Where interest rates go, so do stock markets.

Overnight, the US Federal Reserve indicated it was prepared to keep lifting interest rates to tame inflation but was wary of overcooking it, potentially sending the US economy into recession.

“… there are signs some officials are getting a little nervous that they could end up going too hard and may need to reverse course eventually,” said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, in a note quoted on Marketwatch.

Initially, the markets liked what they were seeing, looking ahead to the days when interest rates would be cut.

But then a dose of reality hit as traders remembered, before then, it will still take some super-sized increases in interest rates to tame inflation running at 8.5%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) snapped a five-day winning streak, falling 170 points, or 0.5%. The NASDAQ-100 Index (NASDAQ: NDX) fell 164 points or 1.3% as traders took profits in growth stocks.

Naturally, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) followed the lead of US markets and was lower in early afternoon Thursday trade as coal and oil stocks rose, offsetting falls in tech and gold stocks. Never a straight line…

Has the market bottomed?

The big bad bears at Bank of America think markets haven’t bottomed, despite the Dow having jumped 17% higher since its June low and the ASX 200 having gained a more modest 10%.

“Only 30% of our bull market signposts [things that happen before a market bottom] have been triggered versus 80% or more in prior market bottoms,” the bank’s equity and quant strategist, Savita Subramanian, said in the AFR.

Based on his ‘Rule of 20’, the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio should be 11 and not 20. 

At a time when earnings are falling and therefore P/E ratios are rising, the market could fall 50% from here, according to Bank of America’s rule.

A fall of that magnitude would entail some capitulation. I’ll happily take the other side of that bet and say markets won’t fall 50%.

A glass half-full perspective

I’m always a glass-half-full person when it comes to the stock market. My ‘Rule of One’ (the one being me) is if markets rise, I’m happy as my existing portfolio gains. If markets fall, I’m happy too as it allows me to buy some companies on the cheap.

Which reminds me of a quote from billionaire investor Charlie Munger…

“If you’re going to be in this game for the long pull, which is the way to do it, you better be able to handle a 50% decline without fussing too much about it.”

Take that, Bank of America!

Cheap ASX shares ahoy

Finding cheap stocks amongst the ASX 200 is no easy feat. 

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) on a P/E of 18? No thanks.

CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) on a P/E of 40? No thanks.

Mega-cap mining stocks like BHP Group (ASX:BHP) and Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) are cheap and are trading on bumper, fully-franked dividend yields, but this is the top of the cycle, historically not a great time to be buying mining companies.

That said, the Fortescue share price has hardly set the world on fire over the past 12 months, down 11%, lagging the return of the ASX 200. The market might have already priced “the top of the cycle” into the stock. 

On a trailing basis, Fortescue shares trade on a fully-franked dividend yield of more than 15%. That yield will come down once the iron ore giant reports full-year results, including its final dividend, on Monday, 29 August but is likely to still be at elevated levels.

A play on Fortescue is a play on the iron ore price, which is a play on China, which is also partly a play on the global economy. If only stock picking was easy…

Where to turn

When looking for cheap stocks, I prefer the small end of the market. Not only can you find companies that are growing quickly, but they are also often overlooked by fund managers because they are either too small to move the dial and/or too illiquid to buy and sell. All of which means small and microcap companies can trade at dirt cheap prices.

As I mentioned yesterday, one of my microcap holdings – MSL Solutions (ASX: MSL) – was announcing results today. The leading SaaS technology provider to the sports, leisure, and hospitality sectors reported bumper revenue growth of 37% and a 70% increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA), both nicely above expectations. 

Frustratingly for shareholders and management, the MSL Solutions share price has hardly budged in Thursday trade, up just half a cent or 3% to 17 cents, still a long way from its 28 cent 52-week high.

Microcap investing can be a game of patience. And one that requires diversification, if nothing more than to relieve the boredom of waiting for the market to recognise what you think are results worthy of reward.

To stop me from getting bored, I’ve put plenty more irons in the fire, including one microcap that’s trading on just 2.5 times its recently upgraded EBITDA forecast. I’m hoping its results will be greeted by more than a passing yawn. 

