• The ASX is set to end its four-day winning streak and slip on Monday
  • Wall Street finished mixed after a shortened session
  • China protests have spread across the country

The ASX is poised to slip on Monday, ending its four-day winning streak. At 8am AEDT, the ASX 200 Dec futures contract was pointing down by 0.15%.

On Friday, Wall St finished mixed in a shortened session following the Thanksgiving break. The Dow Jones rose 0.50% while the Nasdaq was down a similar percentage point.

Last week, risk assets were boosted after the FOMC meeting minutes revealed that Fed policymakers thought about easing rate hikes.

Apple’s share price however was down 3% for the week after the company released a warning that iPhone deliveries will be delayed by 14 days following protests at its plant in Zhengzhou, China.

Those protests have now spread to other Chinese cities in a rare display of defiance against the CCP.

China is trying to prop up its ailing company by allowing the nation’s banks to hold less reserves, while the PBOC (Chinese central bank) also cut its rate by 25 basis points last week in a bid to support the economy.

“Combined with other measures to boost the property market and ease Covid curbs, the cut could be supportive over the medium term when growth remains highly uncertain,” said OANDA analyst Craig Erlam.

Elsewhere, Credit Suisse’s share price sank 7% to a record low on Friday after a US$6.3 billion cap raise plan was finalised.

Crude prices fell 2% on after the EU decided to delay its talks on the Russian oil cap until later this week. EU governments are split on where to set the cap, but a US$65-$70 price range has been proposed.

Bitcoin meanwhile has edged 0.35% higher in the last 24 hours to trade at US$16,571.

Back home, the Australian inflation data for October will be released on Wednesday.

Over the last 12 months to September, the headline CPI rate increased 7.3%, and economists are expecting a 7.6% print this time around.

Other crucial date to be released in the week includes the Corelogic national home value index for November.

Two weeks ago, Corelogic reported that residential property prices across the country fell for the sixth consecutive month, registering a 1.2% decline nationally.

Today will be the final day of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, and analysts will be closely watching total sales figures to gauge consumer confidence.

If Black Friday shopping takes a hit, it won’t bode well for the Christmas period which is so important to retailers.
 

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Calidus Resources (ASX:CAI)
Calidus announnced a new gold discovery 65km from Warrawoona project in the Pilbara. First assays were received from the maiden RC drilling program 7km from Calidus’ Blue Spec project, and include: 41m @ 2.37g/t Au from 32m.

Noble Helium (ASX:NHE)
The Soil Gas Survey program has been completed at the 100% owned North Nyasa Project in Tanzania. Analysis of the results are ongoing, but encouragingly, some samples demonstrate anomalous helium concentrations at up to 7.8 parts per million (ppm), or over 40% above background. This additional helium can only be explained as the result of micro-seepage from underground.

Respiri (ASX:RSH)
A leading US cardiac centre, the Arkansas Heart Hospital (AHH), has selected wheezo and Access Telehealth’s cloud-based RPM solution, Remotli, to help improve health outcomes and reduce hospital readmissions costs. The program is not a pilot and will commence immediately. AHH holds a 5 Star, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services rating, and is one of the America’s largest private providers of cardiovascular disease care.

Hot Chili (ASX:HCH)
Hot Chili has executed an option agreement with Antofagasta Minerals to acquire a 100% interest in five highly prospective mining rights, containing the potential western extension of Hot Chili’s Cortadera copper-gold discovery. This discovery is the centrepiece of the company’s low-altitude, Costa Fuego senior copper development in Chile.

Black Dragon Gold (ASX:BDG)
Soil sample assay analysis has been completed and geochemical results were obtained in the first tranche of exploration activity at 100% owned Padbury Gold Project in WA. Gold anomalies were found coincident with surface gold occurrences and regional trends in structural geology of the area. Drill program planning is now underway for the next phase of exploration.

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