On Wednesday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) had a day to remember. The benchmark raced 1.65% higher to 7,178.4 points. Will the market be able to build on this on Thursday? Here are five things to watch: ASX 200 expected to fall The Australian share market looks set to open the day lower on Thursday following a mixed night on Wall Street. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open 20 points or 0.3% lower this morning. In late trade on Wall Street, the Dow Jones is up 0.1%, the S&P 500 is down 0.1%, and the NASDAQ is 0.1% lower. Rio Tinto named ..read more

There is one S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) stock that's going absolutely gangbusters but is hardly spoken about. Believe it or not, the Neuren Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: NEU) share price has gained 118% in the past year. Just in the past six weeks the healthcare stock has rocketed more than 53%. The analysts at the Elvest Fund are fans, and explained what's going on. "Neuren Pharmaceuticals, a leading pharmaceutical company focused on neurodevelopmental disorders, rallied following the release of better than expected quarterly sales results," read their memo to clients. "Neuren receives roy ..read more

Honestly, there are not many better places to retire than Australia. That's because our country has some of the best dividend stocks in the world. This is no fluke. ASX-listed companies are heavily incentivised to return capital back to shareholders via dividends than other methods, such as buybacks. The incentive is Australia's tax laws that prevent double taxation of dividends. If a company has paid corporate tax on its profits, dividends coming out of that are accompanied by franking credits. Investors with these franking credits do not have to pay income tax on that income because corpora ..read more

The Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) share price is up 121% in 2023, more than doubling an investment made less than a year ago. The resurgence places the electric vehicle maker's valuation back under the microscope for some, attracting US$22 billion worth of short-selling. Indeed, there is currently no shortage of pessimism surrounding Tesla's future. A quick Google search will yield stories discussing the polarising nature of the Cybertruck and its potential unpopularity, the pressure to provide collective bargaining rights to employees, and the ever-present concern of competition. The latest pric ..read more

Thankfully the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to give Australians a Christmas present by leaving interest rates well alone this week. eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert reckons governor Michele Bullock's stance has softened somewhat since she started in the hot seat in September. "I expected to see a slightly tougher tone than we got, but it was somewhat dovish, pointing towards progress on inflation and a peak in weak growth," he said. "For now, the market may view last month's hike as insurance, as [Tuesday's] pause and statement signal good news for the end of this cycle." So while we he ..read more

Some investors experience cognitive dissonance when a business that's seemingly doing well sees its share price plunge. But it happens all the time. The cold hard mathematical fact is that the share price has zero correlation to the business.  It is merely formed by supply and demand for the ASX stock — how much someone is willing to sell it for, which is acceptable to someone else willing to buy it.  So at any given time there are bargains on the bourse that could shoot up when the market realises it's underappreciating the underlying company. Here's one current example from the te ..read more

It was back to the races for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) and most ASX shares this Wednesday. After yesterday's falls, the ASX 200 bounced back up significantly this session. By the close of trading, the index had soared a pleasing 1.65% all the way up to 7,178.4 points. This return to form for the Australian share market comes after a more mixed night up on Wall Street for the American Tuesday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) had another disappointing time, dropping by 0.22%. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: .IXIC) went the other way, rising ..read more

S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares are not all created equally. Each have their own unique strengths and weaknesses that will impact how they perform during different market dynamics. Growth stocks, for example, are priced with future earnings in mind and generally do better in times of low or falling interest rates. The impact of exchange rates Among the broader defining characteristics, some ASX 200 shares tend to perform better when the Aussie dollar is relatively weaker against global currencies, like the all-important US greenback. While others tend to see their profits tick ..read more

One of the great things about the share market is being able to find ASX dividend stocks that pay large dividend yields. Some offer yields that are better than term deposits and also offer the potential of capital growth. Not every business pays a dividend yield of at least 7%. It takes a combination of good cash flow and profit for the business, a generous dividend payout ratio and a good valuation. There are some companies with a long track record of consecutive annual dividend growth, such as Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL), but it doesn't have a very large yield. The t ..read more

If you want to add some tech sector exposure to your portfolio this month, then it could be worth checking out the ASX tech shares listed below. Here's why these three shares have been named as buys: Macquarie Technology Group Ltd (ASX: MAQ) Macquarie Technology could be an ASX tech share to buy in December. Goldman Sachs likes the cloud, data centre, cyber security, and telecommunications company due largely to its growing data centre business. It expects this side of the business to benefit from "a third wave of demand for data centre providers in Australia as GenAI workloads shift f ..read more