• The ASX 200 will open lower on Friday
  • Wall Street fades away late in the trading day
  • Bitcoin has rallied further

Local shares are set to open lower today. At 8am AEST, the ASX 200 August futures contract is pointing down by 0.35%.

Overnight, Wall Street was mixed as shares reversed course late in the day to finish relatively flat.

US stocks were unable to hold onto robust gains for the second straight day, following reports that suggest inflation has peaked.

As reported yesterday, US headline YoY inflation fell from 9.1% in June to 8.5% in July, but a top Fed official Mary Daly warned that it’s too early to declare victory on inflation.

Daly also told the FT that a 50 basis-point rate increase isn’t locked in at the next FOMC meeting, saying the Federal Reserve is “far from done”.

“After a little pushback from the Fed, Wall Street is starting to second guess how soon the Fed will be in a position to pivot,” said Oanda analyst Edward Moya.

“The risk of higher oil prices going into year end are elevated, so this moderation in inflationary pressures might not last,” he added.

Earlier gains on Wall Street were driven by data showing the US producer prices index (PPI) unexpectedly slipped for the first time in more than two years.

Rivian rose 4% after a quarterly sales beat, but the EV maker has trimmed its full year guidance.

Meanwhile, a judge in Miami has ruled that meme stocks GameStop, AMC Entertainment and seven other companies can proceed with a class action to sue trading platform Robinhood for price manipulation, alleging that Robinhood’s trading restrictions have depressed their share prices.

Robinhood fell just 0.7% on the news.

In other markets, oil prices were up 1.5%, while Bitcoin has rallied further to US$24,118 at 8.30am AEST.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Baby Bunting (ASX:BBN)
The company reported a statutory NPAT of $19.5 million, up 14.6%. This was underpinned by top line sales of $507.3 million, representing a growth of 8.3% on pcp. With continuing economic uncertainty, inflationary pressures and other global challenges, BBN says no guidance about FY23 earnings can be given at this time.

Enero Group (ASX:EGG)
Marketing and communications company Enero continues to deliver strong results, with FY22 net revenue up 20%, and underlying earnings up 40%. In terms of outlook guidance, Enero said it is well positioned for organic growth in FY23, along with the full year benefit of ROI DNA and GetIT (Hotwire Group).

5E Advanced Materials (ASX:5EA)
The boron and lithium explorer says that US investor Bluescape willl invest $60 million in 5E’s secured convertible notes. This investment has introduced a cornerstone US strategic financial partner focused on power and energy transition, and strengthens 5E’s balance sheet.

Avita Medical (ASX:AVH)
Avita has released top line results from the pivotal trial in patients wth soft-tissue injuries using its RECELL system. Results showed that the donor sparing endpoint was met, showing a superior ratio of treated injury area to donor site area (p<0.001) with RECELL versus control. The healing endpoint however, did not reach pre-specified statistical non-inferiority, and observed values for healing with RECELL were the same or slightly better than control.

Archer Materials (ASX:AXE)
A Hong Kong patent was granted for Archer’s 12CQ quantum computing chip technology. This marks the successful grant of all 12CQ chip patent applications in Archer’s current portfolio. Archer is the only ASX listed company and one of a few players in the world developing qubit processor technology.

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