The post Here’s why one big bad bear is suggesting the stock market could crash by 50% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• An ASX 200 market darling in the past, but don’t expect fireworks from the CSL share price going forward

Motley Fool contributor Bruce Jackson has positions in MSL Solutions Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended CSL Ltd. 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 a good day to be invested in S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) coal shares, as those involved in the commodity defy the broader market’s downturn.

The share prices of Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) and New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC) are both outperforming. Take a look:

• The Whitehaven share price is currently up 2.36%, trading at $6.94
• That of New Hope is up 3.61%, with the stock swapping hands for $4.735 apiece

That leaves the companies among the best performers on the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ). The sector is currently up 1.76%, making it the market’s best-performing sector.

Meanwhile, the broader ASX 200 is sliding 0.33% right now, breaking a three-session winning streak.

So, what might be driving ASX 200 coal shares higher on Thursday? Let’s take a look.

ASX 200 coal shares lift amid fears of energy shortage

ASX 200 coal shares are lifting amid reports European coal futures surged overnight on concerns an energy shortage could soon become a reality on the continent. One major cause appears to be drought.

French utility provider EDF has reduced its nuclear power plants’ capacity utilisation rates because it doesn’t have enough water to cool reactors, Oilprice.com reports.

Meanwhile, water levels on the Rhine have fallen to critical levels. That’s impacting the transport of energy commodities along the shipping corridor, reportedly leaving Germany in a particularly precarious position.

To top it off, Germany is still struggling to fill a gap in the supply of gas it used to receive from Russia.

Germany’s top regulator has warned the nation must cut its gas usage by 20% or risk a shortage this winter, according to reporting by the Financial Times, cited by Business Insider.

It reportedly cautioned that, even if all the nation’s gas tanks were full, it would only have enough gas to get it through around two and a half months.

The tension has sent both gas and coal prices higher, as some European forward curve contracts hit all-time highs overnight, Reuters reports.

However, Yancoal Australia Ltd (ASX: YAL) – which isn’t included in the ASX 200 – hasn’t joined in on coal shares’ strong performance today. The stock is currently down 1.74% at $5.375 on the back of the company’s full-year earnings.

The post Why are ASX 200 coal shares having such a top run on Thursday? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why is the Zip share price behaving so strangely on the ASX today?
• Down 16% in 3 days: Why is the Lake Resources share price still sliding?
• Treasury Wine share price defies market slump. Could it be the dividend boost?
• Iress share price rallies as profit lifts 29%
• The ASX 200 share Firetrail just bought after brutal sell-off

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 S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) is 0.86% in the red today, but three ASX mining shares are bucking the trend.

Three materials shares lifting are Monger Gold Ltd (ASX: MMG), Black Canyon Ltd (ASX: BCA) and ChemX Materials Ltd (ASX: CMX).

Let’s take a look at what these ASX mining shares reported today.

Monger Gold

The Monger Gold share price is soaring 22% today. This follows Monger securing an exclusive option to take over the Brisk Lithium Project. The project is located in the James Bay Lithium District in Quebec, Canada.

The project hosts multiple known pegmatite outcrops, according to Monger Gold. The option agreement involves a 45 option period. During this time, Monger will confirm and test multiple targets for lithium potential. CEO Adam Ritchie, commenting on the agreement, said:

For Monger, this deal solidifies the foundational lithium asset set. In combination with the
Scotty Lithium Project in Nevada, all three main lithium resource types are now covered being brine, sedimentary and hard rock.

Black Canyon

The Black Canyon share price is surging 25% today. This follows a scoping study into the potential of the Flanagan Bore Manganese Project, located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The study revealed the project will produce strong financial returns over 20 years with an average production rate of 1.8 metric tonnes per annum( Mtpa).

The project has a pre-tax net prevent value of $134 million, while the pre-tax internal rate of return is 67%.

Commenting on the study, Black Canyon executive director Brendan Cummins said:

The Scoping Study results clearly demonstrate significant value from a future mine development at Flanagan Bore.

