• ASX 200 ends 1%
  • Small caps 1.5%
  • Tesla, Askari, BidenRedBubble, Inflation, Jobs and Hang Seng hurt

 

The ASX 200 and the Emerging Companies (XEC) index fell 1.02% and 1.5% respectively on Thursday.

The major miners and the IT sector weighed, more than offsetting gains won by a resurgent energy sector led by Santos and Woodside, after the twin oil and gas giants delivered record quarterly revenue and flagged stronger production numbers respectively.

The strength in oil and gas explorers, along with firmer oil prices, drove the sector gains to well over 3.4% after lunch.

Local tech stocks largely followed the softness in the states, down about 3%, as all three major US indices ended lower, while the fulsomely-tech Nasdaq led the losses on a day of disappointing data and ordinary Q3 corporate performances.

Already under pressure after Chinese officials chose to stay mum on official GDP data, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell to a 13 year low, driven again by tech losses which have amounted to around 4%.

That’s played out to a lesser degree on the ASX today, although Zip Co, bucked the trend, the BNPL jumping almost 9% on the back of strong quarterly transaction volumes.

Tesla, reporting after the close, took a chunk out of the Nasdaq on its way out, leaving Elon stocks 5% lower on some pretty decent numbers but a troubled delivery outlook.

 

Via TSLA

 

Elon reported $1.05 in adjusted EPS, a beat on expectations of 99 cents, although revenue was lower at $21.45 bn, vs. the street’s expectations of $21.96 bn.

Elon’s Net income (GAAP) more than doubled on last year, Q3, while automotive revenue rose by more than half from the same.

In its Q3 earnings release, the company warned about a bottleneck in transportation capacity for delivering new cars while (somehow) “transitioning to a smoother delivery pace.”

Sam Colman over at Lawrance Private Wealth told Stockhead that the recent share price falls in TSLA are providing a much more compelling entry point.

“They ‘re still the leader in EVs and the demand there is only going to grow. Tesla have such a head start on EVs over every other car manufacturer, that it’s really their race to lose.

“The sell off has also just been caught up in the broader growth stock sell off and a few concerns around vehicle delivery and a slight miss on revenue estimates but nothing over concerning.

Once the Fed’s quantitative tightening cycle comes to an end we should see more of a risk on sentiment and companies like Tesla are likely to be a big beneficiary,” the Canberra-based Colman said.

“I think there is value below $200 in TSLA.”

Via TSLA

Thanks Sam, you’re a legend. And just quickly, here’s some entirely fresh pics Elon took to show just how giga everything is going:

 

Via TSLA

 

Via TSLA

 

Three Aussie battery makers Novonix, Piedmont and Syrah rose strongly before lunch on the cracking news, crackingly reported by Josh Chiat that they’ll be divvying up some $800 in US government grants.

Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR), is currently constructing a 11.25ktpa active anode materials plant at Vidalia in Louisiana, has been selected for a grant of up to US$220m, almost half of the expected cost of a phase 3 ramp up to 45,000tpa currently being placed under a DFS microscope.

Novonix (ASX:NVX) is busy building its first 10,000tpa plant for battery grade synthetic graphite, deploying a process it says delivers a 60% reduction in carbon intensity relative to traditional Chinese synthetic graphite, and will receive a grant of US$150m for a new plant in Chattanooga to produce 30,000tpa for EV makers.

Piedmont Lithium (ASX:PLL) will sink its teeth into some US$141.7m towards its Tennessee Lithium hydroxide processing plant in McMinn County, where a US$600m construction program is expected to start next year with first production in 2025, producing 30,000tpa of battery grade lithium hydroxide at full scale.

That would double the processing capacity stateside, with Piedmont potentially producing up to 60,000tpa once all of its lithium assets are operational.

At home this arvo, the ABS reports employment rose by a teeny 0.9K in September, much lower than consensus forecasts of 25K,  but Diana Mousina senior economist at AMP Capital says this follows months of strong jobs growth (apart from a blip in July when employment declined).

“Annual employment growth jumped up to 5.4% in September because of base effects (some negative job figures related to Covid lockdowns in 2021 came out of the data). Annual employment growth is close to a record high (apart from covid-related distortions in the data over 2021).”

Australia’s mega strong labour market over the past year

Via AMP Capital

 

And now to US inflation, the greatest inflation on earth:

Is inflation set to free fall?

inflation fall
Via Arbor Research

Has core inflation peaked, and if so would The Fed be nuts to persist with rate hikes?

 

Via

Is the The Kouk happy about the inflation discussion?

