From the US comes a cautionary tale – a story about how one man’s sweet tooth has launched him into orbit and landed him in hot water, all at the same time.
Local media has reported that Connecticut bus driver Jinhuan Chen has been arrested and charged with 38 counts of reckless endangerment, after an ‘incident’ at work had police briefly baffled and then bemused.
Chen was ferrying passengers from the Mohegan Sun Casino to Destination Unknown when, for no apparent reason, he pulled over to the side of a busy interstate highway and blacked out harder than a bride-to-be in the back of a stretch Hummer.
Police say they arrived to find Chen in a very poor state indeed, an open bag of Smokies Edibles Cannabis Infused Fruit Chews on the seat by his side.
Chen was carted off to hospital, where blood tests found he had super-high (heh) levels of THC in his bloodstream.
“He has a sweet tooth and likes candy,” the driver’s boss said, cheerfully ignoring the fact that Chen was higher than Cheech and Chong when police found him.
Chen’s due in court in late August, where his claim that he didn’t know that Smokies Edibles Cannabis Infused Fruit Chews could get you off your tree is about as likely to stand up in court as he was the day he got pinched.
TO MARKETS
It’s not just Connecticut bus drivers feeling woozy – markets are pretty much out on their feet this morning, thanks to yet another shocker on Wall Street overnight.
Rising interest rates in the US, the UK and Switzerland in the past 24 hours have put enormous pressure on local markets, with JPMorgan Chase & Co’s number nerds starting to mutter about an 85% chance of recession. Those are not great odds.
The ASX 200 got the day off to a horrible start, dropping like a pole-axed peasant to shed 2.5% in the first 30 minutes, a sharp decline after three days of relatively steady movement since Tuesday’s poor showing.
Every market sector has fallen into the red, with Tech (-3.25%), Materials (-2.86%) and Financials (-2.45%) weighing heaviest.
In Big Business Land, auto parts manufacturer GUD Holdings (ASX:GUD) has taken a thorough beating, after news of its downgraded FY22 earnings guidance broke after the bell rang yesterday. By lunchtime, GUD had been stripped of around 21% of its value, down $2.00 to $7.61.
In the interests of putting a smiley face in here somewhere, a few of the big players have managed to swim against the tide. Northern Star (ASX:NST) climbed 4.28%, Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) added 5.29% and beleaguered cow-groping specialists A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) was up 3.74% – and there will be good news in the Small Cap section below, if you want to skip ahead.
Around the world, however, it’s red, red and a small dab of green. The previously-mentioned Wall Street fall has the Nasdaq down 4.0%, the S%P down 3.25% and the Dow down 2.42%.
Asian markets were mixed, with the Nikkei aping US shares, falling 2.3%. Chinese and Hong Kong shares have gone their own way, however, climbing 0.29% and 0.88% respectively.
Commodities are also feeling the heat, with oil dropping 0.53%, natural gas falling 0.85%, gold dipping 0.13% and copper losing 0.19%.
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for June 17 [intraday]:
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Code Company Last % Market Cap WA1 WA1 Resources 0.17 42% $3,484,201 CHK Cohiba Min Ltd 0.01 25% $13,021,286 XST Xstate Resources 0.0025 25% $6,430,363 DCX Discovex Res Ltd 0.006 20% $12,843,320 PVL Powerhouse Ven Ltd 0.071 18% $7,244,591 T3K Tek Ocean Group 0.135 17% $3,764,468 TCG Turaco Gold Limited 0.076 17% $27,801,583 CBL Control Bionics 0.145 16% $6,291,363 AUN Aurumin 0.15 15% $14,199,023 AJL AJ Lucas Group 0.06 15% $62,206,905 99L 99 Loyalty Ltd. 0.031 15% $31,311,435 MCT Metalicity Limited 0.004 14% $12,104,377 ATP Atlas Pearls Ltd 0.035 13% $13,264,024 MXO Motio Ltd 0.046 12% $10,097,946 OPY Openpay Group 0.19 12% $26,907,488 MEM Memphasys Ltd 0.038 12% $26,934,063 OSX Osteopore Limited 0.145 12% $15,244,871 MIO Macarthur Minerals 0.25 11% $36,282,035 PNX PNX Metals Limited 0.005 11% $19,998,260 PWN Parkway Corp Ltd 0.01 11% $19,919,362 ARV Artemis Resources 0.032 10% $40,261,599 OAR OAR Resources Ltd 0.0055 10% $10,772,824 ROG Red Sky Energy. 0.0055 10% $26,511,136 ACU Acumentis Group Ltd 0.11 10% $17,531,745 ZMM Zimi Ltd 0.11 10% $6,532,834
Top of the Pops among the small caps today is WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1), which had a solid leap of 42% off the back of “very encouraging” soil sample results which have the company all ready and raring to go with drilling early next month.
Also of note was a 17% rise for Tek-Ocean Group (ASX:T3K), despite its only recent news being an announcement that the company has moved to a new HQ, where (presumably) they’ve landed a rent reduction large enough to make an appreciable difference to the bottom line.
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS
Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for June 17 [intraday]:
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Code Company Price % Market Cap DCN Dacian Gold Ltd 0.1075 -37% $184,463,101 AYA Artryalimited 0.36 -36% $35,076,787 EVE EVE Health Group Ltd 0.001 -33% $6,464,713 KWR Kingwest Resources 0.065 -29% $22,353,518 CCE Carnegie Cln Energy 0.0015 -25% $30,205,147 IMR Imricor Med Sys 0.1125 -25% $21,494,091 GUD G.U.D. Holdings 7.56 -21% $1,353,998,029 LDR Lode Resources 0.12 -20% $5,932,665 GEN Genmin 0.155 -18% $53,824,692 M2R Miramar 0.081 -18% $6,354,480 MHI Merchant House 0.062 -17% $7,069,987 EX1 Exopharm Limited 0.12 -17% $22,795,672 EPX Ept Global Limited 0.058 -17% $12,731,726 8IH 8I Holdings Ltd 0.1 -17% $43,002,719 MCM Mc Mining Ltd 0.1 -17% $23,718,584 NC6 Nanollose Limited 0.06 -17% $10,719,818 BAT Battery Minerals Ltd 0.005 -17% $15,760,172 INP Incentiapay Ltd 0.01 -17% $15,180,764 3MF 3D Metalforge 0.0135 -16% $2,311,006 NGS NGS Ltd 0.11 -15% $8,997,495 UVA Uvrelimited 0.165 -15% $6,142,498 PG1 Pearl Global Ltd 0.011 -15% $12,639,215 IS3 I Synergy Group Ltd 0.05 -15% $15,839,224 8VI 8Vi Holdings Limited 1.5 -15% $75,015,117 BIO Biome Australia Ltd 0.08 -15% $14,499,372