• The ASX is set to rise today after a broad rally on Wall Street
  • Ford and Spotify announce more layoffs
  • The crypto market has bounced back

 

The ASX is on track to rise again on Tuesday after a broad rally in New York. At 8am AEDT, the ASX 200 Feb futures contract was pointing up by 0.10%.

Overnight, 7 of 11 S&P 500 sectors rose as major US indices rose by around 1% each. Technology once again led as the NYSE Fang + Index closed 3.55% higher.

Shares in Microsoft rose 1% ahead of its earnings call later this week. The company also announced an extended partnership with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.

Auto giant Ford jumped 3% after announcing 3,200 job cuts in Germany amid reports that it could move its factory back to the US.

Spotify also joining the Big Tech layoff party, announcing it will cut about 6% of its workforce.

Meanwhile, Avatar: The Way of Water, has topped US$2 billion at the box office, becoming just the sixth movie in history to reach the milestone.

Director James Cameron is responsible for three of those six — Avatar, Titanic, and Avatar 2. The other three movies were Avengers: Endgame, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Avengers: Infinity War.

Over in Europe, EU consumer confidence improved from -22.2 in December to -20.9 in January.

European Central Bank (ECB) chief Christine Lagarde said that EU rates will need to continue rising at a “steady pace” in order to combat inflation.

“It is vital that inflation rates above the ECB’s 2% target do not become entrenched in the economy,” she said at an event.

In other markets, Bitcoin has hit a four-month high, up 1.6% in the last 24 hours to US$22,892. Ether has risen from US$1,550 last week to US$1,627 today.

Even the so called “Sam Coins”, which include the likes of FTT, Solana, Serum, Maps and Oxygen, have jumped from last year’s rout.

“While no bull run is confirmation of wider trends, the positive movement of crypto has coincided with receding fears over macro trends in inflation and economic performance in major economies,” said eToro crypto analyst, Simon Peters.

Crude prices are wavering a little as the dollar stabilises and over exhaustion from China reopening headlines.

“This week we will learn a lot about the crude demand outlook after we hear earnings from the airlines and Chevron,” said OANDA analyst, Edward Moya.

Microsoft, Tesla, IBM, and Southwest Airlines are the major players that will highlight this week’s earnings reports.

But while this is a big week, next week will be bigger as the FOMC convenes for its first meeting of the year.

Looking ahead to today’s session on the ASX, the Judo Bank purchasing managers’ indexes will be released, along with the NAB business survey, and consumer confidence index.

 

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Selfwealth (ASX:SWF)
Selfwealth reported a record revenue quarter, with operating revenue increasing 53% on pcp to $7.8m. The broker also reported positive operating cash flow of $151k, and increased its active traders on its platform to 128,383.

OFX Group (ASX:OFX)
OFX delivered a strong result for the quarter with Net Operating Income (NOI) of $55.4m, up 42% on the pcp. The Corporate segment also performed well, growing revenue by 89.8% on pcp, and 2.9%, or $1m, on 2Q23. OFX says its FY23 guidance remains unchanged, with NOI expected to be between $215m – $222m, and underlying EBITDA to be between $62m – $67m.

DevEX Resources (ASX:DEV)
More high-grade uranium across multiple prospects has confirmed outstanding growth potential at the Nabarlek Uranium Project in the Northern Territory. Assay results received from the 2022 drill campaign include: 2.0m @ 0.6% U3O8 from 188m. DevEx says these results confirm previously reported uranium equivalent intercepts, demonstrating high-grade uranium hosted in numerous fractures.

Adavale Resources (ASX:ADD)
Adavale had increased its nickel exploration tenure in Tanzania after being granted the licence for the Kabanga Southeast Wedge Prospecting. Adavale has also triggered the acquisition of 65% of the Luhuma Farm-in prospecting licences. Overall, Adavale’s fully owned tenure coupled with earn-in tenure now covers 1,311km2 within the East African Nickel Belt of Tanzania.

Auteco Minerals (ASX:AUT)
Drilling results from Tyson veins in Canada have demonstrated that the 2.2Moz at 7.8g/t Inferred Gold Resource remains open in all directions. Step-out drilling at the Tyson discovery continues to extend mineralisation with intersections including: 2.7m @ 16.1g/t gold from 309.6m downhole, and 2.3m @ 16.4g/t gold from 320.2m downhole.

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