Welcome to Friday. 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 0.6% higher, as US markets went nowhere overnight. The Down Jones fell 0.2%, while the broader S&P 500 was flat, and the NASDAQ gained 0.1%St Louis Federal Reserve Bank president James Bullard said overnight that US policy makers should consider delaying the end of bond purchases to halt the decline in inflation expectations. The US Fed is currently expected to end asset purchases after their next meeting, scheduled for the end of this month.
- BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) has done a 180 degree turn on its decision not to list its spinoff company on the London Stock Exchange.Giving in to European investors, the world's largest miner says it will now dual list the spinoff company on both the London and Australian Stock Exchanges, as well as a secondary listing on the South African stock exchange.It seems many fund managers would have been forced to sell shares in "NewCo", if it didn't have a London listing, potentially forcing NewCo's shares to fall dramatically when it listed.
You can read more of our current thoughts on BHP here.
- Oil and gas producer Santos Limited (ASX: STO) has seen its highest quarterly output in volume terms in seven years, mainly thanks to the start-up of the PNG Liquefied natural gas project. Santos holds a 13.5% stake in the project, led by ExxonMobil.The company also says its Gladstone LNG project is nearing 90% completion and remains on track and on budget for first exports in 2015. With a hand in three LNG projects, and a diversified oil and gas portfolio, Santos is one of my preferred plays in the oil and gas sector. With shares down 12% in the past month, this could be an opportunity for Foolish investors.
- Tweet of the Day
"Cloud computing has been around for years, but it's going to get even more interesting," says @Google's Alan Noble. https://t.co/6T1lLaiZfP
Financial Review (@FinancialReview) October 16, 2014
Cloud computing is on the rise – Alan Noble says "there is going be an explosion of devices, and cloud computing is going to be the one of the enablers."If you want to know how you could profit from one of the companies at the centre of cloud computing – see the Free video report below…
- Stock of the Day – brought to you by Matt Joass – Mighty River Power Ltd (ASX:MYT). Mighty River is one of New Zealand's largest electricity producers – with 98% coming from renewable energy sources. The company pays a nice dividend yield, although it's unfranked, and you can read more here.
