Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch on Wednesday

Wall Street pulls back

Blue chip Dow Jones finally had an off-day, falling by 0.39% after reaching consecutive record highs in the last few days.

S&P 500 also fell by 0.16%, while tech heavy NASDAQ rose slightly by 0.09%.

The major tech stocks Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, all gained more than 1%.

10-year Treasury yield rose 2 basis points to 1.62%, as all eyes are on the Fed policy meeting, with chairman Jerome Powell set to make a speech today US time.

Bitcoin steady at US$56,000 level

Bitcoin is currently trading at US$56,400 at 8am AEDT, after hitting record levels of US$61,000 on the weekend.

As a side note, for those saying that Bitcoin could replace gold as an inflation antidote, Bitcoin has roughly doubled since the beginning of the year, while gold price has fallen by 8 per cent.

Closer to home

Iron ore gained 2.4% to $US166.32 a tonne, which could push mining stocks higher today.

Milk producer Fonterra (ASX:FSF) reported half-year net profit falling by 22 per cent to $NZ391 million, and says that it expects pressure on earnings in the second half due to increasing raw milk prices.

In Covid news, more than 1000 GPs will join the COVID-19 vaccination program from next week.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

PainCheck (ASX:PCK)
Pain assessment tech company, PainCheck, has received CE Mark and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) clearance for its expanded PainChek Universal app. The app is a smartphone-based medical device using artificial intelligence to assess and score pain levels in real time, and update medical records in the cloud. The regulatory clearances will enable marketing and sales of PainChek Universal across Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia as well as in Canada, Singapore and New Zealand.

Veem (ASX:VEE)
Marine tech Veem announced that two highly prestigious Italian superyacht builders, Rossinavi and Overmarine, have ordered their first VEEM Gyros. The Veem Gyro is a stabiliser for smaller super yachts. VEEM now has orders of $5 million for VEEM Gyros, with $3.5 million expected to be included as sales in FY2021. The company said the addressable market for its products is over US$260 million.

Sports Entertainment (ASX:SEG)
The sports media company announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire TAB NZ’s 29 AM/FM radio licences across New Zealand, including supporting infrastructure and racing broadcast audio rights. The station is aiming to be the destination for New Zealand sports fans, with soon-to-be-announced live sports rights to be supported by marquee local programming.

Lake Resources (ASX:LKE)
Clean lithium developer Lake Resources has refreshed the company’s flagship Kachi Lithium Brine Project Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), based on revised lithium price estimates which has increased the project value to US$1.6 billion. Lake is currently assessing a potential expansion to production of lithium carbonate equivalent from Kachi.

Novatti (ASX:NOV)
Fintech Novatti announced that its fintech is underpinning LITT, the Australian social media platform that just raised $1.5m in record time. The company said that LITT highlights the growing convergence of fintech and social media, as the platform combines e-commerce, advertising, and digital payments to connect people, businesses, and local communities. LITT has more than 18,000 members and 500 local businesses that are able to connect with each other.