Local markets are hovering around break-even this morning, with winners and losers pretty evenly spaced among the sectors and only the goldies looking anything like proper winners before lunch.<\/p>\n
The market-driving news overnight was a rapid fall in crude oil prices, which slid nearly 5% \u2013 leaving the market operating under a condition known as \u201ccontango\u201d which is nowhere near as exotic and exciting as it sounds. I\u2019ll explain it later, I promise.<\/p>\n
But before I get into what\u2019s happening on the ASX, there\u2019s news from the US this morning that has sent shockwaves through the burgeoning global cannabis industry, after one of the demon weed\u2019s most high-profile proponents announced that he\u2019s calling time on lighting up and getting high.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m giving up smoke. pic.twitter.com\/DDVl9Syixw<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) November 16, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In a message on X (I am refusing to include \u201cformerly known as Twitter\u201d, because if you don\u2019t already know that by now, you\u2019ve obviously been in a coma for 20 years and this news story will be of little interest to you anyway), rapper and perennial stoner Snoop Dogg has announced that he is \u201cgiving up smoke\u201d.<\/p>\n Which is, in a way, roughly the same as you or I calmly announcing to the world that we are giving up sh..ting.<\/p>\n The rapper has not given a reason why, but I would be incredibly surprised if it\u2019s not on doctors orders\u00a0\u2013\u00a0for decades, Mr Dogg has smoked like a green log in a bushfire, which will undoubtedly have had some effect on his ability to do stuff. Like, breathe.<\/p>\n What effect this will have on the cannabis industry as a whole is yet to be determined, but I reached out to my own marijuana expert for his take on the situation.<\/p>\n Associate Professor Colin Bongfondler from the University of Inner Western Sydney says that there will almost definitely be a short-term impact on both the legitimate and illicit cannabis markets, but says it\u2019s \u201ca market correction that we had to have\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cPrices have remained largely static for quite some time,\u201d Prof. Bongfondler croaked from his beanbag in the corner of my living room, \u201cso the sudden market glut left by this precipitous drop in demand will absolutely put downward pressure on any future pricing structure pieced together by the major players.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhether industry players are nimble enough to be able to price that in short-term while they wait out the inevitable market volatility between now and Christmas remains to be seen,\u201d he added, then: \u201cYou got any PopTarts in this place?\u201d<\/p>\n But while the world waits to see what kind of bold new musical direction will emerge from a newly-smokeless Snoop Dogg, there is one person in particular for whom this is world-shattering news.<\/p>\n Her name is Renegade Piranha, and \u2013\u00a0until now \u2013 her full-time, US$50,000 a year job was to roll joints for Snoop.<\/p>\n In a recent interview, Ms Piranha told Australia\u2019s largest FM Radio blob Kyle Sandilands: \u201cI do about half a pound a day, which is 75 to 150 joints.\u201d<\/p>\n Which sounds like a lot, because it is. It\u2019s an astronomical quantity of weed, capable of rendering an entire squadron of art teachers and beat poets mute and immobile in less than 20 minutes, under the right conditions.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Local markets are experiencing a general malaise this morning, heading into lunchtime about 0.2% lower than when the session began, with a giant, oozy reason looming large over the market as a whole.<\/p>\n All the talk overnight was about the price of oil, which is falling at a concerning rate as investors and speculators absorb news of weak Asian economic data and revelations that US stockpiles are bursting at the seams, and reach the conclusion that demand for oil is about to fall off a cliff.<\/p>\n As a result, crude oil prices fell nearly 5% overnight. At the time of writing, the fancier premium Brent crude is still showing a -4.47% decline to $77.45 a barrel, but the budget WTI gear is up around 0.3% this morning to $72.12.<\/p>\n Reuters reported this morning that the price drop overnight was large enough and fast enough to leave both WTI crude and Brent crude\u2019s front-month contracts trading below later-dated contracts, in a condition known as \u201ccontango\u201d because it\u2019s important to drop nerd words when weird sh-t\u2019s going down.<\/p>\n The crude crumble has had a predictable, but still terrible, effect on local Energy sector shares, leaving the sector down more than 1.5% this morning and leading the market\u2019s losses.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Chart via Marketindex.com.au<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Materials and Industrials are putting in a pretty wan effort to keep things afloat, but as the gong sounds to call us all to lunch, it\u2019s not working \u2013\u00a0the ASX 200 benchmark is down 0.22% and floundering.