It’s starting to feel a bit like we’re just giving up. A strong sense of “actually, f$@k it, let’s just go for broke and hope no one notices”.

It starts from the top down. One minute governments are borrowing billions to give millionaires tax cuts in the middle of the greatest cost of living crisis we’ve seen since lettuces were $14 a leaf, or just deciding it’s easier to say “we own this country” than actually winning it in a war or, god forbid, by democratic processes.

The all of sudden regular folk are jamming things where they don’t naturally belong and taking down world chess masters and honest walleye fisherman and women.

It’s been quite a fortnight for throwing caution to the wind. Hans Niemann’s DGAF style of beating one of the all-time great chess grandmasters Magnus Carlsen saw Carlsen start quitting before getting beaten. And Niemann facing accusations of having a buzzer up his ass tapping a little AI juice.

Also copping some Buzzer Theory was poker pro Robbi Jade Lew, who went all-in on a $417,000 bet because she thought her opponent Garrett Adelstein was bluffing. That’s fine, because calling bluffs is how good poker players get rich. Only Lew’s hand – Jack high – made her “call” one of the brassiest in the history of the game.

And now, the end of days is upon us. Fisherman, long respected for their devotion to only the most honest appraisals of how big that one that got away was, have now tasted the forbidden fruit.

Civil order, people. This is what happens when we stop telling our kids “no”. Next thing you know the fascists are back in charge, money is worthless and the wrong teams are winning the grand finals.

Let’s try hold it together for just one more day.

 

To Markets…

We’re just one day out from a 25bp (CBA), or 50bp (the other Big Three) or even 75bp (Eeyore and everyone else) rate rise and the local bourse is mildly bracing for it. CBA extended its optimistic tone to include a potential scenario where the RBA may choose to cut the cash rate in late 2023.

The S&P/ASX200 has shed a stomachable 0.54% over the past five days, and 10.46% in the past year.

If comparison’s your thing (and it shouldn’t be because it’s the assassin of joy, remember), the S&P 500 has dropped 16.62% in the same time.

So far today, we’re down 40 points (0.62%) to 6,434.20. You can blame West African Resources (-10%) and old mate Sayona (-7.45%) for a bit of that.

It could have been worse as we opened on the back of Wall St extending its loss by 1.5% on Friday. That closed out the worst month for the S&P 500 since March, the Dow’s worst September in 20 years, and Nasdaq’s lowest point this year.

In fact, it still could be a lot worse. Twitter and beyond are talking up rumours that both Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank could be on the brink of collapse. These banking giants have about US$2.7 trillion in assets under management between them.

Nothing to see here…

And over in Crypto Land, it’s Uptober! Finally, some relief from Septembear! Except not really, as markets start the month with a little bit of a dip.

There’s nothin’ quite like the breathless optimism of a crypto hodler though, so here’s Rob Badman with the historical data for Bitcoin performance in Octobers past that you need, nay, crave.

 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for October 3 [intraday]:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

CODE COMPANY PRICE % TODAY VOLUME MARKET CAP
DNK Danakali Limited 0.335 29% 3,476,465 $95,766,930
WIN Widgienickellimited 0.295 26% 10,030,137 $58,826,375
MTH Mithril Resources 0.005 25% 1,814,604 $11,760,932
INP Incentiapay Ltd 0.011 22% 20,000 $11,385,573
ADR Adherium Ltd 0.006 20% 450,000 $12,809,249
AQX Alice Queen Ltd 0.003 20% 300,000 $5,500,625
CVV Caravel Minerals Ltd 0.24 17% 129,007 $85,932,796
AUH Austchina Holdings 0.007 17% 2,380,009 $12,220,996
RAN Range International 0.007 17% 100,000 $5,635,742
RCW Rightcrowd 0.048 14% 52,977 $10,988,974
EBR EBR Systems 0.57 13% 25,000 $132,441,408
MCM Mc Mining Ltd 0.465 13% 63,052 $81,038,497
G1A Galena Mining 0.17 13% 222,368 $92,040,803
AL8 Alderan Resource Ltd 0.009 13% 286,625 $4,626,129
DXN DXN Limited 0.009 13% 220,000 $13,770,519
KPO Kalina Power Limited 0.019 12% 500,000 $25,758,328
DTI DTI Group Ltd 0.021 11% 100,000 $8,522,477
CVR Cavalierresources 0.16 10% 201,078 $4,406,412
AMD Arrow Minerals 0.0055 10% 370,440 $10,168,825
AVE Avecho Biotech Ltd 0.011 10% 44,021 $18,378,693
PXX Polarx Limited 0.011 10% 10,800 $8,991,011
COO Corum Group Limited 0.033 10% 117,735 $17,902,704
GME GME Resources Ltd 0.115 10% 43,591 $63,042,107
MYE Metarock Group Ltd 0.345 10% 6,111 $41,262,652
OIL Optiscan Imaging 0.12 9% 215,104 $68,156,616
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Free shares in a resources company, anyone? There’s no looking past today’s biggest winner, Danakali (ASX:DNK). Or at least, DNK shareholders, who will no doubt still be chuffing over this morning’s news that their company could be selling its 50% interest in the flagship Colluli potash project in Eritrea for $US166m ($258m) pre-tax.

