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 followed Wall Street higher in early trading, rising 0.1%.
In the US, the Dow Jones gained 0.5% as did the broader S&P 500 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ recorded a second consecutive 0.4% gain.
Oil prices were mixed, with Brent Crude Oil rising 1.1% to US$62.73 per barrel while WTI Crude was flat at US$56.16 per barrel. (WTI stands for West Texas Intermediate and is the benchmark oil price in the US while the Brent crude oil price is more widely used in Europe.)The Australian dollar is up slightly against the US dollar and is currently buying 77.5 US cents.
- National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) and some other major banks have been accused in Fairfax media reports of bypassing the banking regulator's recommended lending standards. According to the newspaper, banks are meant to stress test borrowers' ability to repay loans if mortgage rates hit 7%. Fairfax says it has a confidential NAB calculator that uses the current mortgage rate – which could be as low as 4.29%.That could mean that when interest rates start to rise, a number of borrowers won't have the capacity to repay their loans.
- Iron ore prices surged overnight by 5.9% to US$54.04 per tonne, after BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) announced that it was slowing down its rush to a production target of 290 million tonnes. BHP still expects to produce 230 million tonnes this financial year. But it may be too little too late for junior Atlas Iron Limited (ASX: AGO), which is expected to meet its creditors in the US this week to avoid administration.
- Tweet of the Day
Aussie banks not properly testing our ability to repay loans https://t.co/hoWW1LamlO and https://t.co/3o8hCLCG0p
christopher joye (@cjoye) April 22, 2015 - Stock of the Day – brought to you by Regan Pearson – Senex Energy Ltd (ASX: SXY). Huge reserves and a tiny share price mean this oil and gas producer could be one to watch. Find out more here.
