ASX to dip despite US market rally

US stock markets got a boost on Friday from a strong jobs report and Amazon’s earnings.

The US economy added 467,000 in January, smashing forecast of 125,000 despite the Omicron outbreak.

The jobs numbers rose by 0.7% for the month, and was the strongest non-farm pay data since May of 2020.

Amazon stock price drove Nasdaq higher, after it surged 13.5% following a solid Q4 results. The company reported a profit of $US14.32 billion, and flagged that it will raise annual prime membership (from US$119 to US$139 per year) for the first time since 2018.

The Nasdaq was lifted by 1.58%, the S&P 500 by 0.52%, but the Dow Jones index was flat.

Meanwhile the benchmark US 10-year yield index has now climbed to 1.91%, as the market sizes up for rate hikes this year.

In commodities, oil prices keep climbing, with Brent crude gaining another 2% to $US92.62 a barrel.

Bitcoin is up 0.50% to US$41,680 at 8.30am this morning.

Melbourne investment firm, Apollo Capital, has been running 41 nodes on the Pocket Network, a decentralised network of Remote Procedure Call (RPC) providers that allows software such as Metamask to plug into blockchains such as Ethereum.

Read the rest of the story here on Coinhead.

ASX 200 to open lower on Monday

The ASX 200 index looks set to open lower this morning, with futures markets (February contracts) pointing down by 0.50% at 8:30am AEDT.

On Friday, local shares seesawed in afternoon trade but mostly traded sideways as it closed the day up by 0.60%, maintaining its level above 7,000 at 7,120. For the week, the benchmark index gained 1.90%.

In large caps news this morning, embattled fund manager Magellan Financial (ASX:MFG) said it’s lost $2bn in funds under management in January.

This week’s key economics data to watch are the US CPI and the Austalia’s job numbers (both on Thursday).

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Douugh (ASX:DOU)
The fintech announced the launch of Early Pay to its US customers. Early Pay is a new bank account feature that allows customers to receive their paycheck up to 2 days earlier. The company said this move could better appeal to the 160m (around 47% of US population) who need help to manage their money.

Zimi Ltd (ASX:ZMM)
The IoT focused company announced an executive leadership transition and expansion of the Board. Among the management appointments, Jordan Tentori, the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Executive Director, will transition to the role CEO) effective today.

Scorpion Minerals (ASX:SCN)
The company has completed all due diligence activities, and will now issue 4,000,000 fully paid ordinary shares in SCN to acquire the Poona Project from eMetals Limited (ASX: EMT). SCN has acquired 100% interest in a few tenements of the Project which cover a combined 904km2.

Zenith Minerals (ASX:ZNC)
RC drilling has commenced on the recently discovered Kalitan Feeder Zone. Diamond drilling has concurrently commenced, and will target other high-grade sulphide Cu-Zn-Pb-Ag mineralisation styles deeper in the Kalitan Feeder Zone.

Cohiba Minerals (ASX:CHK)
Assay results received from a “wedge” drill hole confirmed persistence of copper, gold and silver mineralisation. Results include a combined length of 200.75m of mineralised core with some high-grade copper, gold and silver intersections. Copper (Cu) grades up to 5.07%; gold (Au) up to 3.5 g/t and silver (Ag) up to 14.5 g/t.