It was ‘markets on steroids’ as the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit new closing highs on Tuesday, fuelled by better-than-expected corporate earnings.

Of the 104 companies in the S&P 500 that reported quarterly earnings to April 18, 77.9% reported above analyst expectations, according to Refinitiv.

(Although this might just highlight just how bad analysts are at predicting the future.)

On Tuesday, global oil prices rose to six-month highs, iron ore was up again to US$94.20 a tonne, while base metals and gold prices fell.

In local news, the Federal Budget is in surplus for the first time in a decade – “nothing short of remarkable,” says Commsec chief economist Craig James.

But inflation came in this morning with a bad miss. The weakest quarterly increase on record has put the chance of a rate cut in May squarely on the table, and the Aussie dollar is getting hammered.

Unsurprisingly, it’s been a strong session for local small caps in morning trade.

The Small Ords tracked broader markets higher to rise by 26.3 points at 12pm AEST — a gain of 0.93 per cent. At 2,856, it’s marching steadily towards that 12-month high of 2,914 reached in August last year.

Check this out:

The ASX Small Ords over the past year.

GOING UP

Small cap explorers led the charge, with Caeneus Minerals (ASX:CAD), Gladiator Resources (ASX:GLA), and VDM Group (ASX:VMG) all up 100 per cent in morning trade on no news.

And the ASX forced Consolidated Zinc (ASX:CZL)  to retract a maiden ore reserve statement but it was too late – the stock surged 70 per cent in morning trade.

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm on Wednesday, April 24:

 

Ticker Name Price % Chg Market Cap Volume
CAD Caeneus Minerals 0.002 100% $3,700,000 1.4M
GLA Gladiator Resources 0.002 100% $1,500,000 1.3M
VMG VDM Group 0.002 100% $12,600,000 1.1M
CZL Consolidated Zinc 0.02 70% $20,000,000 2.2M
CLZ Classic Minerals 0.002 50% $4,500,000 14.6M
KLH Kalia 0.003 50% $7,500,000 210.0k
SKN Skin Elements 0.05 25% $6,800,000 984.7k
EPM Eclipse Uranium 0.003 25% $2,900,000 27.8k
NMS Neptune Marine Services 0.23 21% $14,100,000 974
JXT Jaxsta 0.3 20% $72,000,000 116.1k
DHR Dark Horse Resources 0.006 20% $11,900,000 1.0M
PVD Pura Vida Energy 0.02 20% $4,600,000 2.2M
OCC Orthocell 0.13 18% $15,700,000 5.0k
TNY Tinybeans Group 0.8 17% $27,300,000 99.3k
AR9 Archtis 0.14 17% $17,200,000 93.1k
AMD Arrow Minerals 0.014 17% $4,400,000 718.4k
RFN Reffind 0.007 17% $3,100,000 1.3M
NET NetLinkz 0.14 17% $187,900,000 10.1M
N27 Northern Cobalt 0.06 16% $3,500,000 50.0k
PDN Paladin Energy 0.14 16% $245,300,000 7.2M
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GOING DOWN

P2P Transport (ASX:P2P) is in strifeYesterday, the company announced, amongst other things, that both its chairman and CEO, Matthew Reynolds and Tom Varga, have resigned effective immediately.

P2P banked $16.1 million in revenue for the March quarter, down from $20.1 million in the previous quarter.

Investors punished the company in morning trade, sending the stock down 25 per cent to 22c a share.

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm on Wednesday, April 24:

Ticker Name Price % Chg Market Cap Volume
LRS Latin Resources 0.001 -33% $3,400,000 500.0k
AYR Alloy Resources 0.002 -33% $3,200,000 2.1M
MLM Metallica Minerals 0.02 -26% $5,500,000 530.2k
P2P P2P Transport 0.22 -25% $18,800,000 96.9k
PNN PepinNini Lithium 0.003 -25% $2,900,000 83.5k
AVW Avira Resources 0.003 -25% $3,000,000 10.7M
MXR Maximus Resources 0.06 -22% $1,800,000 162.4k
SGO Stream Group 0.01 -20% $1,800,000 22
MHC Manhattan Corp 0.004 -20% $3,000,000 1.2M
IVO Invigor Group 0.004 -20% $10,600,000 5.9M
ALT Analytica 0.004 -20% $13,300,000 140.3k
VIC Victory Mines 0.004 -17% $3,100,000 150.0k
E2E Eon NRG 0.005 -17% $3,800,000 408.3k
MDI Middle Island Resources 0.006 -14% $6,300,000 887.0k
FGO Flamingo AI 0.006 -14% $6,700,000 296.8k
ADR Adherium 0.03 -14% $5,600,000 150.0k
PIL Peppermint Innovation 0.013 -13% $13,800,000 468.9k
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And now for something completely different — using a drone equipped with flamethrower to clear some power lines. What could go wrong?

via Gfycat