Everyone’s favourite ketchup has its eye on growing tomatoes on Mars.

Heinz has been enjoyed by astronauts aboard the International Space Station for years, but now the company’s Tomato Masters (yes that’s their official title) have partnered with astrobiologists to discover how to grow premium-quality ketchup tomatoes in harsh environmental conditions – like on the red planet.

The company has even unveiled it Marz Edition ketchup made with tomatoes grown by recreating similar soil, temperature, and water conditions on Earth to those found on Mars.

“Before now, most efforts around discovering ways to grow in Martian-simulated conditions are short term plant growth studies,” the Aldrin Space Institutes Dr. Andrew Palmer said.

“What this project has done is look at long-term food harvesting. Achieving a crop that is of a quality to become HEINZ Tomato Ketchup was the dream result and we achieved it.”

“And working with the Tomato Masters at HEINZ has allowed us to see what the possibilities are for long term food production beyond Earth.”

Imagine how much better Matt Damon’s potatoes would have been in the Martian if he’d had super space tomato sauce to dip them in.

To Markets …

The ASX 200 is up 23.80 points or 0.535% at midday today to 7,458.00.

Global oil prices rose by more than 2%, with the US lifting travel restriction and the Energy Information Administration only tipping a small increase in gasoline prices in 2022.

The modest increase may mean the US President will restrain from tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The Brent crude price rose by US$1.35 to US$84.78 a barrel, and the US Nymex crude price rose by US$2.22 to US$84.15 a barrel.

Base metal prices fell by 1.1-1.8% but tin rose by 0.7% and zinc rose by 0.2% – and Iron ore fell by US$1.40 to US$92.45 a tonne.

The gold futures price rose by US$2.80 to U$1,830.80 an ounce and spot gold was trading near US$1,8298 an ounce.

According to Morningstar with Dow Jones, Tesla shares fell 12%, extending Monday’s decline after Chief Executive Elon Musk signalled he might sell a big chunk of his stock.

“Tesla is more of a bellwether for animal spirits in the market than it is of fundamentals and earnings projection,” said Bill Callahan, an investment strategist at Schroders, a British investment management company.

Mr. Callahan said Tesla could be adding to the S&P 500’s decline Tuesday. “That stock is sort of a barometer of what is the risk appetite in the market.”

Strong demand from consumers is powering the US economy and profits at its biggest companies, said Mike Bell, a strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. “Of course that’s causing some inflationary pressure but the markets…are buying into the Fed narrative that rates aren’t going to go up too quickly,” he added.

Mr. Bell sees two main risks: A winter rush of Covid-19 cases could put pressure on hospital systems and prompt governments to reimpose some economy-slowing restrictions.

Further out, he thinks investors are underestimating the extent to which the Fed will push up interest rates to quell inflation stemming from a tight labor market.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

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

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Code Name Price % Change Market Cap
OAK Oakridge 0.002 100.0% 934,307
WOO Wooboard Tech Ltd 0.0015 50.0% 3,943,273
TOU Tlou Energy Ltd 0.083 33.9% 14,636,732
BAS Bass Oil Ltd 0.002 33.3% 2,616,200
ANL Amani Gold Ltd 0.0025 25.0% 6,452,312
MLS Metals Australia 0.0025 25.0% 30,965,026
YPB YPB Group Ltd 0.0025 25.0% 1,049,281
SPQ Superior Resources 0.022 22.2% 22,413,640
KIS King Island 0.17 21.4% 5,343,339
EN1 Engage:Bdr Limited 0.003 20.0% 778,016
ASQ Australian Silica 0.14 16.7% 1,255,669
AMD Arrow Minerals 0.007 16.7% 130,000
KFE Kogi Iron Ltd 0.014 16.7% 90,000
ARD Argent Minerals 0.043 16.2% 3,293,546
AHI Adv Human Imag Ltd 1.16 16.0% 401,302
AOA Ausmon Resorces 0.008 14.3% 100,000
GNM Great Northern 0.008 14.3% 1,085,475
SHP South Harz Potash 0.16 14.3% 2,155,470
IBX Imagion Biosys Ltd 0.096 14.3% 16,565,079
FRM Farm Pride Foods 0.295 13.5% 17,181
KAI Kairos Minerals Ltd 0.034 13.0% 19,762,827
AVL Aust Vanadium Ltd 0.026 13.0% 31,870,901
EPN Epsilon Healthcare 0.13 13.0% 240,091
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The biggest small cap winner today was Oakridge (ASX:OAK), up 100% on no news.

It was followed by Metals Australia (ASX:MLS) who jumped 67% off the back of high-grade rockchip sample results including 1.25% lithium, 126 ppm tantalum and 155ppm cesium confirming Foundation as a major new LCT pegmatite discovery at the company’s Manindi project in WA.

Next up was Renu Energy (ASX:RNE) up 40% after announced it was acquiring Countrywide Renewable Hydrogen via a scrip deal.

Renu will issue 134,659,520 fully paid ordinary shares at $0.0688 each, valuing the acquisition at roughly $9.2m.

And Minotaur Exploration (ASX:MEP) was up 38% after revealing its being acquired by Andromeda (ASX:ADN) where Minotaur shareholders will own approximately 19.5% of Andromeda post the offer being fully implemented.

Minotaur intends to demerge its existing copper and gold exploration assets through its subsidiary, Breakaway Resources Pty Ltd.

Also up 38% was Battery Minerals (ASX:MAT) after being awarded a mining licence from the Mozambique Government for its Balama Central graphite project for the production of 50,000tpa of graphite concentrate.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Code Name Price % Change Market Cap
PCL Pancontinental Energ 0.001 -33 $ 10,551,334.22
WOO Wooboard Tech Ltd 0.0015 -25 $ 7,644,325.48
AO1 Assetowl Limited 0.004 -20 $ 4,081,025.53
CLE Cyclone Metals 0.0045 -18 $ 26,899,970.07
IMM Immutep Ltd 0.575 -18 $ 597,710,960.70
PPH Pushpay Holdings Ltd 1.475 -18 $ 2,040,338,717.28
CCE Carnegie Cln Energy 0.0025 -17 $ 44,707,721.13
OVT Ovato Limited 0.0025 -17 $ 36,638,436.76
TYX Tyranna Res Ltd 0.006 -14 $ 8,976,524.67
HRN Horizon Gold Ltd 0.37 -14 $ 45,877,566.88
ARE Argonaut Resources 0.007 -13 $ 28,849,638.26
LCT Living Cell Tech. 0.007 -13 $ 5,710,809.81
ADN Andromeda Metals Ltd 0.175 -13 $ 492,310,409.20
OEC Orbital Corp Limited 0.53 -12 $ 46,739,416.20
14D 1414 Degrees Limited 0.12 -11 $ 27,075,661.83
PSL Paterson Resources 0.032 -11 $ 12,213,309.71
UCM Uscom Limited 0.125 -11 $ 21,922,654.74
BUR Burleyminerals 0.22 -10 $ 8,409,147.01
MHI Merchant House 0.088 -10 $ 9,238,116.61
GEN Genmin 0.135 -10 $ 42,343,177.50
TSC Twenty Seven Co. Ltd 0.0045 -10 $ 13,304,069.53
MNS Magnis Energy Tech 0.655 -10 $ 673,840,045.85
NVU Nanoveu Limited 0.038 -10 $ 8,532,960.87
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The biggest loser today was Pancontinental Energy (ASX:PCL) down 33%, followed by Wooboard (ASX:WOO) down 25% and AssetOwl (ASX:AO1) down 20% – all on no news.