And returning 90% of those sale proceeds to them.

Until this morning, Danakali was worth, as a whole, $112m. DNK says it will use the remaining cash — ~$US12m — “to identify new projects and potential new alternative growth opportunities”.

In the mid to large cap mining space, Josh Chiat has the skinny on Rio’s battle with its uranium subsidiary ERA over some very expensive rehab funding. But with Energy up a spare 0.15%, Yancoal (ASX:YAL) is the main mover after repaying US$1 billion in debt on the back of record coal prices.

That’s a massive US$2.3b repaid in the past 12 months, with only US$792m remaining, even after some large YAL dividend payments this year.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for October 3 [intraday]:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

CODE COMPANY PRICE % TODAY VOLUME MARKET CAP
ANL Amani Gold Ltd 0.001 -33% 291,714 $35,540,162
GLV Global Oil & Gas 0.002 -33% 879,503 $5,620,064
EDE Eden Inv Ltd 0.0075 -21% 20,232,712 $24,569,166
SYN Synergia Energy Ltd 0.002 -20% 197,010 $21,044,477
TSC Twenty Seven Co. Ltd 0.002 -20% 30,263,694 $8,848,782
MTR Metal Tiger 0.3 -19% 2,000 $7,318,085
5EA 5Eadvanced 1.665 -18% 1,443,510 $580,962,878
G50 Gold50Limited 0.12 -17% 50,000 $8,256,735
CMD Cassius Mining Ltd 0.029 -17% 1,068,194 $14,130,932
NRX Noronex Limited 0.029 -17% 919,041 $5,966,093
CTO Citigold Corp Ltd 0.005 -17% 13,330 $17,001,955
FAU First Au Ltd 0.005 -17% 8,980,992 $5,588,466
AMS Atomos 0.14 -15% 1,610,421 $36,688,012
ALY Alchemy Resource Ltd 0.023 -15% 15,338,029 $25,733,051
AJQ Armour Energy Ltd 0.006 -14% 36,278 $15,809,156
CAV Carnavale Resources 0.006 -14% 2,377,659 $19,029,862
RR1 Reach Resources Ltd 0.006 -14% 1,976,007 $13,370,354
LRV Larvottoresources 0.16 -14% 237,120 $7,683,513
KWR Kingwest Resources 0.032 -14% 2,231,310 $10,423,892
LDX Lumos Diagnostics 0.052 -13% 4,758,110 $12,594,387
PCL Pancontinental Energ 0.0035 -13% 325,674 $30,216,891
VAL Valor Resources Ltd 0.007 -13% 13,383,984 $29,268,278
RDT Red Dirt Metals Ltd 0.57 -12% 725,774 $215,797,285
FTZ Fertoz Ltd 0.145 -12% 59,025 $42,240,246
AUT Auteco Minerals 0.037 -12% 399,573 $86,849,125
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On the losing side, 5E Advanced Materials (ASX:5EA) didn’t exactly get the crowd fired up after announcing an investor webcast tomorrow morning to discuss its small-scale boron facility at Fort Cady, in the US.

Someone smells bad news. The stock is down some 19% today on that announcement.

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