Following a record equities rally in the June quarter, this week has so far brought a steady flow of bad news to digest across health, geo-politics and the economy.

On the domestic front, the now locked-down state of Victoria recorded another 134 positive COVID-19 cases overnight, with authorities now on high alert for a delayed outbreak in NSW.

That followed a glum session for US stocks, which fell more than one per cent as policy makers on both sides of the Atlantic flagged the prospect of a deeper 2020 recession.

Then again, as was noted by IG’s chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp, a sharper decline “does at least set the bar relatively low, and allows for the possibility of beating expectations if things go better than forecast”.

And in a possible sign that bad news is actually good news, central bankers — both RBA governor Phil Lowe and Richard Clarida from the US Fed — said they stand ready to implement more stimulus measures if the situation requires.

Amid all that the ASX treaded water in morning trade, before losing momentum into the midday break. Shortly after 12pm AEST both the ASX200 and the Small Ords Index were down by around 0.4 per cent on the session.

SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Wednesday July 8:

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CODE COMPANY PRICE CHANGE MARKET CAP
IEC Intra Energy Corporation 0.008 100.00% $1.9M
QFY Quantify Tech 0.002 100.00% $4.0M
ADD Adavale Resources Ltd 0.022 83.33% $3.9M
AMD Arrow Minerals 0.013 62.50% $15.6M
PNN Pepinnini Minerals Ltd 0.0015 50.00% $1.6M
CYM Cyprium Metals 0.18 33.33% $7.6M
S2R S2 Resources Ltd 0.145 38.10% $34.7M
WML Woomera Mining 0.022 37.50% $3.1M
VLT Vault Intelligence 0.46 35.29% $43.5M
MLS Metals Australia 0.002 100.00% $6.4M
MAY Melbana Energy 0.009 28.57% $18.5M
DRE Dreadnought Resources 0.009 28.57% $13.2M
RLC Reedy Lagoon 0.005 25.00% $1.6M
XTC Xantippe Resources 0.003 25.00% $8.0M
FTT Factor Therapeutics 0.005 25.00% $5.2M
LCL Los Cerros 0.051 21.43% $11.7M
CBE Cobre 0.21 20.00% $18.0M
SCL Schrole 0.019 18.75% $17.5M
POD Podium Minerals 0.032 18.52% $5.2M
14D 1414 Degrees 0.09 16.88% $13.3M
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Another round of gold explorers led the pack this morning, including Arrow Minerals (ASX:AMD), which jumped more than 60 per cent after hitting some high-grade intersections (like 13m at 3.8 grams per tonne) at its Dassa project — a 3km-long gold discovery in Burkina Faso.

Minnow explorer Adavale Resources (ASX:ADD), which has a market cap of $2m, also ripped higher on seemingly little news. Although the company did announced after markets closed yesterday that Alan Armstrong has resigned from the board, to be replaced by George Karantzias in a non-executive director role.

SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Wednesday July 8:

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CODE COMPANY PRICE CHANGE MARKET CAP
RFN Reffind Ltd 0.001 -33.33% $1.0M
ROG Red Sky Energy 0.001 -33.33% $2.5M
CBR Carbon Revolution 1.36 -32.00% $205.7M
SI6 Simble Solutions 0.02 -20.00% $4.5M
AVW Avira Energy 0.004 -20.00% $6.9M
NWE Norwest Energy NL 0.003 -14.29% $14.2M
1AL OneAll International Ltd 0.25 -13.79% $32.5M
HIP Hipo Resources 0.02 -13.04% $8.9M
SI6 Six Sigma Metals 0.007 -12.50% $4.5M
MTH Mithril Resources 0.023 -11.54% $40.0M
CNW Cirrus Networks Holdings 0.025 -10.71% $22.1M
DVL dorsaVi Ltd 0.026 -10.34% $6.7M
DRX Diatreme Resources Ltd 0.009 -10.00% $16.7M
SLZ Sultan Resources 0.18 -10.00% $11.7M
QFE Quickfee 0.735 -10.37% $142.1M
CCA Change Financial 0.095 -9.52% $27.8M
AMT Allegra Orthopaedics 0.29 -9.38% $33.4M
MRQ MRG Metals Ltd 0.01 -9.09% $12.3M
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