Wall Street drifts lower on economic concerns

All three major US stock market indexes slipped for the second consecutive day overnight, as investors weigh recent economics data and risk factors.

The Dow Jones fell by 0.20%, the S&P 500 by 0.13%, and tech heavy Nasdaq by 0.57%.

Speaking with the Financial Times, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said the US Fed Reserve should start reducing its asset purchases soon, and finish winding down those purchases by the first quarter of next year, citing good labour conditions in the US.

Paypal dropped by 2.7% after acquiring Japanese buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Paidy in an all-cash deal worth US$2.7 billion.

European stock markets also fell by around 1% ahead of today (European time)’s ECB rate policy decision announcement.

The spot iron ore price fell by 3.5% overnight to US$133.05, as the Chinese government ordered local steelmakers to curb output ahead of the winter season and next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics scheduled in February 2022.

Meanwhile Bitcoin is sliding further and trading US$46,100 at 8:00am AEST this morning, after falling by 10% to US$46,700 on Thursday.

Ukraine’s parliament has just passed a law to legalise cryptocurrency in the country, after El Savador became the first country to adopt BTC as legal tender yesterday.

Readers interested in understanding more about the terminologies or acronyms used in the cryptocurrency space can check out Stockhead’s newly published Cryptionary.

 

ASX 200 to open lower on Thursday

The ASX 200 looks set to open lower his morning following the move in Wall Street overnight, with futures markets (September contracts) pointing down by 0.40% at 8:30am AEST.

Yesterday, the Aussie benchmark finished 0.24% lower. It was a busy day for small cap investors in resources and energy, as a number of junior explorers ripped higher following big announcements.

The share price of oil & gas junior Norwest Energy (ASX:NWE) more than doubled yesterday as the beneficiary of a gas strike by large cap Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) in the Perth Basin — part of a JV project in which NWE has a 20% stake.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

AusCann Group (ASX:AC8)
The cannabis company has engaged Knoell Animal Health to advise on the CPAT-01 clinical program and US regulatory strategy, ahead of the company’s meeting with the US FDA. CPAT-01 is a Phase 2 veterinary drug candidate derived from THC and CBD extracts, developed to treat pain and inflammation in dogs.

Doctor Care Anywhere (ASX:DOC)
The UK-based teleheath company has acquired 100% of telehealth provider GP2U Telehealth for $11.0 million. The acquisition represents Doctor Care Anywhere’s first entry into the Australian telehealth market, following its ASX IPO in December 2020.

Rox Resources (ASX:RXL)
Drilling results at Rox’ Youanmi Gold Project in WA have shown good intersections including: 7.25m @ 15.02g/t Au from 315.8m, and 12m @ 4.46g/t Au from 184m.

Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE)
The company announced that it has received assays from recent rock chips that confirm four additional REE (rare earth element) ironstones. The new REE ironstones have now significantly increased the footprint of known REE mineralisation to ~11kms of strike.

Calidus Resources (ASX:CAI)
The company says its feasibility study of Blue Spec gold project at Warrawoona in the Pilbara has been ramped up, with four diamond holes completed. Geology logging of core has already identified numerous instances of visible gold in all holes. Assay results will form part of DFS Resource update (current Resource is 219,000oz at 16.3gpt).

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