It’s a bloodbath among S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) mining shares today, with many of the market’s biggest materials stocks tumbling.

Stock in resources giant BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) is plummeting 2.1% at the time of writing.

Its heavyweight peers, Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG), are also suffering. Their share prices have fallen 1.45% and 2.2%, respectively.

So, what’s weighing on most of the market’s favourite ASX 200 mining shares today? Let’s take a look.

ASX 200 mining shares tumble on Wednesday

The ASX 200 is suffering on Wednesday, having fallen 1.4% right now. And the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) is among its worst performing sectors.

The materials sector is currently down 1.69%, with only a few stocks defying its sell-off.

Lithium stocks Lake Resources NL (ASX: LKE) and Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) are currently in the green, lifting 1.66 and 1.67% respectively.

The share prices of Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: LYC), Incitec Pivot Ltd (ASX: IPL), and Orora Ltd (ASX: ORA) are also gaining, having risen 0.89%, 0.68%, and 0.31% respectively.

But, aside from a select few, most ASX 200 mining shares are tumbling lower.

Their suffering follows a rough night for commodity prices. While certain base metals, including copper, lead, and nickel, posted slight gains overnight, iron ore slumped.

Iron ore futures fell 0.9% to US$97.61 a tonne amid continuing reports of COVID-induced lockdowns and restrictions in China. Gold futures, however, lifted 0.6% to US$1,712.90 per ounce.

Today’s worst performing ASX 200 mining share is Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX: CHN). Its share price has dumped 12.13% at the time of writing.

The post Why are ASX 200 mining shares getting blasted on Wednesday? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• The Fortescue share price has cratered 13% in a week. What’s going on?
• Could this be a blow to the fortunes of Fortescue Future Industries?
• Own BHP shares? Here’s how much the ASX 200 giant added to the Aussie economy in FY22
• What are brokers saying about the BHP share price?
• Rio Tinto share price lower despite Turquoise Hill agreement

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) price is taking a tumble.

The world’s number two crypto by market cap is currently trading for US$1,508 (AU$2,246), down 8.2% since this time yesterday.

That puts Ethereum down 60% year to date and leaves the token with a market valuation of US$184 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Why is the Ethereum price falling?

It’s far from just the Ethereum price that’s falling.

In fact, only two of the top 100 cryptos by market cap are in the green over the past 24 hours.

This again mirrors the action we’re seeing across other risk assets.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ, a good proxy for investor risk appetite, fell for a seventh consecutive trading day yesterday (overnight Aussie time), closing down 0.7%. And futures indicate the index is in for another decline tomorrow.

The NASDAQ is now down 27.1% in 2022, a bit less than half the Ethereum price loss.

The reason, as you’re likely aware, remains investor concerns about high inflation, fast-rising interest rates, and possible recessions looming in the United States and European Union. None of which look to benefit cryptos or other risk assets in the short-term.

What about the Merge?

The Ethereum price has been outperforming the likes of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) over the past few months as investors eye the upcoming Merge, slated for 15 September.

The first stage of the process went live yesterday.

If you’re not familiar, the Merge will see the Ethereum blockchain transition from proof of work (POW) to proof of stake (POS). Under POS, a much smaller number of validators will stake some of their Ether holdings to verify transactions and secure the blockchain.

Supporters say it will be faster, cheaper, and use far less energy than the current POW protocol.

Many crypto investors are also hoping it will offer some sustained tailwinds for the Ethereum price.

Though that remains to be seen.

Commenting on the Merge, eToro’s market analyst and crypto expert Simon Peters said:

With the Merge just over a week away, many are now starting to speculate as to how the blockchain will operate – and how successfully – moving forward. However, some analysts now expect the switch to proof of stake to lower its energy consumption, potentially by 99%. For context, this would equate to the electricity consumption of Portugal.