ChemX Materials

The ChemX share price is rocketing 25% today. ChemX is a materials technology company working on projects providing critical materials for electrification and decarbonisation. The company confirmed it will build a High Purity Alumina pilot plant. This follows outstanding results from a pre-feasibility study into the company’s HiPurA technology. High purity alumina is a critical material used in lithium-ion batteries.

The post 3 tiny ASX mining shares leaping over 20% on project announcements appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why is the Zip share price behaving so strangely on the ASX today?
• 2 cryptos that could lead the market recovery
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• Medibank share price dips despite dividend boost

Motley Fool contributor Monica O’Shea 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 lacklustre day of trading thus far this Thursday for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has lost 0.29% and is back to around 7,110 points. But it’s a different, and far stranger, story when it comes to the Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) share price.

Zip shares… well, they just don’t seem to know what to do today. The Zip share price initially opened in the red this morning at $1.06, before climbing and then dropping briefly into negative territory. Then, the company seemed to jump on a rocket, rapidly climbing as high as $1.144 a share (up more than 4%).

But investors have since gotten cold feet again, and sent Zip shares back down. At present, the ASX buy now, pay later (BNPL) share is back in the red, having recorded a loss of 0.93% at present to $1.06 a share.

So what on earth is going on here?

What’s going on with the Zip share price today?

Well, the first thing to note is that there hasn’t been any news out of Zip itself today.

However, we have heard from Zip’s fellow BNPL share Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL) today.

As we covered this morning, Sezzle has come out with a business update today. The company reported that its underlying merchant sales had lifted 9.5% over the previous month to US$141.2 million.

Total income is also up 4% to US$10.2 million. Investors have clearly liked what they’ve seen from Sezzle today, going off of the company’s share price performance. Sezzle shares are currently up a pleasing 13.8% at 82 cents a share. But the company rose as high as 93 cents earlier this morning, a rise worth a whopping 27.8% or so.

So it could be the stunning rise (and cool-off) of Zip’s BNPL peer Sezzle that could provide an explanation of the wild swings we have seen in Zip shares today.

Even so, Zip shares remain down a painful 75% in 2022 thus far.

At the current Zip share price, this ASX 200 BNPL share has a market capitalisation of $730 million.

The post Why is the Zip share price behaving so strangely on the ASX today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Down 16% in 3 days: Why is the Lake Resources share price still sliding?
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• Treasury Wine share price defies market slump. Could it be the dividend boost?
• Iress share price rallies as profit lifts 29%
• The ASX 200 share Firetrail just bought after brutal sell-off

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 positions in and has recommended ZIPCOLTD FPO. 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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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The downturn in the crypto market might end up lasting for a shorter time than many expected. There are already encouraging signs that retail investors’ risk appetites could be returning, given the mini-rallies we’ve seen this summer in some tokens. At the same time, some institutional investors appear to be preparing to take new positions in crypto, potentially leading to a broad-based market recovery.

So which cryptos will lead the rebound? Right now, the best candidates are Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH). They are the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, and both of them are the intense focus of investor attention heading into the fall. 

Bitcoin

Bitcoin has always set the tone for the crypto market, and there is no reason to think that this time will be any different. Most encouraging for investors is the fact that Bitcoin recently tested a key support level ($20,000) and now appears to be headed upward. The next key support level could be $30,000. If Bitcoin can maintain that threshold, then we could easily see the return of prices that we saw earlier this summer.

But far more important than retail investor sentiment will be the entry of big institutional investors into the crypto market. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) recently signed a deal with BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the largest asset manager in the world, to provide crypto-trading support for wealthy private clients and large institutional investors. Any decision by the world’s biggest pension funds, endowments, and foundations to get involved in crypto would immediately push up the price of Bitcoin.

Right now, BlackRock has nearly $10 trillion in assets under management, so even a 1% allocation to crypto from its institutional client base would significantly impact the crypto market. Moreover, since Bitcoin is the largest crypto by market capitalisation, it is likely to be the primary target of these large institutional investors as they seek to deploy capital.

