The owner of Madonna’s old villa in Miami has put the house on the market — but there’s a catch.

The owner is Gunther VI, a German Shepherd.

Gunther VI inherited his vast fortune – including the eight-bedroom waterfront home – from his grandfather Gunther IV.

A succession of Gunthers have enjoyed a jet-setting lifestyle for decades since Gunter III inherited a multimillion-dollar trust from late owner German countess Karlotta Liebenstein, who died in 1992.

A group of handlers make sure Gunther IV is well socialised with a private chef, a trainer and a bed overlooking the bay.

“He literally sleeps overlooking the most magnificent view in an Italian custom bed in the former bedroom of the greatest pop star in the world,” real estate agent Ruthie Assouline said.

The villa is on sale for $31.75m — and it comes with a gilded framed portrait of Gunther IV over the living room fireplace.

To Markets …

The ASX 200 is up 12.90 points or 0.19% at midday today to 7,384.20.

Oil prices are slipping, with Brent crude (the global benchmark) down 2.6% to US$80.28 a barrel. US WTI crude fell by 3.0% to US$78.36 a barrel – with both the International Energy Agency and OPEC warning about the potential for oversupply in coming months.

Gold futures rose by 0.9% to US$1,870.20 an ounce, and spot gold was trading near US$1,866 an ounce.

Iron ore fell by 0.5% to US$89.95 a tonne, with the ASX iron ore majors edging lower in Thursday trade.

In London, the FTSE 100 index fell 0.5% after a jump in inflation jolted markets and raised the likelihood rates will rise at the Bank of England’s December meeting, according to Morningstar with Dow Jones.

“Coming off the back of a 14-month low in unemployment, today’s 10-year high inflation reading builds a renewed story around potential action at the Bank of England,” IG analyst Joshua Mahony says.

In the US, market momentum has cooled over the past week, after news that US inflation is at a three-decade high.

The coming year likely won’t get the same benefits that 2021 did, such as stimulus checks and bounce back from the Covid-19 pandemic’s lows, said Emily Roland, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management.

“Don’t get too comfortable in the fast lane,” Ms. Roland said this week. “Next year, we just don’t see the highest-risk parts of the market leading, and we’re actually looking to trim risk into spring.”

Fresh data showed that housing starts, a measure of US home-building, declined 0.7% in October from September. Home builders are contending with rising material costs and labor shortages, which are driving up home prices.

Morgan Stanley’s Mr. Slimmon said he is betting on housing stocks as he expects supply issues to ease next year.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for November 18 [intraday]:

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

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The biggest small cap winner today was Wooboard (ASX:WOO) up 33% on no news.

Sunstone Metals (ASX:STM) was a close second, up 32% off the back of “exceptional assays” from the first hole it has drilled at the new Alba target within its Bramaderos Project in southern Ecuador.

The company hit 111m at 2.3 g/t gold, including 7.2m at 26.9 g/t.

Managing director Malcolm Norris said the Alba intersection was extremely exciting.

“This has long been an area where we were keen to advance our exploration program and these results justify our systematic approach to testing multiple targets,” he said.

“The intersection at Alba is clearly an exceptional result which we will follow-up immediately.”

“The broader Alba target opens up a number of areas for drill testing.”

Great Northern (ASX:GNM) was up 29%, Mighty Kingdom (ASX:MKL) was up 27%, and Carnegie Clean Energy (ASX:CCE) and Xstate Resources (ASX:XST) were both up 25% – all on no news.

Also up 25% was YPB Group (ASX:YPB) who announced a 3-year Master Service Agreement (MSA) to supply its CONNECT platform and serialised QR codes to Australian Dairy Nutritionals Group (ASX:AHF).

CONNECT is a product authentication, track and trace, and consumer engagement SaaS platform that simultaneously helps brands deal with counterfeit, improve supply chain efficiencies and engage directly with end consumers of their products through the use of serialised QR codes.

The company also announced today that it had fully repaid $1.45 million convertible notes from when the company was less technically and commercially developed.

“It is the Board’s strong intention to progress toward a self-funding enterprise as rapidly as possible without further resort to external borrowings,” CEO John Houston said.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

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The biggest loser today was Tissue Repair (ASX:TRP) who dropped 34% on the same day it commenced trading on the ASX – following a $22 million IPO.

The company is focused on developing advanced wound healing technology and plans to commence Phase III clinical trials next year.

“Completing our IPO and listing on the ASX now gives us the opportunity to pursue a drug label in a chronic wound indication which has significant unmet needs,” chairman Jack Lowenstein said.

“Therapeutic claims in a chronic wound, if achieved by our Phase III studies, provide a platform for growth and revenue generation with a product that is different to others currently available.”

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