• ASX opens lower on Wall St rout
  • ECB surprises to the hawkish side
  • Cavalier Resources ready to list on ASX

Where to begin?

Well, the local indices are going to be swimming uphill from the open, as global market sentiment follows the rather risk-averse mood which sunk the the S&P500 by 2.5% as you slept the sleep of the damned.

The defensive US dollar is higher, as are bond yields following the hawkish European Central Bank meet where Christine’s team was (wait for it) on La Garde against stonking inflation, keeping its policy rate on hold at -0.5%, as was widely expected, but telegramming two x 25bp rate hikes at the next two meets in July and September.

The ECB even talked up the possibility of an even larger hike at the September meeting, surprising markets, but not really in a happy surprise way. Europe’s major indices all fell somewhere between 1% and 2%.

In her post-match presser, Ms Lagarde warned of inflation challenges, which is what happens when it’s expected to top 6.8% this year.

She also said growth would slow, so this tweet looks great, but is a bit of a fib.

Growth forecasts were revised down probably because the OECD and its Austrian-Australian Gen. Sec Colonel Matthias Cormann did the same the day before.

In the complex commodities complex: Brent crude oil fell 1% to $126, copper fell 2.1%, gold fell 0.3%, and iron ore fell 2.5% to US$144, which let’s be frank, is still pretty good for something you dig up and put on a boat.

Bitcoin was weaker, down 0.3 per cent to $US30,121.68.

US weekly initial jobless claims were slightly higher than expected at 229k, while the steady climb in claims (from a 53-year low back in March) suggests some slowing in the pace of payroll growth.

At home the SPI futures is down about 0.8%, and while I’m no stock-pickin’ legend, my two cents would be on the major banks finding some support after having such a s..t-arse run this week.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Dateline Resources (ASX:DTR)

So I’d totally keep my eye on this advanced gold explorer which has had a crazy run of late. And there’s more news in the post. I mean, it jumped ~35% on no news on Wednesday, before screaming into a trading halt with an eye on a proposed capital raise.

That was a day after it’s colossal 100m intercept grading 4.16g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 79.24m at its ‘Colosseum’ project in California.

The hole – as only Reuben can describee – was ‘punched down the guts of the known system’. An epic hit and a maiden JORC resource estimate is coming soon, DTR says.

 

Cavalier Resources (ASX:CVR)

This near-term producer is listing in a few hours, thank you Emma, and boasts a portfolio of projects within proven gold and nickel regions in WA:

  1. Leonora Project which holds 101,000oz gold ounces at the Crawford Gold Project 25km east of St Barbara’s gold mill
  2. Gambier Lass North Project to the north of the Crawford Gold Project, Hidden Jewel
  3.  Ella’s Rock Nickel-Gold Project

All three are close to mills, which provides CVR with the opportunity for near-term production, once feasibility studies are sorted.

Collectively, the Calvalier management team have more than 60 years’ mining experience with executive chairman Ranko Matic and technical director Daniel Tuffin on board, both whom were part and parcel of the cracking listing of Panther Metals (ASX:PNT) late last year.

 

BikeExchange (ASX:BEX) 

Look, we’re kind of on BikeExchange watch in the newsroom. It’s skewered to the e-commerce hijinks whacking the wider sector, but the company is still the biggest ASX online retailer of its kind, valued at circa $600 million.

This morning the company revealed it’s hit another record month in Europe for monthly ecommerce transaction values and is on track for a record Q4 FY22, while the BEX restructuring and cost reduction plan announced in April 2022 is largely done with the benefits expected to be felt from Q1 FY23.

The company also says it got strong support to date from major shareholders and directors of the company for the Entitlement Offer announced in May.

As Tim Boreham observed wryly and recently it’s been cycling through the conditions okay, with a 17% increase in March quarter customer receipts,  but its performance is “muddied by seasonal factors and the recent 100% acquisition of now subsidiary Kitzuma which also launched a ready-to-ride consumer bike shipping services in North America”.
Bubs Australia (ASX:BUB) 

Says its whole shipment of  US-bound infant formula has already been snapped up by The Kroger Co and Albertsons Companies.

“This significant expansion of our retail footprint to over 4000 stores across 25 States is a truly exciting development,” said Bubs’ truly excited founder and CEO Kristy Carr.

“Bubs will be the only Australian made infant formula available for sale in the USA,” she claimed. The stock is higher in early trade.
East 33 Limited (ASX:E33)

I’m thrilled to say we’re still on East33 watch and may never stop.

The plucky oyster-maker just bought the ‘industry leading agri-tech company’ Oyster Cloud.

“Oyster Cloud is the world’s most sophisticated aquaculture management technology system which enables highly sophisticated farm management, inventory tracking and workflow optimization and detailed network planning,” E33 claims.

It’s apparently a step-change in E33’s ongoing modernisation of its farming practices and “ensures a critical foundation for future productivity gains.”

Shall I compare thee to these significant operational benefits? Let me list the ways:

• Detailed visibility on inventory and stocking density
• Optimization of labour resources and planning, and
• Farming network optimization and environmental contingency planning.