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) has opened 0.4% lower despite Wall Street hitting new all-time highs overnight.The Dow Jones rose 0.1%, while the broader S&P 500 gained 0.3% and the tech-heavy NASDAQ jumped 0.6%.
Oil prices were mixed with Brent Crude Oil down 0.8% at US$66.27 per barrel while WTI Crude was up 0.1% to US$59.48 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.)
Iron ore prices fell again, this time by 3.3% to US$59 per tonne.
The Australian dollar is steady against the US dollar and is currently buying 80.3 US cents.
- It was the fifth consecutive session of falls for iron ore, and we could see prices nearer US$45 in the near future. What that means for Atlas Iron Limited (ASX: AGO) is probably not good given the miner has just restarted operations, but is getting very close to becoming unprofitable again. Colleague Brendon Lau thinks Atlas will perform like a 'zombie' when it begins trading again.
- BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) spin-off South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) could have another volatile day of trading after listing on the ASX yesterday. It seems investors and analysts are having trouble valuing the company, and until South32 reports its first set of financial results, the share price could end up anywhere. You can read more on South32 here.
- Tweet of the Day
Performance of Motley Fool Services since their inception #stocks #investing pic.twitter.com/2QHyg28ESG
The Motley Fool Aust (@TheMotleyFoolAu) May 18, 2015 - Stock of the Day – brought to you by Regan Pearson – Santos Ltd (ASX: STO). The oil and gas producer is looking to increase its exposure to LNG. You can read more here.