<\/p>\n But with crude prices in the dumps, the goldies are having a field day this morning \u2013 the KGD All Ords Gold index is shining bright, up 2.6% so far today.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In the US overnight, investor sentiment was mixed resulting in a session that saw the S&P 500 rise by +0.12%, the blue chips Dow Jones index fall -0.13%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq edge slightly higher, up +0.07%.<\/p>\n As it was locally, oil was the talk of the town in New York, with Earlybird Eddy Sunarto noting that current oil prices are now roughly 22% lower than September\u2019s 2023 highs.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Wall Street\u2019s VIX index, which measures the market\u2019s fear factor, sat near a two-month low of 14.01.<\/p>\n In US stock news, Walmart tumbled -8% after its guidance outlook came in slightly less than expected. The retailer however reported quarterly earnings that topped estimates.<\/p>\n Another retailer, Macy\u2019s, rose 6% after reporting an improvement in margins, however Alibaba crashed 9% after reports that Jack Ma\u2019s family plans to sell down shares in the company. Alibaba\u2019s Q2 revenue however came in line with analysts\u2019 estimate.<\/p>\n Perhaps most alarmingly, though, almost all China-related stocks in the US fell in the wake of Chinese President Xi Jinping\u2019s first visit to the United States in six years, which was going really, really well until President Joe Biden called him a \u201cdictator\u201d.<\/p>\n In Asian market news, Japan\u2019s Nikkei is flat as the nation-wide shortage of weird things happening tightens its grip on Japanese investor sentiment, with experts suggesting that if something strange doesn\u2019t happen in the next 24-48 hours, the entire country could catch fire.<\/p>\n In China, Shanghai markets are down 0.24% after investors were told by US President Joe Biden that their national leader is a dictator, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng is down 1.39% because it has a note from its doctor saying it\u2019s allowed to lie down for a nap whenever it wants to.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for 17 November [intraday]:<\/strong><\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n WordPress Tables Plugin<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a tie for Best Small Capper this morning, with both KNeoMedia (ASX:KNM)<\/strong><\/a> and Tasfoods (ASX:TFL)<\/strong><\/a> banking a 50% climb in the morning session.<\/p>\n Education SaaS firm KNeoMedia\u2019s on the rise, thanks to news that it has received a second tranche of payment due from the New York Department of Education, in connection with the ongoing deployment of the \u2018Connect All Kids\u2019 education initiative.<\/p>\n The $700,000 payment from New York is the second of three instalments \u2013 the third of which has reportedly already been approved and processed for payment, meaning it\u2019s likely to turn up in the very near future.<\/p>\n KNeoMedia says that it is in talks with the New York DOE around expanding its current offering, both through growing existing usage of the company\u2019s tech and through the development of other complementary products, and as such it anticipates further payments from the US in due course.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Tasfoods is flying this morning on reports that it has received ACCC approval to sell its Betta Milk and Meander Valley Dairy businesses to Bega Cheese (ASX:BGA)<\/strong><\/a>, for a cool $11 million.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a sweet deal for both sides \u2013 Tasfoods pockets the cash, Bega gets the businesses as well as a perpetual, royalty free licence to use the Pyengana Dairy brand for milk and cream products in Australia. Everybody wins!<\/p>\n With the ACCC greenlight behind it, Tasfoods says that the rest of the sale should proceed without incident, and expects that all the paperwork and handshakes should be complete by the end of the calendar year.<\/p>\n In third place today is regulatory tech firm Identitii (ASX:ID8)<\/strong><\/a>, which has taken off with a 47% leap in the absence of any news to the ASX \u2013 as has nearby fourth place occupier Minrex Resources, which (at the time of writing) is surging very quickly through +56% despite having nothing to say to the ASX since the end of October.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for 17 November [intraday]:<\/strong><\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n WordPress Tables Plugin<\/a><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The post ASX Small Caps Market Wrap: Which one of the seven signs of the weed apocalypse dropped this morning?<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TO MARKETS<\/h2>\n
NOT THE ASX<\/h2>\n
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n