Welcome to Thursday. 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 0.8% lower, following leads from volatile US markets.Overnight, the Dow Jones was slammed down 1.4%, the broader S&P 500 fell 1.0%, while the NASDAQ lost 0.8%. It's the fourth consecutive day of losses for the S&P 500.
Global equities sank, after the World Bank cut its economic growth forecasts for this year, and commodities were heavily sold off, with copper following the plunges in iron ore, coal and oil.
The Australian dollar is flat, buying 81.5 US cents.
- Given the falls in iron ore and copper overnight, it's no surprise to see Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) and BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) sold off. In early trade, Rio had dropped 2.4% to $54.23, while BHP had lost 2.3% to $26.58, its lowest price in 5 years. The problem is, more falls are likely.
- Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) has seen its shares fall 1.3% to $35.09, after announcing that it was cutting its capital investment this year, thanks to falling oil prices. The oil producer also expects to writedown its assets by as much as US$400 million for the full year.
- Tweet of the Day
Brace for $US40-a-barrel oil https://t.co/WdUPBgVEXU
Financial Review (@FinancialReview) January 14, 2015 - Stock of the Day– brought to you by Simon Chan – Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (ASX: CCL). Can the soft drink distributor turn around its performance in 2015? Will the falling Aussie dollar help Indonesia? All these questions and more answered here.
