Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Monday

Wall Street at fresh record highs

All three major US benchmarks closed on Friday at new record highs, with intraday gains led by the tech-focused Nasdaq which was 0.81%.

US stocks were bolstered by monthly jobs data which showed the unemployment rate ticked higher, easing concerns the US Fed will have to tighten policy setting faster than expected.

Jeff Bezos, 57, will step down and retire from the Amazon CEO role today.

He will carry with him an estimated US$187 billion, or around 740,000x the average net worth of an American aged 65.

In crypto, Bitcoin is currently trading at US$35,700 level at 8am AEST, from the US$US$33,600 level on Friday.

It was reported that Ethereum had registered 750,000 active addresses as of Friday, and has for the first time overtaken Bitcoin by the number of daily active addresses on its network.

ASX 200 set to open higher on Monday

The ASX200 looks set to rise at the open this morning, with futures markets (September contracts) pointing up by 0.30 per cent at 8:30am AEST this morning.

The index closed higher by 0.59 per cent on Friday, and was flat for the week.

Melbourne retailer Cettire (ASX:CTT) was one of the biggest stock winners last week, up 30% after announcing an expansion into childrens wear.

In big caps news this morning, Sydney Airport (ASX:SYD) has received a takeover offer from an investment consortium for $8.25 per stapled share.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Family Zone Cyber Safety (ASX:FZO)
The cybersecurity tech company has delivered record sales for the quarter, adding 1 million students and 2,000 schools to its customer base. These figures represent a 128 per cent year-on-year growth.

Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX)
The oncology company has announced positive results from in silico immunogenicity testing of OmniCAR’s key binding components, SpyTag and SpyCatcher. These results substantially de-risk the entire OmniCAR platform and will trigger next steps in development, the company said.

Fe Limited (ASX:FEL)
The exploration company has executed a haulage contract with Campbell Transport under which it will act as lead haulage contractor for the JWD Project. Under the terms, the haulage rate is fixed for the first six months and then reverts to a floating rate that is based on FEL’s realised iron ore price.

Neometals (ASX:NMT)
The lithium play has commenced the commissioning the Primobius (JV between Neometals and SMS group) lithium battery recycling demonstration plant in Hichenbach, Germany. The feasibility study will combine Neometals’ LIB recycling technology with SMS groups’ global engineering, plant construction and R&D industrialisation skills, and is set to be completed in March 2022.

Schrole Group (ASX:SCL)
The education software company has signed an upgraded contract with UAE-based Aldar Education. The 12-month contract is valued at USD63,000 (AUD85,000), up from USD13,500.