Welcome to Friday. Here are the five things I'm looking at today on the Australian sharemarket.
- The S&P/ ASX 200(Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is expected to post a strong start this morning, following further gains on Wall Street overnight.The Dow Jones gained 1.2% while the broader S&P 500 and tech-heavy NASDAQ climbed 1% as oil rebounded and news that giant pharmaceutical company Pfizer is buying Hospira for around US$15 billion.
Oil prices reversed some of yesterday's fall, with Brent Crude Oil gaining 4.8% to US$56.73 per barrel while the WTI benchmark gained 5% to US$50.85.
The Australian dollar is up slightly against the US dollar and is currently buying 78.01 US cents.
- A cheap Australian dollar has seen a wave of foreign money flood into the Australian share market according to investment bank Citi's co-head of Australia and New Zealand equities Adam Levis.Guess where the funds are going? I'll give you a clue. One of them is Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). Shares in Australia's largest bank have surged more than 10% since January 22 – above the S&P/ASX 200's rise of 7.7%.
The great global hunt for yield continues.
- Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (ASX: NWS) has seen its second quarter revenues rise 1.9%, but its Australian newspapers saw sales fall a massive 8%, as advertising revenues continue to fall. Fairfax Media Limited (ASX: FXJ) may well post similar results for its Australian newspapers.Pay TV provider Foxtel, which is 50% owned by Newscorp, has lifted subscriber numbers – but that was mainly from slashing subscription prices. Revenues flat.
- Tweet of the Day
Calibre Group $CGH impairment charge $185-$190M (pre-tax) from goodwill write-downs, onerous lease impacts & restructuring costs #ausbiz ^JR
CommSec (@CommSec) February 5, 2015Another mining services company forced to write down the value of its assets. Ouch..
- Stock of the Day– brought to you by Ryan Newman – REA Group Limited (ASX: REA). The owner of realestate.com.au property portal reported outstanding half year results yesterday, and shares jumped above $50 per share. Find out more here.