The post The Ethereum price just dropped 8% despite Merge progression appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• The Bitcoin price just fell below US$19,000 What’s happening?
• 3 reasons to invest in Ethereum right now
• Will Ethereum still be a buy after the merge?
• Is El Salvador’s great Bitcoin experiment fizzling or just getting started?
• September could be a crucial month for these 2 cryptocurrencies

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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When investors think of Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) shares, they may think of businesses like Bunnings, Kmart, and Officeworks.

But, there are plenty of other businesses within the company including Target, Catch, Priceline, and a number of other businesses.

And investors shouldn’t discount those other business segments because they’re actually already making significant profits for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) share.

Strong growth in FY22 from unsung businesses

The 2022 financial year was such a strong showing that one of the non-retail segments generated more profit than Kmart Group.

In FY22, Bunnings generated $2.2 billion of earnings before tax (EBT) and $945 million in the second half of FY22.

Kmart and Target saw $505 million of EBT (down 31.7%) in FY22 and $283 million (up 19.4%) in the second half.

Officeworks reported FY22 EBT of $181 million (down 14.6%) and $99 million in the second half (down 11.6%).

Now let’s look at some of the unsung businesses.

Wesfarmers chemicals, energy, and fertilisers (WesCEF) saw “record earnings”, with a strong operational performance and higher global commodity prices. Full-year EBT jumped 40.6% to $540 million while second-half EBT climbed 43.8% to $322 million. As this shows, it was the second biggest profit generator for Wesfarmers, only behind Bunnings. The segment is certainly growing in importance for Wesfarmers shares.

Meanwhile, the industrial and safety division saw a “continued improvement in performance and profitability”. There was sales growth and additional operating efficiencies, as well as increased demand from Coregas healthcare and industrial customers. FY22 EBT grew 31.4% to $92 million while second-half earnings soared 54.5% to $51 million.

Is there more growth to come?

It has been a strong period for WesCEF, benefiting from a favourable ammonia price and continued strong demand from mining customers. Wesfarmers is currently working on its lithium project called Mt Holland, with WesCEF playing an important part in the development. Managing director Rob Scott said:

We see WesCEF as an important driver of long term growth and the team continued to progress capacity expansion opportunities this year. Good progress also continued on the development of the Mount Holland lithium project, with the village and aerodrome completed and pre-strip mining and the construction of the concentrator and refinery advancing. The WesCEF lithium team is progressing discussions with key customers which continue to be supported by very strong market fundamentals.

When Wesfarmers announced its FY22 result, the company also said that the chemicals business is expected to continue benefiting from strong global commodity prices, with strong demand from the WA mining sector expected to continue. It will continue to progress engineering studies evaluating production capacity expansions.

In the fertilisers business, good 2022 seasonal conditions are reflected in “positive grower sentiment”, though high fertiliser input prices may “moderate application rates in 2023”.

Regarding its lithium exposure, Wesfarmers said that construction activity continues, while lithium market fundamentals remain favourable, underpinned by the growing demand for battery electric vehicles. Meanwhile, negotiations to supply lithium hydroxide to key counterparties are underway.

The outlook for the industrial and safety businesses are focused on “driving improvements in performance and profitability, strengthening the customer value proposition and executing new growth opportunities”, the company says.

It seems like Wesfarmers is building a strong earnings base away from retail, which is useful as Australia goes through an uncertain environment for retailers.

Wesfarmers share price snapshot

Over the last six months, Wesfarmers shares are down around 5%.

The post Could these ‘little’ businesses be a secret weapon for Wesfarmers shares? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Are ‘cracks starting to show’ for ASX 200 retail shares?
• Should all ASX investors be buying defensive shares right now?
• Down 20% so far this year, is the Wesfarmers share price a screaming bargain?
• How I’d invest $50,000 in ASX dividend shares for retirement, if I had to start from scratch
• Is the Wesfarmers share price a buy following the company’s latest results?

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Wesfarmers Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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It’s been a rather horrible day for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) so far this Wednesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is awash with red ink, banking a nasty loss of 1.45% at just over 6,720 points.

