Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch on Wednesday

The ASX 200 is set to open higher on Wednesday
Wall Street was mixed overnight
Oil is at the lowest level in six months

Local shares are set to open higher today. At 8am AEST, the ASX 200 August futures contract is pointing up by 0.10%.

Overnight, Wall Street was mixed with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones closing higher by 0.20% and 0.70% respectively, and Nasdaq losing ground by 0.20%.

US retailers surprised with earnings that were better than estimates. Walmart climbed 5% after its profit decline was less than forecast. Home Depot rose 4% after beating Q2 earnings expectations and standing by its FY22 guidance.

Oil was down another 2.5%, and is now at the lowest level in six months. Brent crude is trading at just US$92.70 a barrel as traders weigh the prospects of increased output from Iran against slowing demand.

“Crude prices are declining over fears China’s growth could slow much more, and on improving odds that the Iranian crude could flood the market as negotiators near a potential revival of the Iran nuclear deal,” said Oanda analyst, Edward Moya.

President Biden has officially signed the US$430 billion Inflation Reduction Act into law in a White House event last night. The bill is seen as the biggest climate package ever passed in US history.

To cryptos where Bitcoin has lost 1% in the last 24 hours to trade at US$23,882.

Bloomberg reports that three of the biggest miners – Core Scientific, Marathon Digital and Riot Blockchain – have posted net losses of US$862m, US$192m and US$366m respectively in the June quarter.

“Pretty much everyone on Wall Street thought that the mid-June lows would get retested for Bitcoin, but now it seems this dead-cat-bounce just doesn’t want to stop,” said Moya.

Closer to home, the RBNZ will announce its rates decision later today. Economists expect a fourth successive “double hike” of 50bp, which will take the NZ overnight cash rate to 3%.

Earnings season continues on the ASX, and today we will see results from Amcor, Brambles and Redbubble amongst others.

Looking ahead, the Wage Price Index will be released in Australia today, while in the US, the FOMC meeting minutes is scheduled tonight.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Nearmap (ASX:NEA)
On a constant currency basis, Nearmap reported ACV (Annual Contract Value) of $159.9m, which is at the top of initial FY22 guidance of $150m-$160m. The company reported a statutory loss after tax of $30.8m vs a loss of $18.8m last year.

Cyclopharm (ASX:CYC)
The radiopharmaceutical company reported record group revenue of $11.4 million for the half year, up 35% on pcp. Gross margin was at 69.7% of sales, and the company has maintained a strong balance sheet with a net cash position of $26.5 million.

Redbubble (ASX:RBL)
The marketplace reported an EBITDA loss of $11.2 million, down from $52.7 million profit last year. NPAT loss was $24.6 million, compared to a profit of $31.2 million in FY21.

Critical Resources (ASX:CRR)
Assay results from the drilling campaign at CRR’s 100%-owned Mavis Lake Lithium Project in Canada have confirmed further lithium mineralisation. Results include: 10.84m at 1.08% Li2O from 149.90m to 160.74m downhole, and 3.37m at 1.51% Li2O from 34.26m to 37.63m downhole.

Riversgold (ASX:RGL)
Results from trial deep ground penetrating radar (DGPR) survey at the Tambourah project have been received. Interpretation has significantly exceeded expectations, with the number of interpreted lithium-bearing pegmatites increasing more than three-fold from 12 to 40.