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

Code Company Price % Volume Market Cap
PPL Pureprofile Ltd 0.037 42% 2,653,035 $28,782,590
AO1 Assetowl Limited 0.002 33% 7,000,000 $2,358,195
RR1 Reach Resources Ltd 0.006 33% 3,896,323 $8,595,228
ROG Red Sky Energy. 0.0065 30% 58,888,689 $26,511,136
MRL Mayur Resources Ltd 0.16 28% 458,173 $30,242,189
DEL Delorean Corporation 0.11 26% 3,289,335 $18,767,720
LPDR Lepidico Ltd 0.0025 25% 9,906,665 $1,301,438
R3D R3D Resources Ltd 0.099 24% 371,746 $8,730,009
IMB Intelligent Monitor 0.092 23% 10,000 $9,802,522
NES Nelson Resources. 0.012 20% 1,234,785 $2,942,972
AS2 Askarimetalslimited 0.465 18% 2,073,929 $17,964,253
CMD Cassius Mining Ltd 0.035 17% 20,453 $12,112,227
JAT Jatcorp Limited 0.014 17% 35,111,322 $29,975,422
JTL Jayex Technology Ltd 0.007 17% 33,780 $1,495,371
TI1 Tombador Iron 0.028 17% 1,886,101 $51,287,577
RRR Revolverresources 0.3 15% 388,578 $25,574,366
ICN Icon Energy Limited 0.015 15% 500,000 $9,984,178
MXC Mgc Pharmaceuticals 0.015 15% 958,165 $37,058,415
M8S M8 Sustainable 0.008 14% 392,989 $3,436,359
AKN Auking Mining Ltd 0.12 14% 2,073,418 $10,465,834
BTN Butn Limited 0.17 13% 92,505 $11,755,334
TOU Tlou Energy Ltd 0.026 13% 727,540 $13,804,722
CBL Control Bionics 0.175 13% 18,385 $7,801,290
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Joe Biden’s lithium largesse:

Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR), is  up

Novonix (ASX:NVX) is  up

Piedmont Lithium (ASX:PLL) also higher.

And Askari Metals (ASX:AS2) is up and away on Thursday, following a strategic deal with Zhejiang Kanglongda Special Protection Technology Co to “develop Australian lithium assets”.

Askari says the agreement will “create a pathway for the rapid development of its Australian Lithium Assets comprised of Barrow Creek in the NT and the portfolio of Eastern Pilbara Lithium Projects (WA) comprising the Yarrie project, the Talga East project and the Myrnas Hill project.”

Strickland Metals (ASX:STK) has hit more shallow, high-grade gold at the new Wanamaker discovery, part of the Millrose project in WA, Reuben writes.

New oxide gold results include 5m @ 14.5g/t from 67m and 5m @ 6.6g/t Au from 83m, in two separate holes.

The first of these is ~200m away from the hit of 7m at 22.2g/t announced earlier this week.

Wanamaker is shaping up as a very exciting high-grade discovery 250m north of the historic 346,000oz Millrose resource, STK CEO Andrew Bray says.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

Code Company Price % Volume Market Cap
NTM Nt Minerals Limited 0.01 -44% 16,058,520 $11,410,213
WWG Wisewaygroupltd 0.055 -35% 19,514 $14,219,979
KP2 Kore Potash PLC 0.011 -35% 14,580,048 $11,623,964
ANL Amani Gold Ltd 0.001 -33% 856,634 $35,540,162
AQX Alice Queen Ltd 0.002 -33% 200,000 $6,600,750
YPB YPB Group Ltd 0.004 -27% 16,422,627 $2,236,004
RBL Redbubble Limited 0.525 -27% 3,757,568 $199,958,561
WBE Whitebark Energy 0.0015 -25% 374,000 $12,929,772
LRV Larvottoresources 0.195 -24% 1,816,145 $10,590,788
CAV Carnavale Resources 0.005 -23% 1,200,415 $17,768,086
A1G African Gold Ltd. 0.065 -23% 461,739 $10,030,468
AMS Atomos 0.105 -20% 3,165,656 $29,310,386
CLE Cyclone Metals 0.002 -20% 46,837,879 $15,291,842
GLV Global Oil & Gas 0.002 -20% 274,000 $4,683,387
TSC Twenty Seven Co. Ltd 0.002 -20% 12,146,667 $13,304,070
RAD Radiopharm 0.13 -18% 3,301,075 $20,716,206
BBX BBX Minerals Ltd 0.05 -17% 237,962 $29,203,289
MKL Mighty Kingdom Ltd 0.03 -17% 264,668 $5,549,141
W2V Way2Vatltd 0.025 -17% 67,495 $5,335,326
POD Podium Minerals 0.13 -16% 591,888 $52,166,633
TNG TNG Limited 0.075 -16% 6,137,018 $123,569,222
AJL AJ Lucas Group 0.082 -15% 7,623,702 $133,445,774
BGE Bridgesaaslimited 0.11 -15% 128,600 $3,774,681
TG1 Techgen Metals Ltd 0.11 -15% 101,892 $7,117,364
BFC Beston Global Ltd 0.039 -15% 5,857,914 $39,940,938
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RedBubble (ASX:RBL), the print-on-demand marketplace for Independent Artists (Gregor says think ‘Etsy’ but with less seashells and googly-eyes glued on stuff), which is down 24.3% after a YoY decline from the profit-after-tax-on-demand arm of its business.

After making nearly $1m last year, RBL lost *checks notes* $17m this year.

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