5 things you need to know about the Australian sharemarket today

Welcome to Wednesday. Here are the five things I'm looking at today on the Australian sharemarket.

1. The S&P/ ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has opened 0.2% lower in early trading, despite mixed leads from Wall Street overnight.In the US, the Dow Jones gained 0.4%, the broader S&P 500 rose 0.3%, but the tech-heavy NASDAQ recorded a 0.1% fall.

   Oil prices dipped, with Brent Crude Oil losing 0.3% to US$64.64 per barrel while WTI Crude also fell 0.3%, to US$56.92 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 has surged higher against the US dollar and is currently buying 80.2 US cents.

2. David Murray, the head of the Financial System Inquiry says supermarket operators Coles – owned by Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES), and Woolworths Limited (ASX: WOW) could easily provide more banking competition. Coles and Woolies already offer some financial products such as insurance, credit and prepaid cards, and Coles has already applied for a banking license. The big four banks have a virtual stranglehold on Australia's residential mortgage lending with estimates of up to, or even beyond 80% market share.
3. Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) says it has received nearly 30,000 claims as a result of the NSW storms early last week. The insurer says it expects the net cost to the group will be around $250 million. IAG has also revised its net natural peril claim cost assumption to $1 billion, up from $700 million prior. That is thanks to increased claims associated with Cyclone Marcia in February this year and an additional $50 million for the hail storm activity in Sydney over last weekend.
4. Tweet of the Day
   

   Westpac warns investors dividend payouts have peaked. https://t.co/BauuiH6ur9 pic.twitter.com/mvSSeRfUQk

   Australian Shares (@AustSharesAssoc) April 28, 2015

   We sound like a broken record on this but have been saying so for some time now. Time for investors to look elsewhere for yield.

5. Stock of the Day – brought to you by Owen Raskiewicz – Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ). Thinking of buying shares in ANZ? Then you need to read this.