Welcome to Thursday. 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 slumped 0.3% lower, following the lead from US markets overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.9%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and the NASDAQ was down 0.8%.That follows seven days of gains, and as Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities told Bloomberg,
"The market is [being] driven by trader and investor emotion and sentiment."
Yes Fools, volatility continues in the markets, making decent dividend paying stocks even more important to ride out the storm.
- Speaking of dividends, the Motley Fool's newest service, Dividend Investor, has opened to the public. The services is focused solely on dividend-paying stocks, and with term deposit rates at rock bottom, fully franked, safe dividend yields are on offer at around double the interest rates on offer from some banks.You can read more here, including why our General Manager, Bruce Jackson, has committed to investing at least $100,000 of his own family's cash behind Motley Fool Dividend Investor stock picks.
- Mining services company Boart Longyear Limited (ASX: BLY) has secured a funding deal that should keep the company alive. Shares have soared 40% today to 21 cents, but investors will be asked to stump up more cash in a US$76 to US$84 million rights issue.While the company is alive to fight another day, shareholders are likely to be heavily diluted, and Foolish investors would do well to steer clear.
- Tweet of the Day
Private Equity sold $BLY a few years ago at $2 in IPO. Now buying it back for around $0.015 based on old price. Lesson for history #ausbiz
Peter Esho (@PeterEsho) October 22, 2014Sums up how Private Equity (PE) firms make their money, and why investors need to be wary of IPOs backed by PE companies.
- Stock of the Day – brought to you by Matt Joass – Medibank Private. The government-owned health insurer is expected to list on the ASX before the end of this year, and Matt highlights some of the points potential investors need to consider.
