We’re one day away from the end of 2020 and you have absolutely no reason to believe that all the bad 2020 has delivered will somehow be magicked away at midnight tomorrow.

Still, here’s the “goodbye 2020” gif thread you’re looking for (Note: It’s always the realists that are funniest):

But honestly, all 2020 has really done is send home that sneaky realisation you always had, but tried to ignore, that life in general has been getting grimmer for some time now.

And now, brilliantly, Dani Alexis Riskamp over at The Atlantic, has tracked down that nagging feeling and exposed it. Brilliantly, and brutally.

Because if you can remember 1996, you might also remember how The Simpsons were the Western world’s most dysfunctional family. Now, fast-forward 24 years and, according to Riskamp:

“The purchasing power of Homer’s paycheck, moreover, has shrunk dramatically. The median house costs 2.4 times what it did in the mid-’90s. Health-care expenses for one person are three times what they were 25 years ago. The median tuition for a four-year college is 1.8 times what it was then. In today’s world, Marge would have to get a job too.”

Oof. Read it, stop, do the maths, read it again and think HANG ON.

Then get back to trying to make money.

After yesterday’s euphoria about stimulus cheques, things turned a little subdued in the US overnight as investors got nervous about the fact said cheques might not be as big as hoped for.

The Dow and S&P 500 dipped 0.22% and the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.38%. Marginal, but enough to send jitters through the local market here in Australia.

That was all a bit grim. Let’s try to find some winners.
 

WINNERS

The most solid rise today goes to Strategic Elements (ASX:SOR), which rose a good 42 per cent on the back of news it was working on a type of ink that kind of, sort of lets you draw a computer on a page.

That’s a really basic definition – you can get the science version here – but no, really, SOR’s Nanocube Memory Ink has billions of tiny cubes in it that it says can ‘talk’ to each other.

Shareholders love that sort of thing.

And today’s only IPO – and last of 2020 – was from gold and nickel explorer BPM Minerals (ASX:BPM). It gained 25 per cent on debut and held steady enough.

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Wednesday December 30:

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

Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
ANL Amani Gold Ltd 0.002 100 200000 $ 9,386,996.75
CLZ Classic Min Ltd 0.0015 50 8359999 $ 15,268,268.31
VPR Volt Power Group 0.003 50 4302940 $ 18,339,067.12
ROG Red Sky Energy. 0.002 33 1000000 $ 3,647,883.30
RXH Rewardle Holding Ltd 0.012 33 5444427 $ 4,736,893.39
FIN FIN Resources Ltd 0.024 26 5551720 $ 5,542,137.32
BPM BPM Minerals 0.25 25 2657323 $ 4,950,000.00
SOR Strategic Elements 0.205 24 23506060 $ 62,432,682.02
AGE Alligator Energy 0.011 22 22330770 $ 19,145,707.36
CFO Cfoam Limited 0.065 20 119975113 $ 25,653,915.38
IKW Ikwezi Mining Ltd 0.006 20 249999 $ 20,325,000.00
IMS Impelus Ltd 0.006 20 1110000 $ 4,016,730.43
AVZ AVZ Minerals Ltd 0.165 18 38284045 $ 401,449,791.12
LMG Latrobe Magnesium 0.023 15 146736 $ 25,930,061.38
BRK Brookside Energy Ltd 0.008 14 543 $ 9,450,000.00
CE1 Calima Energy 0.008 14 569865 $ 15,343,567.46
EVZ EVZ Limited 0.12 14 25000 $ 10,092,257.07
MHC Manhattan Corp Ltd 0.025 14 1120357 $ 29,178,131.25
CXZ Connexion Telematics 0.017 13 9198106 $ 13,202,476.68
THR Thor Mining PLC 0.017 13 2675318 $ 6,019,431.00
EMD Emyria Limited 0.098 13 1698835 $ 10,911,796.65
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LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Wednesday December 30:

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

Code Name Price % Change Market Cap
ATP Atlas Pearls Ltd 0.012 -32 $ 8,129,563.40
TGO Growthops Ltd 0.046 -31 $ 10,180,301.47
MCM Mc Mining Ltd 0.145 -24 $ 29,339,715.45
GES Genesis Resources 0.01 -23 $ 10,176,936.82
XST Xstate Resources 0.004 -20 $ 9,056,204.49
DTR Dateline Resources 0.0025 -17 $ 24,630,234.23
DOR Doriemus PLC 0.036 -14 $ 2,435,291.25
AUH Austchina Holdings 0.007 -13 $ 13,072,994.89
TYX Tyranna Res Ltd 0.007 -13 $ 10,258,885.34
IRI Integrated Research 2.65 -13 $ 519,967,754.06
CY5 Cygnus Gold Limited 0.16 -11 $ 19,452,617.64
AFW Applyflow Limited 0.008 -11 $ 16,258,738.14
CAV Carnavale Resources 0.009 -10 $ 20,422,303.03
EVE EVE Investments Ltd 0.009 -10 $ 38,431,418.90
HWK Hawkstone Mng Ltd 0.009 -10 $ 15,115,735.42
KEY KEY Petroleum 0.0045 -10 $ 9,839,640.63
PLY Playside Studios 0.38 -10 $ 44,010,205.26
DDB Dynamic Drill 0.49 -9 $ 15,768,204.12
NZO New Zealand Oil&Gas 0.48 -9 $ 86,326,126.95
LCY Legacy Iron Ore 0.043 -9 $ 293,620,210.30
JXT Jaxstaltd 0.078 -8 $ 13,636,525.61
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