Wall Street down on earnings reports
US stocks were mostly down overnight, as investors digested corporate earnings and guidances.
The Dow Jones was down 0.74%, S&P 500 fell by 0.51%, and tech heavy Nasdaq finished flat.
Microsoft reported strong revenues across most of its product lines, with total Q3 revenue of US$45.3 billion that beat estimates. Its shares rose 4.2% to a record high.
Alphabet Inc (Google) also rose 5% after reporting a better than expected quarterly revenue of US$65.12 billion.
Meanwhile, Twitter and Robinhood shares tumbled by 10% each after missing estimates, with concerns also over their growth outlook.
In other markets, global oil prices fell by 2% overnight with the benchmark Brent crude now trading at US$84.58.
Analysts like Credit Suisse are still calling oil price to reach US$90 by year end. Spot iron ore price is down 2.5% to US$119.65.
To cryptos, where Bitcoin has fallen below US$60k, and is trading at US58,900 at 8am AEDT, from the US$61,900 yesterday.
Many an analyst believes the “bull market” could remain intact even if Bitcoin drops all the way down to levels around US$50K.
Read all about it here on Stockhead.
ASX 200 to open lower on Thursday
The ASX 200 looks set to open lower this morning, with futures markets (December contracts) pointing down by 0.54% at 8:30am AEDT.
After rallying as much as 0.4%, the local bourse closed just 0.07% up at 7,448 points yesterday, with telcos and health the standout sectors.
Yesterday, the CPI release showed that Australian’s Q3 inflation rose by 0.8% q/q and 3% y/y. Core inflation jumped to 2.1%, topping forecast of 1.8%.
Later today, international (export and import) prices will be released. Last quarter showed an increase of 13.2% for exports, and 1.9% for imports.
5 ASX small caps to watch today
Health House International (ASX:HHI)
The pharmaceutical distributor specialising in medicinal cannabis delivered quarterly cash receipts of $2.55m, a 24.9% from the previous quarter. HHI has continued its expansion of product range through the execution of multiple distribution agreements in the last three months.
Cluey (ASX:CLU)
The edtech company reported 134% increase in quarterly revenue to $7.9 million, which is equal to 50% of total FY21 revenue. The company also doubled its new students to 7,411.
Bubs Australia (ASX:BUB)
The company announced the launch of the new range of Bubs Family Nutrition, which is an extension of the Bubs brand portfolio into an adjacent growth category, and allows it to tap into the US$15.7 billion global cow’s milk powder market.
ApplyFlow (ASX:AFW)
The recruitment tech company has partnered with Hudson Global Resources for the roll-out the AFW’s Applypay instalment-based finance solution for Hudson’s recruiter invoices. Hudson is a market-leader in the Asia-Pacific recruitment market, with revenue in its Australian operations in FY21 set to exceed $375m.
Breaker Resources (ASX:BRB)
The company said that step-out drilling continues to expand the size of the steeply dipping Tura Lode system below the 3.7km long Bombora deposit, at its Lake Roe Gold Project in WA. Results include 1.6m @ 37.46g/t Au from 401m.