But let’s not dwell to long on that. So instead, it’s time to check out the ASX shares currently at the top of the ASX 200’s share trading volume charts, according to investing.com.

The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Wednesday

Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)

Our first ASX 200 share today is the blue-chip telco Telstra. So far this Wednesday, a hefty 21.34 million Telstra shares have been connected to a new owner. There hasn’t been too much in the way of news or announcements out of Telstra today.

So we can probably pin this elevated volume on the volatility we have seen in the telco’s shares during the current session. At present, Telstra is flat at yesterday’s closing price of $3.89 a share, belying its previous hive of activity. But the company initially opened in the green this morning before falling all the way down to $3.84.

Lake Resources NL (ASX: LKE)

ASX 200 lithium share Lake Resources is next up this Wednesday. So far today, a sizeable 22.95 million Lake shares have been bought and sold. This could be a byproduct of the news that the company put out this morning.

As my Fool colleague Brooke dug into this morning, Lake Resources has named a new CEO and managing director in David Dickson. Investors seem to approve of the new leader, with the Lake Resources share price up a robust 2.07% so far today to $1.23 a share. This looks to be the cause of the high volumes we see.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

Last but certainly not least, in terms of trading volume, we have the ASX 200 lithium producer Pilbara Minerals. Pilbara has seen a whopping 24.8 million of its shares trade hands on the markets as it currently stands.

This looks like a consequence of the new record-high Pilbara printed this morning. As we covered earlier today, Pilbara shares hit a new record high of $4.03 around lunchtime. The company has since cooled and is now at $3.94 a share, down 0.51% for the day so far. But there’s little doubt the elevated trading volumes we are witnessing can be pinned on this new high.

The post Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 2 ASX All Ordinaries shares that defied today’s sell-off to crack new highs
• Why is the Lake Resources share price outperforming on Wednesday?
• Worst month of the year? The Pilbara Minerals share price has already hit 2 all-time highs in September
• Brokers name 2 ASX 200 shares to buy for a retirement portfolio
• Why did the Sayona Mining share price shoot 6% higher today?

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Telstra Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) price is down 5.6% over the past 24 hours.

The world’s top crypto is currently trading for US$18,714 (AU$27,893).

With the Bitcoin price down 61% year to date, the token’s market cap now stands at US$358.7 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

That’s a far cry from the US$1.3 trillion market valuation BTC commanded at its peak on 10 November last year.

In fact, with the vast majority of altcoins also sharply lower, the total crypto-sphere market cap has sunk below the US$1 trillion mark.

So, what’s going on?

Why is the Bitcoin price in retreat?

Bitcoin and most all altcoins, stablecoins aside, have been trading in line with risk assets throughout 2022.

And risk assets have taken a drubbing as leading central banks pivot from a decade of accommodative monetary policies to aggressive tightening as inflation rates across the globe skyrocket.

In US markets, the tech-heavy NASDAQ fell 0.7% yesterday (overnight Aussie time). That’s the seventh day of losses in a row for the index. The NASDAQ is now down 27.1% year to date.

And it’s looking increasingly likely that the world’s top economy may slip into recession.

A note out of Blackrock cautioned, “We think getting inflation back to central bank targets means crushing demand with a recession. That’s bad news for risk assets in the near term.”

And bad news for the Bitcoin price as well.

According to head of investment insights at IDEG Asset Management Kevin Loo (courtesy of Bloomberg):

The macro narrative is very hard to be able to let go and will drive risk assets. Bitcoin is below $20,000. We have been here before and it’s likely that we could actually go slightly lower.

A buying opportunity?

However, the big Bitcoin price falls are seen as a buying opportunity by some crypto investors.

“Under the hood, moreover, I think you’re seeing institutions gobble up coins when BTC drops below $20,000,” founder of GOGO Protocol Garry Krugljakow said.

Loo also remains bullish on the long-term outlook for the world’s original crypto.