Ethereum

Ethereum is the other cryptocurrency that could lead the market recovery. All eyes are on the latest technological upgrade from Ethereum, known as the Merge. This is arguably one of the most anticipated events in the crypto market right now, as it will transition Ethereum from being a proof-of-work blockchain to being a proof-of-stake blockchain. This upgrade has tremendous real-world implications because it will make the Ethereum blockchain faster, more efficient, and easier to use. Right now, the complaint in the crypto world is that Ethereum is simply too clunky to use, as well as too expensive. Gas fees (the transaction fees paid to use the blockchain) have been a source of contention with developers and users. 

So if Ethereum is able to make the tech upgrade without any significant issues, this will have a huge impact on investor sentiment. Ahead of the Merge, in fact, investors have been moving into Ethereum in anticipation of a major move to the upside. And positive sentiment around Ethereum will help to improve the fortunes of similar blockchain projects that developers are using to create new gaming, entertainment, and metaverse offerings. 

Wild-card factors

Of course, the crypto market is highly volatile, so it is important to keep in mind that unexpected domestic or international events might derail any crypto recovery. Given that this is an important election year, any unexpected policy moves or major news items in the fall could have uncertain consequences for a fragile market that’s just now trying to regain its footing. A war with China over Taiwan or any escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict could also put the brakes on any nascent crypto rebound as investors seek out less-risky assets in a more chaotic world.

However, if the market is going to rally in the final months of 2022, Bitcoin and Ethereum will almost certainly lead the way. Once these two cryptos start heading higher and show their staying power, it will signal to investors that now is the time to get off the sidelines and back into the crypto market.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post 2 cryptos that could lead the market recovery appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Will the next era of computing break the Bitcoin price or boost it?

Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. 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 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.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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The Kalium Lakes Ltd (ASX: KLL) share price is having a day to forget.

This comes after the mineral exploration share provided investors with an update on its latest capital raising efforts.

At the time of writing, Kalium Lakes shares are down 36.96% to 5.8 cents apiece.

In comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is hovering 0.38% lower at 7,353.40 points.

Why is the Kalium Lakes share price in a freefall?

Investors are scrambling to sell Kalium Lakes shares as the company prepares to dilute existing shareholder value.

According to its release, Kalium Lakes has received firm commitments to raise $22 million through a two-tranche placement.

The offer consists of a first tranche of up to 177.3 million new shares to raise up to approximately $7.1 million. This will be utilised under Kalium Lakes’ existing placement capacity.

The second tranche is a conditional placement of up to 372.7 million new shares to raise approximately $14.9 million. The tranche is subject to shareholder approval at the company’s general meeting to be held in late September 2022.

The issue price for the placement will be 4 cents per share, which represents a 56.5% discount to the closing price of 9.2 cents on 9 August.

In addition, Kalium Lakes will offer all existing eligible shareholders the opportunity to participate through a share purchase plan (SPP).

The offer aims to raise up to $8 million and will be offered at the same price as the two-tranche placement.

Notably, Kalium Lakes’ largest shareholder, Greenstone Resources, has committed to take up to $8 million under the placement. The private equity fund has approximately 19.6% of the shares currently on issue. With this investment, its holdings will bump up to a maximum of 24.9% post the capital raising.

Furthermore, Kalium Lakes co-founder and director Brent Smoothy will opt in to buy $2 million under the placement.

The proceeds will be used to fund additional working capital during the ramp-up of Kalium Lakes’ Beyondie Sulphate of Potash Mine in Western Australia. Management is targeting an initial production run-rate of 80,000 tonnes per annum by the first quarter of 2023.

The company also successfully negotiated the terms of a debt restructure with its two senior lenders.

What did management say?

Kalium Lakes CEO Len Jubber commented:

We are pleased to have successfully undertaken the debt restructure and received firm commitments for the necessary additional equity injection.

This places the business in a position to now deliver on the targeted ramp-up profile at Beyondie, commencing with the full restart of the SOP process plant in September. I would like to thank our financiers and major shareholders for their support in this process, as well as welcome all new shareholders to the Kalium register.

