Local markets, our confidence in the institution of marriage, and the reliable rollout of key Chinese economic data are all slightly weaker on Wednesday at lunchtime.<\/p>\n
At midday, the ASX200 was down 15 points or 0.21% at 7399.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Via Google<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Well, it\u2019s been pretty mixed in Sydney this morning, with the moves diverging in their own way from the losses overnight out of New York, with the local Tech Sector making sharp early gains, despite the 0.4% fall in the S&P500 and a 0.2% decline on the Nasdaq.<\/p>\n But first things first; there\u2019s nefarious news out of Mexico\u00a0that\u2019s sure to send shivers down the spine of every Bridezilla after one unfortunate wife-to-be was nabbed by the fuzz on her way, literally, to the altar.<\/p>\n Identified only as Nancy N, the woman (with the new style sunnies below) was arrested getting out of a car in front of the church where she was supposed to be marrying a really charming fella called Clemente, aka El Raton (The Mouse).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The pair were wanted over the apparent extortion of various chicken merchants in the famed poultry region of Toluca, a handily short drive from Mexico City.<\/p>\n Cartel busting cops \u2013 apparently unfamiliar with the basic rules of having your photo taken \u2013 are alleging that the couple were involved in kidnapping at least four poultry workers from a chicken shop.<\/p>\n With the wedding well and truly ruined, Nancy was arrested and cuffed, bridal gown and all, for the wedding photo to end all wedding photos back at the station.<\/p>\n The Nefarious Nancy N, positively glowing and clearly enjoying her Big Day, despite the wedding being crashed by a number of heavily-armed police. Pic: @FiscaliaEdomex\/Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n El Raton<\/em>, who reportedly has ties to the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel (but who doesn\u2019t) managed to live up to his name, eluding police and is currently at large and presumably in a lot<\/em> of trouble.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Just why the Tech Sector screamed out of the gates on Wednesday is suddenly a moot point \u2013 as the chart shows \u2013 with the XTX dropping precipitously in the last hour to outpace losses on the benchmark heading into lunch.<\/p>\n Buying in the Utilities and Consumer Sectors has been unable to offset losses across Gold stocks and Energy names, as overnight declines for bullion and oil have left Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS)<\/strong><\/a> , Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST)<\/strong><\/a> and Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM)<\/strong><\/a> all lower.<\/p>\n Worst on park among the big names isEvolution Mining (ASX:EVN)<\/strong><\/a> after the company downwardly revised production guidance for its Canadian Red Lake mine.<\/p>\n Falls in the Real Estate, Energy, Industrials and Materials\u00a0 are providing the drag.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Via MarketIndex<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In a totally surprising breach of hallowed protocol, we can report that China\u2019s economy grew by an \u201cestimated\u201d 5.2% last year, a handy \u2013 and I guess believable \u2013 beat on the official 5% target.<\/p>\n What\u2019s particularly odd about this one is that the official release of GDP data from China\u2019s National Bureau of Statistics, isn\u2019t due out until 1pm Sydenham time.<\/p>\n Instead the news came out of Davos in Switzerland via China\u2019s No. 2 man Premier Li Qiang who put it in a speech about how great guns everything is going back home.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure he had permission, otherwise it\u2019ll be a smack on the bottom for Qiang.<\/p>\n The handpicked Number 2, did however go about his work in the right way, patting himself and his boss Xi Jinping innumerable times over his 45 minute address, highlighting how the CCP had cleverly resisted throwing money at the country\u2019s lingering economic hassles.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did not seek short-term growth while accumulating long-term risks, rather we focused on strengthening the internal drivers\u2026. Just as a healthy person often has a strong immune system, the Chinese economy can handle ups and downs in its performance.<\/p>\n \u201cThe overall trend of long-term growth will not change,\u201d Li predicted as reported by the Financial Times<\/a> this morning.<\/p>\n All of which is great (well, not for Aussie exporters), but alas, in stark contrast to Li\u2019s fab description, the Chinese economic recovery from its zero-COVID policies has been an unending struggle with a crisis in the massive property sector, feeble domestic demand, deflationary pressure and an almost preposterous absence of foreign investment and stockmarket confidence.<\/p>\n What China needs to do is probably throw some money at the problem, says everyone.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n US markets struggled again overnight, all three majors in the red.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq lost 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively, and the Dow Jones slipped 231 points.<\/p>\n What didn\u2019t help was a few choice remarks from Federal Reserve Governor Waller, suggesting the Fed may not cut interest rates as aggressively as initially expected.<\/p>\n Waller downplayed the need to rush with rate cuts, the first mutterings of real meaning from a Fed which has stayed mum over the new year. This sober note may\u2019ve been enough though to in initiate an eventual recalibration across US money markets.<\/p>\n It would appear that over the Xmas holidays US\u00a0 confidence of a soft landing for the US economy\u00a0 became the baste under which Wall St baked its turkey.<\/p>\n However some of the reports over the past week or so, alongside geopolitical complications , are serving to remind economists, consumers and financial markets that this goose is still undercooked.<\/p>\n On that note, the Israeli army says it\u2019s near done with its \u2018most intensive phase\u2019 of blowing stuff up in Gaza. Israel\u2019s defense minister warned that the lack of a plan for the enclave postwar could hurt the military campaign.