Police hold a perimeter near the White House as demonstrators gather to protest the killing of George Floyd in the morning hours on May 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. Pic: Alex Wong/ Getty
News
How does widespread social unrest impact a nation’s economy?
Still battling to control COVID-19, Trump’s United States has a new problem – countrywide demonstrations and riots sparked by the death of George Floyd by police in late May.
These charts from Goldman Sachs measure real-time comments about the economy on Twitter.
They indicate that this social unrest is weighing on already battered (but previously recovering) consumer confidence.
Social unrest impact on the economy: real-time pic.twitter.com/EVRPt5A02D
— Brian Sozzi (@BrianSozzi) June 4, 2020
Negative sentiment on the economy (right chart, above) as measured by tweets not mentioning COVID-19 spiked over the past week.
That’s important because “consumer and business confidence will play key roles in shaping the economic recovery,” Oxford Economics said yesterday.
“Ultimately it’s hard to determine if weakening consumer confidence over the past two weeks has seriously derailed a US economy already in a sharp recession due to COVID-19,” writes Yahoo Finance editor Brian Sozzi.
“But for those on the Street betting for a V-shaped economic recovery later this year (stat: the S&P 500 is only 7.8 per cent below its February record highs), the data presented by Goldman hints that is far from a sure bet as social unrest is sustained, weighs on consumer psyche and spending decisions.”
US share markets were mixed on Thursday ahead of Friday’s all-important jobs report. CommSec estimates that a further 7 million jobs were lost in the US in May.
“We estimate the unemployment rate increased to 16.5 per cent in May,” it said. “We anticipate May will be the peak for the unemployment rate.”
Yesterday, the ASX200 briefly breached 6,000 points for the first time since March 9. Today the Index was down 0.3 per cent to 5,972 points by midday EST.
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm on Friday June 5:
Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.
| CODE | COMPANY | PRICE | % CHANGE | MARKET CAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TPD | Talon Petroleum | 0.002 | 100.00% | $1.8M |
| MNW | Mint Payments | 0.025 | 92.31% | $11.8M |
| GID | GI Dynamics | 0.003 | 50.00% | $3.7M |
| ICG | Inca Minerals | 0.002 | 50.00% | $4.1M |
| ELT | Elementos | 0.003 | 50.00% | $5.1M |
| GL | Gladiator Resources | 0.002 | 50.00% | $1.9M |
| SLX | Silex Systems | 0.45 | 34.33% | $57.9M |
| SRN | Surefire Resources | 0.004 | 33.33% | $1.9M |
| DDD | 3D Resources | 0.004 | 16.67% | $10.0M |
| MTB | Mount Burgess Mining | 0.004 | 33.33% | $1.6M |
| PUA | Pure Alumina | 0.017 | 30.77% | $3.3M |
| SMN | Structural Monitoring Systems | 0.55 | 27.91% | $50.9M |
| AEV | Avenira | 0.014 | 27.27% | $6.2M |
| XTD | XTD | 0.038 | 26.67% | $5.2M |
| INP | Incentiapay | 0.029 | 26.09% | $18.4M |
| CTO | Citigold Corporation | 0.005 | 25.00% | $13.0M |
| AAJ | Aruma Resources | 0.005 | 25.00% | $3.6M |
| IBG | Ironbark Zinc | 0.011 | 22.22% | $10.1M |
| WOA | Wide Open Agriculture | 0.41 | 24.24% | $29.6M |
Aspiring project developer 3D Resources (ASX:DDD) says it is looking at options for near-term production at the Adelong gold mine in NSW.
3D, which jumped 16 per cent on the news, is now up +100 per cent over the past six months.
READ: 3D believes it will succeed at the historic Adelong goldfield where others have failed
Gold junior Aruma Resources (ASX:AAJ) also climbed on news of a project acquisition in New South Wales.
Digital advertising group XTD Ltd (ASX:XTD) announced a distribution deal with petrol retailer Caltex.
Under the terms of the deal, XTD subsidiary MOTIO will get exclusive advertising rights across Caltex’s in-store screen network.
The stock jumped more than 25 per cent in morning trade.
Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm on Friday June 5:
Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.
| CODE | COMPANY | PRICE | % CHANGE | MARKET CAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VPR | Volt Power Group | 0.001 | -33.33% | $18.3M |
| XPE | XPED | 0.001 | -33.33% | $1.8M |
| CAD | Caeneus Minerals | 0.001 | -33.33% | $3.5M |
| ANL | Amani Gold | 0.001 | -33.33% | $8.6M |
| MAR | Malachite Resources | 0.037 | -19.57% | $514K |
| IEC | Intra Energy Corporation | 0.004 | -20.00% | $1.6M |
| CYM | Cyprium Metals | 0.12 | -20.00% | $6.7M |
| THR | Thor Mining | 0.008 | -20.00% | $6.0M |
| LRS | Latin Resources | 0.004 | -20.00% | $1.5M |
| TYX | Tyranna Resources | 0.004 | -20.00% | $4.5M |
| BIQ | BuildingIQ | 0.005 | -16.67% | $1.6M |
| SIH | Sihayo Gold | 0.016 | -15.79% | $36.6M |
| ASN | Anson Resources | 0.04 | -14.89% | $26.0M |
| ARE | Argonaut Resources | 0.006 | -14.29% | $11.8M |
| BAT | Battery Minerals | 0.006 | -14.29% | $7.9M |
| SEI | Speciality Metals | 0.033 | -13.16% | $42.2M |
| HMD | HeraMED | 0.1 | -13.04% | $12.0M |
| AGS | Alliance Resources | 0.14 | -12.50% | $28.5M |
| OPY | Openpay | 3.08 | -12.25% | $329.2M |
Anson Resources (ASX:ASN) fell after issuing some retractions from an early economic study into its lithium project.
Get the latest Stockhead news delivered free to your inbox.
