Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Friday

Wall Street tumbles on hot inflation data

US investors are bracing for a 0.50% Fed hike as soon as March, after another red-hot inflation print overnight.

Headline inflation rose by 7.5% — the highest level in 40 years — while core inflation beat expectations with a 6% rise.

The market has now upped the chances of six Fed rate hikes this year — or a 1.5% increase by year end.

Pretty much everything in the US got more expensive in January, and two of the biggest inflationary pressures, namely shelter prices and new vehicles, surged again.

All three major US stockmarket benchmarks fell sharply after the announcement – with the S&P 500 down by 1.81%, Dow Jones by 1.47%, and tech heavy Nasdaq by 1.69%.

The benchmark US 10-year yield shot up above 2%, and is now trading at 2.03%.

Meanwhile, the spot iron ore price has continued its rally, rising by 4% to $US152.50, as China set 2030 as the new deadline for peak emissions for the sector, against an earlier target of 2025.

In cryptos, Bitcoin fell and is back below US$44,000 at 8.00am AEDT.

In part one of Coinhead’s GameFi deep dive this week, we delved into what makes the sector tick – what it is and why big backers are throwing dough its way. Here, we bring you our picks for the hottest upcoming DeFi/P2E games in 2022.

Read the rest of that story here.

ASX 200 to open lower on Friday

The ASX 200 index looks set to open lower this morning, with futures markets (March contracts) pointing down by 0.77% at 8:00am AEDT.

Yesterday, the ASX closed 0.31% higher, with Tech the standout, rising by over 2.5%. Other sectors were mainly in the red, with Mining and Financials down around 0.5% each.

Later today, The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Dr Philip Lowe will appear before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics.

And listing later today is My Rewards (ASX:MRI), an employee and consumer rewards, loyalty and engagement program provider.

My Rewards offers a cloud-based, ecommerce platform where members can access exclusive discounts and offers, and businesses can reward their employees for their loyalty and performance.

It boasts that it’s connected more than 4.6 million members with over 4,500 suppliers and has big name clients like Telstra, Ria Money, Ramsay Health, MLC and AIG.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Kathmandu Holdings (ASX:KMD)
The outdoor gear company says its total adjusted EBITDA for the quarter is forecast between $NZ9m to $NZ11m, on total group sales of $NZ405m. Full results will be released on March 23.

Baby Bunting (ASX:BBN)
The company delivered a record first half with total sales of $239.1 million, up 10.0% on the prior corresponding 26-week period. Statutory NPAT was $8.1 million, up 12.2%. A fully franked interim dividend of 6.6 cents per share, up 13.8%, was also announced.

Angel Seafood (ASX:AS1)
Angel has entered into a scheme implementation agreement with BidCo, where BidCo is proposing to purchase all of the shares in Angel at 20c a share (which closed at 17c yesterday). Angel directors have recommended the takeover, with a shareholder meeting to be held in early May.

Ardea Resources (ASX:ARL)
Diamond core drilling at the Highway nickel-cobalt deposit has confirmed high-grade near surface nickel-cobalt mineralisation. Intercepts at 0.5% Ni and 1% Ni cut-off grades include: 42m at 0.77% nickel and 0.11% cobalt from 2m , and 36m at 0.95% nickel and 0.08% cobalt from 2m.

Culpeo Minerals (ASX:CPO)
Recently completed geophysical surveys have identified several additional high priority iron-oxide-copper-gold targets at its Las Petacas Project, including one which has a large footprint of 400m x 200m, CPO said.