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) looks set to open slightly higher, with SPI Futures indicating the market will open up 11 points.US markets were closed overnight for a public holiday.
Crude oil prices were up again, with Brent oil gaining 0.1% to US$61.59 per barrel, while iron ore was also up, gaining 3.3% to US$65.28 per tonne.
The Australian dollar is steady against the US dollar and is currently buying 77.7 US cents.
- Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) has reported an 81% fall in net profit and a 75% crash in operating cash flow for the half year, thanks to sliding iron ore prices. Surprisingly, the miner is still paying out a 3 cent dividend, down from 10 cents last year.The fall in operating cash flow is a major concern. Unless the commodity price recovers, the company may struggle to repay its huge debt pile.
- A slew of earnings results out today – including Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (ASX: CCL), Sonic Healthcare Limited (ASX: SHL), Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) first quarter results and Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF).
To find out details of each, The Motley Fool Australia team will be covering most companies in some detail on our website.
- Tweet of the Day
Car fleet manager SG Fleet says interim profit jumps 30pc to $19.7m #ausbiz https://t.co/hqSz78om2Z
Financial Review (@FinancialReview) February 16, 2015Overlooked and unloved? Could SG Fleet Group Ltd (ASX: SGF) be a bargain?
- Stock of the Day– brought to you by Tim McArthur – Cash Converters International Ltd (ASX: CCV). Tim suggests some of Cash Converters' competitors may be worth a closer look in this article.
