Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Friday

Wall Street rises despite weak economics data

All three US benchmarks rose overnight, despite US GDP growing by 6.5% in the last quarter vs estimate of 8.4%.

The Dow Jones was up by 0.44%, S&P 500 by 0.42%, and the Nasdaq rose by 0.11%.

Stock trading platform Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) made its IPO debut, but slumped by 8% at close to US$34.82.

Other highlights included Amazon’s quarterly sales which fell short of estimates, while Facebook’s quarterly revenue beat estimates but the company warned of a significant slowdown ahead.

In other markets, oil prices rose by almost 2% as supplies from US tighten and have shrunk to the lowest level since January 2020.

To cryptos, where Bitcoin is trading lower at US$39,700 level at 8:00am AEST, from the US$40,100 level on Thursday.

The no.1 crypto continues to flirt around the alluring US$40k level but keeps copping rejections.

Meanwhile, PayPal is reportedly planning to roll out a “super app” soon, which will feature crypto capabilities, high-yield savings and more, according to CEO Dan Schulman.

ASX 200 set to open lower on Friday

The ASX 200 looks set to open higher this morning, with futures markets (September contracts) pointing up by 0.56% at 8:30am AEST.

Yesterday, Resources and Tech stocks led the ASX back into positive territory, with ASX 200 closing 0.52% higher.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Nyrada (ASX:NYR)

The cardiovascular and neurological disease-focused company announced the grant of US patent for “Heterocyclic Inhibitors of PCSK9”, the first patent for the company’s cholesterol-lowering program. The patent will expire in 2038.

Sezzle Inc (ASX:SZL)

The BNPL company increased said quarterly underlying merchant sales rose 119% to US$411m, with active consumers up by 95% to 2.9 million year on year.

Bubs Australia (ASX:BUB)

The infant food producer had a solid Q4, with revenues of $12.8m, up by 8% on prior quarter. However, FY21 gross revenue fell by 24% to $46.8m, which it says reflected the prolonged Covid-19 disruptions.

Change Financial (ASX:CCA)
The fintech company reported record revenue for the June quarter of US$2.6m, as the company successfully secured a number of new licence deals.

Identitii (ASX:ID8)
The fintech company announced that Novatti ASX:NOV) has signed a three-year license deal for ID8’s Overlay+, its first ever SaaS customer. The deal is worth $180k for ID8.