The ASX 200 has failed to launch in any way that resembles an upwards trajectory so far today. Unlike Elon Musk’s latest SpaceX rocket “Starship”, which did blast off to great excitement.

Erm, before exploding four minutes into its test run due to being “unable to pass through firmament” – and some separation anxiety issues…

Nevertheless, a valiant effort. That said, maybe Musk shouldn’t name his next rocket after one of the absolute sh*ttest bands from the 1980s.

Speaking of getting high, though, did you catch the fact that stoners the world over have been enjoying their significant yearly day of recognition? 4/20 Day. April 20. (Yep, we know it’s April 21 here in Australia, but it’s evening in the States and they’re presumably still toking it in.) It’s a date some/many have grabbed hold of to celebrate cannabis culture.

Why that date? Good question. This Time article breaks it down well, pouring the cold bong water over any idea it has to do with Adolf Hitler’s birthday, a Bob Dylan song or a police code for weed-smoking in progress. It’s something a bit more boring than that.

But, speaking of coppers and cannabis, check this out… As “The Cannabis Patriot” suggests, it appears a Pennsylvanian  police department simply isn’t taking the 4/20 day very seriously – by promoting something it’s dubbed “Doritos for Dealers”.

The New Cumberland Borough Police Department says it’s “encouraging a benign #420 day” and is offering the massive incentive of a family-sized bag of Doritos for any ratting-out resident willing to “turn in their dealer”.

The police have also, apparently, offered “regular size” Doritos packs for anyone who wants them to “inspect their product” – whatever the hell that means.

This story has been doing the mainstream media rounds overnight, but we’ve enjoyed Fark.com’s coverage the most, mainly because of reader comments such as these…

Meanwhile, one more sidetrack before we begin discussing the slightly more serious aspect of local and international financial markets… We can’t confirm if the following is true or not, but we’ll be making an obvious punchline regardless.

Do Kwon, the disgraced founder of the US$40 billion imploded crypto project Terra Luna, was arrested in Montenegro and indicted in the US a few weeks ago. That’s not the story, though – this is:

… which means, if at all true (and it probably isn’t), that he’s finally found the perfect place to dump his sh*tcoins. There’s also got to be a joke about mooning somewhere there as well. Someone help me out, because I’m pushed for time.

As this bloke notes, however, why wouldn’t Kwon have chosen the much thinner, smaller Ledger wallet for the task than the bulky Trezor wallet he (supposedly) ended up inserting?

Moving on.

 

TO MARKETS

At the time of writing, the Aussie benchmark – that’d be the ASX 200 – is down 0.37% and currently staggering along, looking a little lost with a case of the munchies.

Eddy “Told Ya So” Sunarto said, in his must-read morning Market Highlights wrap, that this would happen. Eddy’s a bit of a prophet round these parts. That said, we think we’ve discovered his secret. More on that in a sec.

Delving into sector specifics just a tad, here’s a Market Index data snapshot:

Source: marketindex.com.au

Winning: Energy, Industrials, Utilities, Health Care, IT, Staples. Losing: Materials, Financials, Telecoms, Real Estate.

Doing basically nothing: Consumer Discretionary stonks.

On a quick scan deeper, what’s grabbing our eyeballs even more specifically? These, which are both up:

• Melbana Energy (ASX:MAY) +6.6%. The firm has just released a reasonably positive quarterly activities summary, which you can read about here.

• Lindian Resources (ASX:LIN): +6% on no particularly fresh news for the mineral exploration company that has operations across the African continent.

And these, which are both down:

• Mindax (ASX:MDX): -12% on no particularly fresh news we’re gleaning for the WA-based minerals explorer.

• Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU): -4%, again on no particularly distressing news for this critical minerals outfit that aims to be a global material supplier of separated rare earth oxides.

 

NOT THE ASX

The ASX’s current performance is pretty much tracking Wall Street’s overnight stoned funk. And there you have it. That’s the secret. Sorry to let the cat out of the bag, Eddy.

Eddy is good for far more than morning ASX opening predictions, however, and here are some of the learnings we’ve gleaned from him regarding the rest of the world in finance today so far…

• Major US stock indexes (S&P 500 and Nasdaq) “fell around half a per cent as Tesla slumped by almost 10%”.

• Elon Musk told analysts in an earnings call that he will keep cutting prices of Tesla products in order to prioritise sales growth ahead of profits. Not the greatest 24 hours for the billionaire, then, but he’s putting on a typically unfazed face. And regarding the SpaceX explosion, he noted it had achieved its main goals of launch, separation and keeping the launchpad intact.

• Gold is up a bit, trading on its safe-haven narrative, while crude oil prices are being crushed.

Meanwhile, what’s doing in Asian markets right now? A quick gander tells us that the Shanghai index is currently down a tad -0.47%; Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Japan’s Nikkei are trending along similar daily trajectories.

As for crypto, Bitcoin, which dearly hopes one day to be as safe-haveny as the yellow metal, is struggling a bit – clinging desperately to the US$28.2k level at the time of writing.

Eddy notes two things that might be contributing to a bit of a dip: regulatory uncertainty in the US causing the likes of major exchange Coinbase to look to offshore (non-US) markets as havens to base its activity. And the other being the fact that the European Parliament has just approved its quite-strict MiCA regulations, set to be introduced later this year or in 2024.

Mooners and Shakers has a further morning update on BTC and pals for you, along with Twittering analysts’ conflicting opinions, and a brief look at another ridiculous meme coin called Pepe, which has been grabbing headlines in the world of magic internet money just lately.

 

 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for April 21 [intraday]:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

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A couple of standouts:

• RBR Group (ASX:RBR): +100% on an operations update on the WA resources-service-provider’s Mozambique business units.

• Western Mines Group (ASX:WMG): +37% on a “completion of placement” notice today. It’s regarding the completion of the placement and issue of capital-raising (A$2,726,630) shares.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for April 21 [intraday]:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Wordpress Table Plugin

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