ASX Small Caps Lunch Wrap: Who else is feeling unexpectedly groovy today?

From the US comes a cautionary tale – a story about how one man’s sweet tooth has launched him into orbit and landed him in hot water, all at the same time.

Local media has reported that Connecticut bus driver Jinhuan Chen has been arrested and charged with 38 counts of reckless endangerment, after an ‘incident’ at work had police briefly baffled and then bemused.

Chen was ferrying passengers from the Mohegan Sun Casino to Destination Unknown when, for no apparent reason, he pulled over to the side of a busy interstate highway and blacked out harder than a bride-to-be in the back of a stretch Hummer.

Police say they arrived to find Chen in a very poor state indeed, an open bag of Smokies Edibles Cannabis Infused Fruit Chews on the seat by his side.

Chen was carted off to hospital, where blood tests found he had super-high (heh) levels of THC in his bloodstream.

“He has a sweet tooth and likes candy,” the driver’s boss said, cheerfully ignoring the fact that Chen was higher than Cheech and Chong when police found him.

Chen’s due in court in late August, where his claim that he didn’t know that Smokies Edibles Cannabis Infused Fruit Chews could get you off your tree is about as likely to stand up in court as he was the day he got pinched.
 

TO MARKETS

It’s not just Connecticut bus drivers feeling woozy – markets are pretty much out on their feet this morning, thanks to yet another shocker on Wall Street overnight.

Rising interest rates in the US, the UK and Switzerland in the past 24 hours have put enormous pressure on local markets, with JPMorgan Chase & Co’s number nerds starting to mutter about an 85% chance of recession. Those are not great odds.

The ASX 200 got the day off to a horrible start, dropping like a pole-axed peasant to shed 2.5% in the first 30 minutes, a sharp decline after three days of relatively steady movement since Tuesday’s poor showing.

Every market sector has fallen into the red, with Tech (-3.25%), Materials (-2.86%) and Financials (-2.45%) weighing heaviest.

In Big Business Land, auto parts manufacturer GUD Holdings (ASX:GUD) has taken a thorough beating, after news of its downgraded FY22 earnings guidance broke after the bell rang yesterday. By lunchtime, GUD had been stripped of around 21% of its value, down $2.00 to $7.61.

In the interests of putting a smiley face in here somewhere, a few of the big players have managed to swim against the tide. Northern Star (ASX:NST) climbed 4.28%, Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) added 5.29% and beleaguered cow-groping specialists A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) was up 3.74% – and there will be good news in the Small Cap section below, if you want to skip ahead.

Around the world, however, it’s red, red and a small dab of green. The previously-mentioned Wall Street fall has the Nasdaq down 4.0%, the S%P down 3.25% and the Dow down 2.42%.

Asian markets were mixed, with the Nikkei aping US shares, falling 2.3%. Chinese and Hong Kong shares have gone their own way, however, climbing 0.29% and 0.88% respectively.

Commodities are also feeling the heat, with oil dropping 0.53%, natural gas falling 0.85%, gold dipping 0.13% and copper losing 0.19%.
 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for June 17 [intraday]:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

 
Top of the Pops among the small caps today is WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1), which had a solid leap of 42% off the back of “very encouraging” soil sample results which have the company all ready and raring to go with drilling early next month.

Also of note was a 17% rise for Tek-Ocean Group (ASX:T3K), despite its only recent news being an announcement that the company has moved to a new HQ, where (presumably) they’ve landed a rent reduction large enough to make an appreciable difference to the bottom line.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for June 17 [intraday]:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

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