) August 25, 2014
No wonder they are so popular. The question is – will the government crackdown on super benefits to recoup lost revenues? - Stock of the Day is brought to you by Tim McArthur – Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS). In this article, Tim suggests reasons why he'd rather invest in Telstra than an investment property – one of which is those lovely fully franked dividends.
