Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Monday

ASX to rise, US shares slide ahead of Fed

Wall Street tumbled on Friday as investors trimmed positions in rate sensitive sectors ahead of the Fed move this week.

All three major US indexes fell – the S&P 500 by 1.30%, the Dow by 0.69%, and tech heavy Nasdaq by 2.18%.

This Wednesday’s US Fed FOMC meeting is expected to result in a 25bp rate hike, with earlier bets of a 50bp hike all but dissipated after the Russian attack on Ukraine.

US consumer sentiment plunged to its lowest level since 2011, as people are expecting higher mortgage rates.

The Eurozone is also facing pressure to hike rates, and this week’s CPI and wages data will likely determine if the European Central Bank (ECB) will pull the trigger. The ECB surprised the market on Friday after deciding to phase out its bond buying program.

ECB President Christine Lagarde said: “Any adjustment to the key ECB interest rates will take place some time after the end of our net purchases under the APP (Asset Purchase Program) and will be gradual.”

Meanwhile, as the war in Ukraine enters into its 19th day, commodity prices have stabilised slightly. Brent is now trading at US$112.67/barrel, while gold has settled to US$1,984 an ounce.

In cryptos, Bitcoin is trading at US$38,775 at 8.30am AEDT from US$39,600 on Friday.

According to several reports, short positions (bearish bets) on Bitcoin have been increasing significantly just lately on one of the most influential crypto-trading exchanges – Bitfinex.

Read the rest of that story here on Coinhead.

ASX 200 to open higher on Monday

The ASX 200 is set to open lower this morning, with the March futures pointing up by 0.28% at 8.30am AEDT.

On Friday, local shares closed lower to end the week, down by almost 1%. For the full week, the ASX 200 was down 0.70%.

Aussie investors are still digesting the potential impact from the US inflation print, which soared to a 40-year high of 7.9% year on year.

Apart from US Fed FOMC decision, other economics events to watch this week include the RBA meeting on Tuesday, and the Euro CPI and wages data on Thursday and Friday respectively.

And according to the ASX, stocks expected to make their debut listing this week are:

Equity Story Group (ASX:EQS), a stock market trading advice, research, investor education and fund management company that raised $5.5m at 20c a share.

and

Many Peaks Gold (ASX:MPG), a minerals explorer that raised $5.5m at 20c a share.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Singular Health (ASX:SHG)
The company says it has completed its Cranial Implant Design project with with Australia’s science agency, CSIRO. The focus now turns to the collaboration with ASX-listed Osteopore (ASX:OSX) to validate the model, and seek US FDA and Australia TGA certifications.

EBR Systems (ASX:EBR)
The US FDA has agreed for EBR to include leadless (wireless) pacemakers as a co-implant in the pivotal SOLVE-CRT IDE clinical trial. If approved for final labelling, the opportunity to pair leadless pacemakers with the WiSE CRT System could potentially expand EBR’s addressable market by US$400m in 2024.

Arrow Minerals (ASX:AMD)
Results from soil sampling over the Sanguie- Semapoun corridor at the Vranso Project in Burkina Faso have confirmed that it consists of multiple sub-parallel gold mineralised structures. A detailed structural analysis is underway to provide better information on grade and gold bearing systems.

Kingrose Mining (ASX:KRM)
Resampling from 19 historical drill holes has verified intercepts, and improved understanding of the controls and styles of mineralisation at the Penikat Project in Finland. Results include: 2.6 metres at 11.5 g/t PdEq (5.8 g/t Pd, 6.5 g/t Pt, 0.9 g/t Au, 0.3 % Cu, 0.3 % Ni) from 33.5 metres.

Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR)
RC drilling program completed at Contessa project in WA has indicated significant intersections including: 20m at 0.69g/t Au from 120m, and 24m at 0.51g/t Au from 116m.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Arrow Minerals and Osteopore are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.