<\/p>\n A bit more concerning on the \u201cwe have your men\u201d front \u2013 the US military is trying to find x 2 Navy SEALs lost at sea (probs the Red one) while snatching Iranian weapons shipments bound for its Yemeni allies.<\/p>\n Pakistan is also going to want to fire something at someone after reports that Iran launched attacks on its sovereign territory, targeting what it called bases for the militant group Jaish al-Adl, state media reported.<\/p>\n By targeting the Sunni-side of the Mid East, Iran is stirring the pot of tension. There\u2019s a fair bit of confusion with some of the announcements being removed from official sources.<\/p>\n But hey, firing rockets inside nuclear-armed Pakistan by anyone is not an act of de-escalation.<\/p>\n So back to Waller, who started his chat gently enough \u2013 lauding the resilience of the US economy, but then flipped it on traders by saying ipso facto, sic<\/em><\/a>: we\u2019re ok for now, the economy ain\u2019t broke (yet) so there\u2019s no urgency to run away and start cutting rates tomorrow.<\/p>\n What kicked it all off, possibly, were the outrageously hawkish remarks out of Europe on Tuesday when president (of my heart) Christine Lagarde unleashed her ECB minions to warn Europeans not to expect ANY rate cuts this year.<\/p>\n She\u2019s so cool.<\/p>\n Wall Street is also doing its earnings thing. On that front, the bank with gold in the name (it\u2019s Goldman Sachs) reported better-than-expected profits and revenue, while the other Morgan (Morgan Stanley)\u00a0 also beat on revenue guidance. Which, BTW, is easy. You can retract that later after the cream\u2019s been spread.<\/p>\n On the funny side of life, Apple stock fell another a 1.2% after offering iPhone discounts in China, where the state has unofficially banned the phone\u2019s use.<\/p>\n Apple\u2019s also said to be removing a blood-oxygen sensor from some of its Iwatches (or Apple watches?) to dodge a patent dispute.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Boeing shares lost 8% thanks to a Wells Fargo downgrade, but it\u2019s Boeing\u2019s apparently unfixable 737 Max 9 which is the carrier\u2019s underlying issue.<\/p>\n Nike \u2013 shoemaker and avatar for US shopping \u2013 down well over 3%.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Shares in Tesla fell overnight too.<\/p>\n That\u2019s your fault Elon Musk \u2013 you want too much and we don\u2019t have enough of it to give you.<\/p>\n The Tesla chief executive has told the board and everyone else he needs at least 25% control of the EV maker as it rolls amiably into the world of robots and AI.<\/p>\n Greater control, another terrific incentivised pay package and then he could decide not to take those things and plant them in a company that\u2019s not Tesla.<\/p>\n The word is that on Blackmail Monday Musk gave TSLA board members the ultimatum \u2013 he\u2019s just too uncomfortable making Tesla a leader in those two areas without having more.<\/p>\n \u201cUnless that is the case, I would prefer to build products outside of Tesla,\u201d Musk said on Twitter\/X, where he\u2019s also the boss.<\/p>\n Musk now controls about 13% of Tesla, according to FactSet data, if Elon exercised all his vested options, his stake would be about 20.5%.<\/p>\n In the meantime, TSLA has to hurry up and spend the circa$US1bn Elon\u2019s earmarked before the end of this year on its Dojo supercomputer.<\/p>\n Dojo, which is a silly name, has been told to figure out how to make cars driverless.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for 17 January [intraday]:<\/strong><\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n WordPress Table Plugin<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Alicanto Minerals (ASX:AQI)<\/strong><\/a> is nominally at the top of the ladder for Wednesday thus far, spiking a Benaud-esque 22.22%, most likely off the back of yesterday\u2019s announcement that the company\u2019s Big Swede \u2013 the Skyttgruvan-Naverberg project, which lies alongside the fearsome 1,000-year-old Falun mine \u2013 is getting bigger every time the company pokes around.<\/p>\n Mandrake Resources (ASX:MAN)<\/strong><\/a> took off at a gallop this morning, running helter skelter for 45 minutes until the ASX tugged on the handbrake and brought the party to a close \u2013 leaving Mandrake dangling at +18.4% for the morning, on a sharp increase in volume.<\/p>\n We\u2019re talking roughly 7.5x the four-week average, and without a skerrick of news to the ASX as to why. There will no doubt be an explanation of sorts on the way, but at the time of writing, it remains a mystery for Scoob and the gang to unravel.<\/p>\n Basin Energy (ASX:BSN)<\/strong><\/a> has timed the start of its 2024 exploration program very nicely indeed, capitalising nicely on yellowcakes high-vis on the market at the moment with news that field work has now commenced for Basin\u2019s winter program across the entirety of the company\u2019s Athabasca uranium projects.<\/p>\n That encompasses high-resolution ground Stepwise Moving Loop Time-Domain Electromagnetic survey work underway at the North Millennium and Marshall projects, while final preparations are being made for phase 2 drilling at the Geikie project.<\/p>\n Likewise, Pinnacle Minerals (ASX:PIM)<\/strong><\/a> has a timely announcement out this morning, providing an update on its Uranium-REE Wirrulla project in South Australia.<\/p>\n Pinnacle is reporting that recent satellite and radar imagery analysis at Wirrulla has highlighted uranium (U3O8) mineralisation potential and defined a number of priority target areas.<\/p>\n Additionally, exploration has found uranium mineralisation in place, with intercepts including 3,550ppm U3O8 over 1m from 66m in hole IR1377, and 1,400ppm U3O8 over 1m from 69m in hole IR1378.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for 16 January [intraday]:<\/strong><\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n WordPress Table Plugin<\/a> The post ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Who\u2019s in a lot of trouble today?<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASX200 (XJO) vs ASX All Tech (XTX) index<\/h2>\n
The ASX<\/h2>\n
ASX SECTORS AT LUNCH ON WEDNESDAY<\/h2>\n
Meanwhile in China and\/or Switzerland\u2026<\/h2>\n
\u00a0Not the ASX<\/h2>\n
Elon Watch<\/h2>\n
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n