“Bitcoin was at $3,000 in the first crypto winter and if you measure trough to trough, the trend is we are heading higher in the longer term,” he said.

The post The Bitcoin price just fell below US$19,000 What’s happening? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 3 reasons to invest in Ethereum right now
• Is El Salvador’s great Bitcoin experiment fizzling or just getting started?
• Why did the Dogecoin price tumble 12% in August?
• The Bitcoin price tanked 15% in August. Here’s why
• Why the Bitcoin price was struggling today

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Australian market is tumbling today following a poor session on Wall Street overnight, with the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) recording a 1.43% fall at the time of writing. But not all ASX All Ordinaries shares are suffering.

We’ve rounded up two that are not only outperforming today but have lifted to new all-time highs.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the ASX All Ordinaries shares that resisted the worst of today’s sell-off.

2 ASX All Ordinaries shares breaking records on Wednesday

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

Stock in Pilbara Minerals is outperforming today. It rocketed to its highest point ever earlier today –reaching a high of $4.03 a share. That marked a 1.76% gain on its previous close.

It comes after JP Morgan analyst Lydon Fagan reportedly upped the broker’s price target for the ASX All Ordinaries share and its expectations for lithium prices earlier this week.

Pilbara Minerals’ stock is now tipped to lift to $4.10 – representing an upside of more than 4% on its current level, The Australian reported.

The company also reported its maiden profit just over a fortnight ago.

Sadly, the stock hasn’t held onto its gains. The Pilbara Minerals share price is currently trading at $3.935, 0.63% lower than its previous close.

Yancoal Australia Ltd (ASX: YAL)

The Yancoal share price also rocketed to a record high today. It struck $6.88 in early morning trade, representing a 2.5% gain.

The stock has been on the up and up lately, alongside many other ASX energy shares, amid news from Europe.

The Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which transports gas from Russia to Germany, was shut indefinitely over the weekend.

That will likely cause demand for coal and gas to soar as Europe’s winter approaches, thereby pushing up energy commodity prices.

Stock in the ASX All Ordinaries share has slipped into the red this afternoon. It’s currently trading at $6.67, 0.6% lower than its previous close.

The post 2 ASX All Ordinaries shares that defied today’s sell-off to crack new highs appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Worst month of the year? The Pilbara Minerals share price has already hit 2 all-time highs in September
• Why did the Sayona Mining share price shoot 6% higher today?
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• Why Karoon Energy, Pilbara Minerals, PointsBet, and Whitehaven Coal are rising
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Tuesday

JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Tennant Minerals Ltd (ASX: TMS) share price is breaking serious ground in Monday afternoon trade. It comes after the company posted drilling results from its Bluebird Discovery site in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Shares of the copper and gold exploration company trade for 4.6 cents and are up 15% for the day. Tennant Minerals shares previously closed for 4 cents each.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) is in the red today, losing 2%.

Let’s go over the highlights of the discovery.

What did Tennant Minerals discover?

Drilling found “exceptionally high-grade copper-gold sulphide intersections”. This included significant deposits of chalcocite containing copper grades up to 54.5% purity and gold grades of approximately 39 grams per tonne.

Tennant Minerals chair Matthew Driscoll commented on the discovery:

The latest thick and high-grade copper and gold intersections from our Bluebird diamond drilling program are a real breakthrough. The recognition that the majority of the high-grade copper mineralisation is in sulphides has given impetus to our down hole EM program, to detect extensions to this high-grade copper-gold discovery. We have also commenced an IP geophysical survey over Bluebird to fingerprint the copper sulphide mineralisation, which will help us prioritise the up to 12 geophysical targets within the Bluebird-Perseverance Target Zone for drill-testing. This will give us even more confidence that Bluebird is just one of several high-grade copper and gold deposits awaiting discovery within the Company’s broader Barkly Project.

Assay results are pending for two more completed holes, as drilling intersected hematite and visible copper sulphide mineralisation.

The price of gold is down 0.38% today, while copper is up 0.7%, according to Markets Insider.

