Welcome to Tuesday. Here are the five things I'm looking at today on the Australian sharemarket.
- The S&P/ ASX 200(Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has opened 0.3% lower, following leads from Wall Street.
Overnight, the Dow Jones dropped 0.5%, the broader S&P 500 fell 0.9%, while the NASDAQ also lost 0.9%, as crashing oil prices take their toll on energy stocks.Brent Oil lost 5.5% (US$2.76) overnight to hit a six-year low and trading at US$47.35 per barrel.
Predictions of US$40 per barrel are coming out of the woodwork. Goldman Sachs now thinks WTI Crude Oil, currently trading at US$45.92 per barrel, will average ~US$47 per barrel in 2015, but could hit US$41/bbl in the short term.The good news is the investment bank is predicting prices to rise to US$65 per barrel in 2016. But it's still a prediction, and who knows whether they will be right or not?
The Australian dollar is up slightly, buying US82.46 cents.
- Gold stocks may be the only bright spot in today's market after spot gold prices gained 1.5% to US$1,234 an ounce, a 1-month high.The bad news is that copper prices fell under US$7,000 per tonne for the first time since 2010, and likely to negatively impact the likes of Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM), Sandfire Resources NL (ASX: SFR) and OZ Minerals Limited (ASX: OZL) in today's trading.
- The spot iron ore price also dropped, losing 1.2% to US$70.30 a tonne, suggesting the sell-off in junior iron ore miners is likely to continue today. Stocks to watch include BC Iron Limited (ASX: BCI), Atlas Iron Limited (ASX: AGO), Mount Gibson Iron Limited (ASX: MGX), and Arrium Limited (ASX: ARI).
- Tweet of the Day
Some thoughts on long-term investing. https://t.co/3M0QUv9i5J (Recommended reading: The Absolute Returns Letter.) pic.twitter.com/KP085HHI74
Brian Richards (@brianlrichards) January 11, 2015 - Stock of the Day– brought to you by Simon Chan – Primary Health Care Limited (ASX: PRY). With a cheap price and generous dividend, Primary could add some health to your flagging portfolio.
