Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Wednesday

Wall Street at record highs as $1 trillion package passed

US stock markets were mixed on Tuesday, as the US Senate passed the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 rose by 0.46% and 0.1% respectively to record highs, but the tech heavy Nasdaq fell by 0.49%.

US industrial and construction stocks like Caterpillar and Honeywell rose off the back of the stimulus.

Energy shares also gained as global oil prices rebounded by around 2%.

Iron ore prices meanwhile, has tumbled again, and is now trading at a 3-month low as China locks down dozens of its cities and curbs steel output.

In cryptos, Bitcoin is holding steady and trading at US$45,700 level at 8:00am AEST.

Circle, the company behind the stablecoin USDC, has revealed it has plans to become a fully regulated digital currency bank.

On US markets tonight, the big event will be monthly inflation data for July, as the debate continues around whether post-COVID inflation prove transitory or become more permanent.

ASX 200 to open higher on Wednesday

The ASX 200 looks set to open higher his morning, with futures markets (September contracts) pointing up by 0.27% at 8:30am AEST.

Yesterday, the benchmark index was up by 0.32% and closed at 7,563 points, its record high. The best sector yesterday was Tech which gained over 1.5%, while Industrials retreated over 1%.

In big caps news this morning, Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) announced it will pay a final dividend of $2 a share, which is 104% higher than the previous payout. The bank will also commence a $6 billion off-market buyback of its shares. CBA closed at $106.56 on Tuesday.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Beston Global Food (ASX:BFC)
The company has released its guidance for FY22, saying that revenue for FY22 will come in the $160 ~ 185 million range, which is 54% higher than FY21 at the halfway point.

Tesoro Resources (ASX:TSO)
The company announced that assay results have indicated new gold discovery at the Ternera East Project in Chile. Significant zone of gold mineralisation confirms potential : 37.00 @ 0.49g/t from 297.00m including 7.50m @ 1.15g/t Au from 298.50m.

Zimi Limited (ASX:ZMM)
The IoT smart home company has received a purchase order from Polyaire Ltd for 5,000 devices worth over $300,000, to be delivered by December. Polyaire has enhanced its Airtouch smart air conditioning system so all Polyaire customers can use this system to control Zimi devices in their homes.

ikeGPS (ASX:IKE)
The GPS tech specialist has completed a fully underwritten share placement to raise approximately A$18.3m. A fully underwritten Share Purchase Plan (SPP) of A$3.0m will soon follow. Proceeds will be used to support recent customer wins and help accelerate a growing sales pipeline.

Secos Group (ASX:SES)
The packaging materials company said it expects to report a net profit of $2.6m (unaudited) for the full year, which is significantly up from the net loss of $1.2m in the prior comparative period.