Tennant Minerals share price snapshot

The Tennant Minerals share price is up 31.4% year to date. Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 9.66% over the same period.

The company’s market capitalisation is $28.36 million.

The post This ASX mining share is soaring 15% on a ‘breakthrough’ discovery appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 2 ASX All Ordinaries shares that defied today’s sell-off to crack new highs
• When the bear market lows will arrive: Morgan Stanley
• Qantas share price falls alongside ASX 200 despite surging airfares
• Down 25% this year, is the Betashares Asia Technology Tigers ETF (ASIA) cheap?
• Are Incitec Pivot shares set for a demerger?

Motley Fool contributor Matthew Farley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Today’s nasty dip in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) reminds us that we are still in a tough time for ASX shares. A bear market is defined as a period following a 20% or more decline from an index’s last all-time high. It’s only over once markets have lifted 20% from a new low.

Now, the ASX 200 Index is not yet in a bear market. That doesn’t mean the 15.1% or so drop that the ASX 200 suffered between August 2021 and June 2022 wasn’t painful.

However, the flagship US S&P 500 Index (INDEXSP: .INX) is in a bear market right now. The S&P 500 last peaked in late December 2021. But by mid-June, it had fallen by roughly 23%. Since it’s only up around 6% or so from those lows, the S&P 500 is still in bear market territory.

Now, we Australians might claim a victory in that our index, the ASX 200, is not in a bear market, while the US S&P 500 is. But remember, the ASX 200 and the US markets are incredibly correlated. So this victory might well prove to be a pyrrhic one. Especially if the US markets experience another downturn.

Well, time to bring in what one expert investor reckons.

Morgan Stanley: The bear market isn’t over just yet

According to reporting in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) today, Morgan Stanley reckons that investors haven’t seen the worst of the US bear market just yet.

Morgan Stanley’s chief equity strategist Mike Wilson has predicted that “slowing economic growth will become a bigger concern for stocks than inflation or the Federal Reserve were in the first half of this year”.

As such, he sees the S&P 500 heading even lower over the rest of the year:

While acknowledging the poor performance in equities year-to-date, we do not think the bear market is over if our earnings forecasts are correct…

More specifically, we think the lows for this bear market will likely arrive in the fourth quarter with 3400 [points on the S&P 500 Index] the minimum downside and 3000 the low if a recession arrives (in line with our well-established base and bear case tactical views, respectively).

From there, we think prices will recover to our base (3900) or bear (3350) case June 2023 targets. In the very near term, if back-end rates fall, stocks may hold up or even rally until later this month when QT potentially increases and earnings estimates are likely revised lower.

So this is potentially terrible news for ASX shares if Wilson’s predictions come true. It’s hard to see the ASX 200 holding up if the S&P 500 does indeed sink to 4,400 points or lower (it’s currently just over 3,900 points).

Short-term pains, long-term gains?

But it’s also worth pointing out that these are just short-term predictions. No one, not even Warren Buffett, knows what is going to happen in the short term, whether that’s on the ASX 200 or the S&P 500.

And the best investors know that it’s the long term we should all be focusing on, not the short term. Let’s leave with some thoughts on that matter from our own chief investment officer Scott Phillips from last month:

The time to buy – to get real value – is when others aren’t. When the value of the business’ future profits is being ignored by investors. Times like, well, perhaps now…

If I’m right, and the future is bright for democratic capitalism (and for the ASX and many, perhaps most, of the companies listed on our bourse), then this is the time you want to be investing.

Not because I know it’s the bottom. Not because shares can’t fall further. But because if the future is brighter than the present, waiting would, on average, seem counterproductive, no?

The post When the bear market lows will arrive: Morgan Stanley appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Qantas share price falls alongside ASX 200 despite surging airfares
• Down 25% this year, is the Betashares Asia Technology Tigers ETF (ASIA) cheap?
• Are Incitec Pivot shares set for a demerger?
• Why is the Woodside share price on the slide today?
• Why is the Santos share price slipping on Wednesday?

