Good morning everyone, and welcome to Thursday 14 December \u2013 an important date on the sporting calendar, as it was on this day in 1947 that the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was founded in Daytona Beach, Florida, and NASCAR was born.<\/p>\n
The whole sorry mess began during a meeting at the Streamline Hotel, where a fella called Bill France Sr had gathered representatives of that branch of motorsport together to discuss the future of stock car racing.<\/p>\n
Armed with a burning desire to see cars going very fast while occasionally turning left, Bill France set about turning the rag-tag stock car scene into a more organised endeavour, and in Febuary of the following year, drivers took to the racetrack for the first time under the auspices of the Nascar organisation.<\/p>\n
Since that day, the sport has become bafflingly popular, despite its reputation as a favourite among the more \u201cyee-haw!!\u201d elements of American society, and has led to the deaths of 90 drivers.<\/p>\n
That tally \u2013 28 main event participants, and 62 in support races \u2013 climbs by an additional 15, if you factor in all the drivers who have died of either a heart attack or stroke while racing.<\/p>\n
Because \u2018Murica.<\/p>\n
Still, the sport has continued to grow, with the Daytona 500 considered the most presitigious race for drivers to win \u2013\u00a0500 miles around an \u201coval\u201d track with three corners, with an enormous pile of money waiting for the eventual winner.<\/p>\n
When the Daytona 500 was first run in 1959, driver Lee Petty piloted his Chevrolet into the record books, pocketing $19,050 for his trouble. Adjusted for inflation, that\u2019s about $196,941.65 in today\u2019s money.<\/p>\n
In 2014, Dale Earnhardt Jr won the race, taking home a pay packet of $1,505,363 at the very track that claimed the life of his father, Dale Earnhardt Sr, 13 years before.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a long journey for Nascar, from its humble beginnings to its current place as essential background noise in the lives of millions of men, as they fistfight their in-laws with their bellies full of piss-weak American beer.<\/p>\n
But at its core, it\u2019s a sport for winners \u2013 which is definitely something worth celebrating, because Nascar drivers aren\u2019t winners by accident. It takes guts, determination, the ability to think outside the box and take enormous, calculated risks to take home the big bucks.<\/p>\n
Same as it does to be a winner on the market \u2013 with the added requirement of timely, well-researched information.<\/p>\n
Which is why Reuben Adams has taken a closer look at why Tim Goyder\u2019s taken a chunk of a tiny gold explorer called, er, Battery Minerals<\/a>, and Christian Edwards has turned his withering gaze to his crystal ball, to see what the future holds for interest rates in the USA<\/a>.<\/p>\n Plus, below you\u2019ll find all the usual digits and data to get your motor rumbling before the market opens today.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Gold: US$1,978.53 (-0.05%)<\/p>\n Silver: US$22.68 (-0.40%)<\/p>\n Nickel (3mth): US$16,261.30\/t (-0.24%)<\/p>\n Copper (3mth): US$8,271.85\/t (-0.04%)<\/p>\n Oil (WTI): US$68.45 (-0.45%)<\/p>\n Oil (Brent): US$73.07 (-0.34%)<\/p>\n Iron 62pc Fe: US$135.16\/t (-0.21%)<\/p>\n AUD\/USD: 0.6558 (-0.07%)<\/p>\n Bitcoin: US$40,840.40 (-1.54%)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n American West\u2019s huge pile of indium was the talk of the town yesterday \u2013\u00a0here\u2019s a link to that story, and some other great Resources news, which caught a few eyes yesterday.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n American West Metals is surging on #indium<\/a> news. #ASX<\/a> #resources<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/FCzarSC8Ms<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Stockhead (@StockheadAU) December 13, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:<\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/p>\n WordPress Tables Plugin<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Yesterday\u2019s Small Caps highlights were:<\/p>\n Leading the market today is Healthcare large capper Sigma Healthcare (ASX:SIG)<\/strong><\/a>, which flew on news of a multi-billion dollar merger being put together to allow retail behemoth Chemist Warehouse to backdoor list on the ASX.<\/p>\n The actual news from Sigma was only tangentially related to that merger, as it was all about the completion of a fully underwritten 1 for 1.85 pro-rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer to raise approximately $400 million.<\/p>\n Koonenberry Gold (ASX:KNB)<\/strong><\/a> celebrated a win through an announcement featuring two words investors love to read: \u201cvisible gold\u201d.<\/p>\n Drilling at the company\u2019s Bellagio gold prospect hit widespread quartz veins below the weathered zone, containing visible gold down dip from the Koonenberry\u2019s previously reported intercept of 10m @ 1.61g\/t Au, which \u2013 just so we\u2019re clear \u2013\u00a0did not have any visible gold.<\/p>\n \u201cBelow the strongly weathered zone, quartz veins are associated with sericite-silica hydrothermal alteration and trace arsenopyrite over a +125m wide zone,\u201d KNB says.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is significant as sericite-silica alteration is a common feature of many orogenic gold systems\u201d \u2013\u00a0orogenic referring to the crumple zone that makes mountain ranges when two tectonic plates collide.<\/p>\n Another worth a mention in the winner\u2019s list was American West Metals (ASX:AW1)<\/strong><\/a>, on the rise after revealing it is sitting on the only known domestic Indium resource in the United States.<\/p>\n Indium is one of those rare critical minerals that most people have never heard of, but it\u2019s a pretty important element in the manufacture of things like mobile phones and emojis.<\/p>\n AW1\u2019s indium resource isn\u2019t just unique in terms of its geological placement, but also pretty big \u2013 the company is reporting a JORC compliant resource of some 23.8Moz of indium at the site, nestled cheek-by-jowl with an equally impressive total of 119 Koz of gold, 1.3Mt zinc, 49Kt copper and 10Moz silver.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:<\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/p>\n WordPress Tables Plugin<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Invictus Energy (ASX:IVZ)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 pending an update on final wireline logging and fluid sampling results from Mukuyu-2 Side Track well.<\/p>\n Linius Technologies (ASX:LNU)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013\u00a0 pending the release of an announcement to the market concerning a capital raising initiative.<\/p>\n HeraMED (ASX:HMD)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 pending the release of an announcement to the market about the planning and executing a capital raising.<\/p>\n Venture Minerals (ASX:VMS)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 pending the release of an announcement with regards to a proposed capital raising.<\/p>\n Future Metals (ASX:FME)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 pending the release of an announcement regarding a capital raising.<\/p>\n South Harz Potash (ASX:SHP)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 pending an announcement to the market in relation to the outcome of a capital raising.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The post Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COMMODITY\/FOREX\/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES<\/h2>\n
WHAT GOT YOU TALKING<\/h2>\n
YESTERDAY\u2019S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS<\/h2>\n
YESTERDAY\u2019S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS<\/h2>\n
TRADING HALTS<\/h2>\n