Many of our most popular stories this week are on COVID-19 (shocker) and ways to navigating a panic stricken market, but we’ve sprinkled a few non-doomsday stories in there for you. You’re welcome, happy Friday the 13th.

 

#1 Planning to buy the dip? Read this first

So you’re planning to buy the dip, maybe leverage up a bit to grab a bit more of that expensive blue chip than you could with whatever you’ve got stashed in the bank?

Past experience says curb that enthusiasm.

It can take a long time for share prices to fully bottom out once a crisis begins to unravel.

During the last financial crisis, it took six months for Australian markets to bottom out after panic properly set in.

 

#2 Your guide to COVID-19 vaccines: it’ll all be over soon

There are numerous vaccines, antiretrovirals and supportive therapies being feverishly tested against COVID-19 right now.

Past experience with SARS, MERS, H1N1 and Swine flu, new tech, and more funding all suggest vaccine development could be quicker this time.

Israeli researchers reckon they could have a vaccine in just 90 days. The University of Queensland in January said it could have a vaccine on the market within six months using a new technology. German biotech Curevac says 12 months, while US-based Inoiva Pharmaceuticals expects to have 1 million doses available by the end of the year.

Who’s working on a COVID-19 vaccine right now?

 

#3 Two analyst views on the oil crash and how to invest as volatility spikes

As coronavirus spreads, much uncertainty still abounds as to 1) just how deadly is and 2) how fast it’s spreading. But out of nowhere, another negative catalyst emerged — an unexpected price war in global oil markets.

The result? Oil prices promptly crashed by 30 per cent — an almost unprecedented fall that sent shockwaves through global markets.

Note to small-cap stock investors: it’s time to buckle up for a wild ride.

 

#4 McKinsey: 3 scenarios for the spread of coronavirus — and how long the fallout will last

Right now, investors assessing portfolio risk need to make decisions based on a limited amount information.

And things are changing fast, which is why analysts at McKinsey & Co have assessed the potential COVID-19 fallout for markets based on three scenarios.

These can broadly be categorised as bad, really bad and…let’s not go there.

 

#5 Dr Boreham’s Crucible: The small cap biotechs trying to make a buck from coronavirus

As with the early medical cannabis plays, a cluster of ASX-listed stocks has wasted little time attaching itself to the ‘c’ word. We’re talking of course about COVID-19 but sadly not another ‘c’ word: cure.

The virus may fizzle out, like SARS did, but right now we need the best and brightest minds in the labs to come up with a treatment or — more likely — a vaccine.

(While we’re on it, we implore folk to stop hoarding toilet paper: after all, it’s the coronavirus, not the “Caroma-virus”.)

 

#6 Barry FitzGerald: Confidence is brewing, is the uranium renaissance upon us?

Other than gold and iron ore, things are pretty glum in the broader mining market right now.

This widespread volatility to the downside is nothing new to the decimated uranium sector.

But while the (spot) uranium price continues to struggle at less than $US25/lb ($38/lb), confidence is brewing that the long-promised uranium renaissance is upon us.

“Some people have lost sight of the long-term fundamentals of the industry because they get caught up in the short-term noise that is going on.’’

 

#7 Explorers Podcast: Coronavirus is doing wonders for non-Chinese rare earths projects

This episode features Tim Harrison, project manager for Oro Verde (ASX:OVL), which recently expanded its focus with the acquisition of a 20 per cent interest in the Makuutu rare earths project in Uganda.

Chatting fireside, Barry and Tim discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the rare earths sector, Oro’s portfolio and much more.

 

#8 High Voltage: These 5 lithium explorers are outperforming in 2020

*Were outperforming.

Sh&t has gotten darker since we wrote this story but the fact remains — investors were still rewarding the best battery metals development stories, even as pricing circled the proverbial drain.

Here’s a list of five advanced ASX-listed lithium explorers — who aren’t exposed to prevailing low prices — who were making appreciable gains in 2020.

 

#9 PNG: a big, tier 1 mining destination that continues to draw small cap interest

Mineral-rich Papua New Guinea boasts some of the biggest copper-gold mining operations in the world.

The advanced 20.5moz gold, 12.7mt copper Freida River development is just one example of how big these things can still get.

And while PNG hosts major miners such as Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) and Barrick Gold, there are also several ASX small caps searching for the next big company-maker.

 

#10 Here are the 29 small caps that actually pay a dividend

Of the over 2100 stocks listed on the Australian bourse, 1654 are small caps with a market cap of less than $500m.

It’s not all that common for small cap stocks to pay a dividend. Of those 1654, less than 2 per cent — or just 29 stocks — actually distribute profits back to shareholders on the reg.

And here they are.