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Incitec Pivot Ltd (ASX: IPL) share price has had a rough trot over the past week, deflating by 6.8%. Although, the bulk of the downward ride followed the release of Incitec’s investor day presentation yesterday.

Heading into Wednesday afternoon, shares in the explosives and fertiliser company are a touch away from trading flat. However, that means the Incitec Pivot share price is actually faring better than the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). At last glance, the benchmark is 1.3% into a deep red display today.

Nevertheless, the looming question is: will Incitec Pivot split into two?

If management has their way

Yesterday, fund managers and investors were treated to Incitec Pivot’s investor day. The event foreshadows the unveiling of the company’s full-year results on 15 November. Though, looking at the presentation, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a sales pitch for the separation of Incitec’s two businesses.

At 121 pages long, the presentation was an in-depth unpacking of the benefits of pulling apart the explosives division from the fertiliser segment. Of those 121 pages, 95 of them were dedicated to detailing future growth strategies and value unlocking opportunities for each separate component.

I’ll save you the arduous task of thumbing through all of those slides. The main point made by managing director Jeanne Johns and the team was that a separately spun-off explosives company — Dyno Nobel — would be able to relish in a more premium price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio.

Slide 22, as shown above, hits home this point from the Incitec Pivot management team. They believe that the market values the entire company on the more conservative multiple, irrespective of where each segment is in the cycle.

For this reason, management is adamant that a split would benefit shareholders. Speaking of which, shareholders will have the final say next year if the scheme receives board and regulatory approval.

How has the Incitec Pivot share price performed?

Despite management’s discontent with the earnings multiple, the Incitec Pivot share price has performed strongly so far this year.

In 2022, shares in the company have appreciated by 14.2% during a challenging period for most companies. However, the real question will be whether this impressive performance can hold up post-earnings in November.

The post Are Incitec Pivot shares set for a demerger? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why Breville, Incitec Pivot, Magellan, and Super Retail shares are dropping
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Tuesday
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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It’s been a fairly awful day of trading for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) so far this Wednesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has lost a nasty 1.4% and is back below 6,730 points. Ouch.

But it’s even worse for the Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) share price.

Woodside shares have copped a drilling today, no way around it. At present, the ASX 200 energy giant has lost a painful 3% and is back down to $34 a share.

So what’s going on here that could explain such a decisive underperformance of the broader market?

Why is the Woodside share price tanking on Wednesday?

Well, there’s been no news or announcements out of the company itself, so we can rule that out. We can also rule out an ex-dividend date, seeing as Woodside is scheduled to trade ex-div for its upcoming final dividend tomorrow.

So let’s look at what is happening with the oil markets. As an ASX oil share, the oil price itself is often the most consequential driver of the Woodside share price.

Well, lo and behold, oil has been under the pump recently. As my Fool colleague James covered this morning, last night saw the WTI crude oil price fall by 0.2% to US$86.69 a barrel. The Brent crude oil price also dropped 3.3% to US$92.61 a barrel.

This is probably the most likely explanation for why Woodside shares are having such a shocker today. Further supporting this theory, we are also seeing other ASX energy shares take hits today as well.

Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) shares have lost 1.76% to $7.80 so far today. While Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) is down by an even more painful 4.2% at $1.69 a share.

So it looks as though the entire ASX oil sector is feeling the pain this Wednesday.

No doubt, investors will be hoping for a brighter end to the trading week.

At the current Woodside share price, this ASX 200 oil share has a market capitalisation of $64.7 billion, with a dividend yield of 9.17%.

The post Why is the Woodside share price on the slide today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Hoping to pocket the monster Woodside dividend? Read this
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
• What happened to Woodside shares on Tuesday?
• ‘We would like to see faster progress’: ASX 200 energy shares on notice
• The Woodside share price has gained under 5% in 10 years. Does the latest monster dividend make up for this?

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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