After today’s heavy falls, the Kalium Lake share price has lost 69% over the past 12 months and is down 55% in 2022.

The post This ASX mining share just crashed 37%. Here’s why appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Guess which ASX lithium share just rocketed 20%
• Medibank share price dips despite dividend boost
• Guess which ASX tech share is soaring 16% on a new Google deal
• Considering Woolworths shares? Here’s why this key exec just jumped ship for Amazon
• Evolution Mining share price dives 4% on profit slump

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras 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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ASX lithium shares have been getting plenty of attention of late. And for good reason.

With demand for (and prices of) the critical battery metal soaring amid the booming growth in electric vehicles (EVs), most ASX lithium stocks have far outpaced the benchmark.

And Iris Metals Limited (ASX: IR1) is no exception, with the share price rocketing 20% today to 78%.

Iris Metals share price soars amid claims expansion

The Iris Metals share price is surging after the ASX lithium share reported it has grown its mining claims footprint by 290% to 2,056 claims, with 1,531 newly staked claims.

The company’s claims now cover 171 square kilometres, making it the largest holder of lithium mining claims in the US state of South Dakota. The new claims cover areas with highly mineralised corridors of spodumene bearing lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites.

Iris technical director Chris Connell is on location. Mapping, girded soil, and rock chip sampling programs have commenced. The ASX lithium share expects to inform the market of those results over the coming months.

Commenting on the big expansion in Iris’ exploration footprint, Connell said:

Iris has been fortunate in having the capability of mobilising multiple field teams working overtime to attain the largest land holding in the Black Hills prospective for lithium. Perhaps more importantly, we have been able to secure most of the historic lithium producing mines and their strike extensions.

Connell added that Iris has “a great mix of drill-ready targets and extensive prospective corridors over known lithium bearing LCT pegmatites”.

The ASX lithium share is also currently in negotiations to either access or purchase patented claims over historic lithium mines. If successful, Iris said, it will then be able to access any contained minerals free of Federal obligations.

How has this ASX lithium share been performing?

Iris Metals is a relative newcomer to the ASX, having listed on 23 September last year.

Since listing, the ASX lithium share has shot up 269%. For some context, over that same period, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is down 4%.

The post Guess which ASX lithium share just rocketed 20% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Medibank share price dips despite dividend boost
• Guess which ASX tech share is soaring 16% on a new Google deal
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• Evolution Mining share price dives 4% on profit slump
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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 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 Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) share price is trading in the red despite the company revealing its highest final dividend since 2019.

Those invested in the company will receive 7.3 cents per share they hold, representing a portion of the $393.9 million full-year after-tax profit posted earlier today.

When combined with the interim dividend of 6.1 cents per share paid in March, this makes Medibank’s FY22 annual dividend also the highest since FY19.

The Medibank share price is trading at $3.50 right now, 0.57% lower than its previous close.

For comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is currently down 0.3%.

Let’s take a closer look at the latest news from the insurance-focused healthcare company.

Medibank share price slumps on full-year earnings

The Medibank share price is struggling on Thursday following the release of the company’s financial year 2022 earnings.

As my Foolish colleague Aaron reported earlier today, Medibank’s full-year net profit represented a 10.9% year-over-year (yoy) fall.

Meanwhile, its revenue from external customers lifted 3% yoy to more than $7 billion. Its segment operating profit rose 11.9% to $638 million.

It also expects its underlying claims per policy to grow 2.3% in financial year 2023. That figure has been heralded by analysts.

Barrenjoey analyst Andrew Adams was quoted by The Australian saying such an outlook is “likely better than expected and takes some of the pressure off the need for a step-up in premium rate increases at the next pricing review.”

Medibank CEO David Koczkar said: “The pandemic has triggered a new focus on health and wellbeing, which we expect to continue. A record number of Australians continue to take out private health insurance, especially younger customers.”

Today’s dip included, the Medibank share price is 2% higher than it was at the start of 2022. Though, it has fallen 1% since this time last year.

For comparison, the ASX 200 has dumped 6% year to date and 5% over the last 12 months.

