Welcome to Wednesday. Here are the five things I'm looking at today on the Australian sharemarket.
- The S&P/ ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has opened 0.4% higher, after US markets managed to post mixed results. The Dow Jones was flat, while the S&P 500 gained 0.2% and the NASDAQ put on 0.3%.Oil prices continue to drag on energy stocks, with the WTI oil price at US$82.37 per barrel. Energy stocks in the S&P 500 have now lost 20% since June.
What is likely is continued volatility in the markets. If you're struggling to deal with it, we have a couple of articles that can help here and here.
- Iron ore miner Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) is tipped to beat its own production target. The miner has left its 2014 production guidance at 295 million tonnes, but produced 78 million tonnes in the September quarter, and could hit 300 million tonnes or more by the end of the year.
Rio is expanding production, despite the falling iron ore price, aiming for an annual run rate of 360 million tonnes per annum. With Rio's production costs the lowest in the world, the giant miner is still making a handy margin with iron ore at US$83 a tonne.
- US streaming giant Netflix has again indicated it could be arriving in Australia in 2015, a potentially huge threat to free-to-air broadcasters, Quickflix Ltd (ASX: QFX), Foxtel and a number of other streaming services.The key question will be – Will Netflix be able to offer the same huge library of content it has to Australian users as it currently does for US subscribers? Local content licencing deals may mean Netflix has less content and could struggle to compete, until it can build up its library.
- Tweet of the Day
: Rio's Sam Walsh: "…resulting in materially increased and consistent cash returns to shareholders". 2/2 #ausbiz (@carsonscottLIVE)
Sky News Business (@SkyBusiness) October 14, 2014
Is Rio planning in increasing dividends to shareholders? Certainly seems like it. - Stock of the Day – brought to you by Andrew Mudie – Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN). The consumer electronics, whitegoods and furniture retailer has been nominated as the most overpriced stock in the world – but is it really? Take a look here.
