Let’s get the Covid stuff out of the way. Here’s a situation update from Woolies in Ashfield, NSW:

https://twitter.com/Colgo/status/1478965403636224002

It’s not panic-buying though… sort of. But there is plenty of reason to panic because most of the country’s most vital supply chain – its meat choppers, delivery people and shelf stackers – is home in isolation.

Somebody call an urgent cabinet meeting, STAT. Oh wait, ScoMo already has.

Without waiting for the scheduled national cabinet meeting on Thursday, Australia’s Prime Minister has called for an immediate endorsement of changes to isolation requirements in “critical supply chain industries”.

Read “those who are driving the truck to deliver the food, those stacking the shelves at night, those in the distribution centres, those who are in the abattoirs”.

What a perfect day for Meat & Livestock Australia to roll out its Australia Day lamb ad and remind us all exactly what’s at stake here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck8CO6zGFB0&ab_channel=AustralianLamb

In tennis Covid news, Novak Djokovic’s court hearing got underway, but not until everyone watching the live stream was made aware they needed to be on mute. That includes you, the public.

Anyway, there was (insert X number x 10,000) new cases across the country reported today.

To markets…

…where the S&P/ASX200 is still struggling to shake its biggest one-day drop since September 2020 on Thursday.

It’s down again today, dropping 10.70 points or 0.14% to 7,442.60, despite crossing above its 125-day moving average.

It’s currently 2.49% below its 52-week high but if you’re looking for a positive spin, the index is virtually unchanged over the last five days.

We’re blaming the dismal performance of the Australian cricket team, but some might claim there wasn’t much of a positive lead from the US on Friday night, where jobs data showed the economy only added 199,000 jobs in December (forecast: 422,000).

Some of that could be down to a decline in labour force participation though.

There’s always an excuse.

 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for January 10 [intraday]:

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

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Not a lot to report here. Mainly because the two notable winners, First Au (ASX:FAU) and Critical Resources (ASX:CRR) are in trading halts after fairly moderate price pips.

It’s all in the name – First Au are a gold explorer in WA’s Goldfields and Pilbara regions, and Critical Minerals has been exploring for critical minerals in the DRC, the Sultanate of Oman, and Malawi, but recently renewed its focus on assets in Australia and Canada.

Expect some discovery news forthcoming. CRR has only just announced it has begun drilling again at its Halls Peak project in NSW.

The best actual winner on an actual announcement was Kingfisher Mining (ASX:KFM) which released promising results from a late 2021 drilling program. They include an “impressive” 12m at 1.12% total rare earth oxides (TREO) at the ‘Mick Well’ prospect.

And according to Reuben Adams, a “rather wonderful”, 4m long high-grade chunk grading 1.73% TREO. Just to note, Reuben never says “rather wonderful” about anything, so you know it’s good.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

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