The post Medibank share price dips despite dividend boost appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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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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Sentiment towards ASX tech shares has improved in recent months and Google’s deal with one of our tech minnows could help further.

The Ai-Media Technologies Ltd (ASX: AIM) share price is currently up 15.71% at 40.5 cents. In contrast, the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index (ASX: XSO) is 1.03% in the red.

Deal between Google and this small ASX tech share

The small-cap ASX tech share jumped after it said it would become Google’s lead global provider of premium live captioning and translation services for internal meetings and events.

The three-year agreement is valued at up to US$5 million. All Google employees will have access to Ai-Media’s services.

But the ASX company warned that there is no guarantee that the contract will generate the full value of the agreement.

Strategic importance

It was quick to play up the “strategic importance” of the agreement between the ASX tech minnow and the global giant though.

Ai-Media’s chief executive Tony Abrahams said:

We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Google, one of the world’s leading technology companies, to improve the interconnectivity of its employees through our product offerings.

This is an important agreement for Ai-Media as it highlights our position as a trusted market leader, and it validates our ability to deliver high-quality and secure captioning services to a variety of global customers across different industries. Ai-Media is capitalising on the increasing demand for live captioning globally.

This agreement with Google demonstrates our product suite and technology is leading edge, and is expanding into more environments as video becomes a core communications tool for business.

ASX tech shares gaining traction

ASX tech shares have started to rebound following their brutal sell-off early this year. Deals like this show that there is value to be found as many of these shares are still nursing big losses.

In another boost to confidence, some ASX tech shares have started to attract takeover interest. These include the MOQ Ltd (ASX: MOQ) share price, and more recently, the Nearmap Ltd (ASX: NEA) share price.

Ai-Media share price snapshot

There seems like there may be a lot more room for the AI-Media share price to run. The shares have shed over 57% over the past year.

In contrast, the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) has fallen 27% over the same period.

The post Guess which ASX tech share is soaring 16% on a new Google deal appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau has positions in Nearmap Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Nearmap Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Nearmap Ltd. 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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Those invested in Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) shares might be interested to learn one of the company’s executives is leaving their position for a leadership role at Amazon.

Woolworths managing director of B2B and Everyday Needs, Claire Peters, will take up a new position as vice president worldwide at Amazon Fresh, the retail giant’s grocery leg, next year.

Let’s take a closer look at the upper-management shakeup soon to be experienced by the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) supermarket giant.

Woolworths shares are currently trading flat at $39.40 apiece.

Key Woolworths executive to step down

One of the top jobs at Woolworths is set to be vacated in 2023 after Peters agreed to pack up and move to Seattle for a leadership position at Amazon Fresh.

Peters has been with the Aussie supermarket operator since 2017, when she took up the role of managing director of Woolworths supermarkets. She was appointed to her current role in 2020.

Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci commented on Peters’ resignation, saying:

Claire has played a key role in transforming Woolworths Supermarkets and building the foundations of B2B and Everyday Needs.

In her five years with the company, Peters saw the transformation of Big W, the establishment of the company’s meat business Greenstock, and the progression of partnerships such as those with Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX: EDV), PFD Food Services, and Ampol Ltd (ASX: ALD).

Peters’ decision to jump ship may have come down to her prospective future at the supermarket giant, where she might not have been able to rise to the helm, a source reportedly suggested to the Australian Financial Review.

Banducci continued:

The biggest imprint Claire will leave on our business is her care for team and communities, on show in the leadership role she played during the repeated waves of COVID, and her purposeful work on reconciliation with the support of the First Nations Advisory Board.

Woolworths share price snapshot

It’s been a decent year so far for the Woolworths share price.

The ASX defensive stock has gained 2% since the start of 2022. Though, it’s currently trading 5% lower than it was this time last year.

For comparison, the ASX 200 has dumped 6% year to date and has fallen 5% over the last 12 months.

The post Considering Woolworths shares? Here’s why this key exec just jumped ship for Amazon appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. 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 positions in and has recommended Amazon. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Amazon. 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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