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 opened 0.4% higher despite Wall Street slipping overnight.The Dow Jones fell 0.15%, while the broader S&P 500 lost 0.1% and the tech-heavy NASDAQ closed flat.
Oil prices were mixed with Brent Crude Oil up 1.5% at US$64.99 per barrel while WTI Crude was flat at US$58.98 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 continue to fall, this time losing 2.4% to US$57.12 per tonne overnight.
The Australian dollar is falling against the US dollar and is currently buying 78.7 US cents.
- Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) will likely feel the pain today, thanks to the sliding iron ore price, but more bad news could be in store.China has not only removed the ban on Vale's 'Valemax' giant ore carriers, but the Brazilian miner has also sold 4 of the ships to Chinese companies, to carry ore from Brazil to China. China has also invested US$4 billion so Vale can increase its production by another 90 million tonnes of high quality, and ultra-low cost iron ore.
- Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) says it is on track to achieve US$800 million in cost savings by the end of 2016, and announced that it has the balance sheet ready to invest in further acquisitions.
Woodside is also expected to begin engineering and design work on its Browse floating LNG project shortly. - Tweet of the Day
$CBA unit #Bankwest imposes loan-to-valuation on investor mortgages of 80pc. #ausbiz. https://t.co/ZA9PbW4gbi via @FinancialReview
Financial Review (@FinancialReview) May 20, 2015And so it starts. Banks might also be worried about a bubble in the housing market, particularly in Western Australia.
- Stock of the Day – brought to you by Tim McArthur – Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC). The hospital operator has made a soft entry into the Chinese market with a joint venture, but it could be the start of something huge.
