Welcome to Monday Fools. 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 lower after Wall Street fell on Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 0.8%, the broader S&P 500 dropped 0.6% and the tech-heavy NASDAQ brought up the rear with a fall of 0.4%.The Brent crude oil price fell on Friday, losing 4.2% to US$54.67 per barrel while iron ore fell 0.5% to US$57.66 per tonne.
The Australian dollar is lower and is currently buying 76.4 US cents.
- Will the BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) spin-off South32 be a success? It might help if the resources company starts off with low debt say investors – according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR).
Investors want South32 to begin with less than US$1.5 billion in debt, so it can make acquisitions and fund dividends.BHP is spinning off its non-core commodities operations into South32 to focus on its big five products of coal, iron ore, petroleum, copper and potash.
- Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has proposed a controversial media policy that would allow more mergers between Australian newspapers, TV networks and radio stations but protect the commercial stations domination of sports broadcasting.
News Corp (ASX: NWS) chairman Rupert Murdoch tweeted "Turnbull's plans to scrap certain rules suits buddies at Nine."News Corp owns 50% of pat-TV operator Foxtel, which has joined forces with US Discovery Communications to bid for Ten Network Holdings Limited (ASX: TEN), although there's no certainty the government will allow it – even if Ten accept the merger offer.
- Tweet of the Day
This sums up the Aussie property market so well!!! https://t.co/g1pb4DXqav
Henry Jennings (@henryj007) March 15, 2015Everything is fine while the system is humming along. What happens when it comes to an abrupt halt?
- Stock of the Day– is actually two stocks today, brought to you by Ryan Newman – TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPM) and iiNet Limited (ASX: IIN). 10 things you need to know about the takeover offer for iiNet here.
