A Deputy Sheriff and two corrections officers in Ohio have got the boot after staging wrestling matches with inmates in Fairfield County Jail.

Apparently, the matches were consensual, and no one got hurt, but Sheriff Alex Lape said the 10-minute incident was embarrassing.

“This is ridiculous,” he said. “It’s unacceptable behaviour and it won’t be tolerated. 

“In 30 years, I thought I’d seen just about everything. I saw that video and I said ‘you’ve got to be kidding’.”

“It’s pretty obvious you can see how that could have gone bad in 100 different ways.”

To other things that could have gone bad 100 different ways – markets. And they mostly did.

 

TO MARKETS

The ASX 200 is trading down 0.80% at lunch today, with eight out of 11 sectors looking sad and red.

IT led the loses, with Wisetech Global (ASX:WTC) down 2.20%, Computershare (ASX:CPU) down 1.54% and Xero (ASX:XRO) down 2.23%.

Of those in the green, the Utilities sector was ahead by 1.43%, with Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) and Meridian Energy (ASX:MEZ) up 1.83% and 0.47% respectively.

In Australia, the federal budget outcome for 2021/22 is scheduled today and the Treasurer has announced the outcome could be ~$50bn better than the initial estimate of close to $80bn due to delayed spending, stronger commodity prices and a better performing economy.

Preliminary data on retail trade for August and engineering construction for the June quarter will also be issued and CBA senior economist Belinda Allen expects retail trade rose by a modest 0.2% in August following a strong 1.3% print in July. 

“Our internal CBA credit & debit card spending data show spending growth has moderated and may now be flat-lining,” she said.

“As we’ve been noting for a while now, there is an on average 3-month lag between when the RBA raises the cash rate and the effect on households’ cash flows. 

“That means that August was the first month where CBA borrowers began to feel RBA rate hikes. 

“Spending growth will slow more materially as the impact of the 225 bp of rate hikes so far accumulates.” 

NOT THE ASX

In London, the FTSE 100 closed down 0.5% yesterday amid fears that the inflationary impact of UK economic policy could push the Bank of England into an emergency rate hike, said Joshua Mahony, IG’s senior market analyst.

“With Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng under pressure less than a month into their appointment, traders will hope that this provides a stark warning over the need to be fiscally responsible despite the desire to spend their way out of this crisis,” Mahony added.

In the US, investors are coming to grips with the idea that bigger interest-rate increases – and weaker global economic growth – are here to stay for quite a while.

Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, reaffirmed the central bank’s resolve to bring down persistent and elevated inflation in a Tuesday interview with The Wall Street Journal.

“There’s a lot of tightening in the pipeline,” Kashkari said, adding that the Fed is “committed to restoring price stability” but also recognises “there is a risk of overdoing it.”

“The equity market is paying attention to this perpetual ratcheting higher of terminal rates in the US,” said Charles Diebel, head of fixed income at Mediolanum International Funds. “The more the terminal rate goes up — while necessary to deal with the inflation threat — the bigger the economic downturn will be.”

“When financial conditions are like this, historically, something always breaks,” he said.

 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for September 28 [intraday]:

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In August, long serving boss of Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) Steve Promnitz departed abruptly and now he’s resurfaced as MD of Qx Resources (ASX:QXR) to manage the company’s lithium assets in Western Australia and its gold projects in Queensland. 

Promnitz secured the lithium assets for Lake in 2016, and developed the previously untested Kachi lithium brine project in Argentina with new technologies to a stage where most project financing is indicatively in place for its development.

“I plan to advance the current assets and expand the focus on battery minerals by drawing on my extensive networks and skills from the past six years in the battery minerals sector,” Promnitz said of his new role with QXR. 

“I am confident we can transform and scale up QXR into a major player in this sector. 

“My immediate focus is to introduce the QXR opportunity to my network, prioritise activities, and actively communicate our growth strategy to existing and potential investors.”

And another lithium player, Balkan Mining (ASX:BMM), is also leading the pack today after picking up “exceptional” rock samples grading up to 6.8% lithium at the Gorge project in Canada.

“The initial results are a great start for the company as we plan on a mapping, sampling and trenching program to commence during the Canadian fall,” MD Ross Cotton says.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

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