Lunch Wrap: ASX climbs again, Burry shorts Nvidia, Appen roars back

The ASX is flying on rate-cut buzz, Appen’s made a surprise comeback, but Burry’s turned bearish, shorting Nvidia.

ASX eyes 8-day winning streak as rate-cut buzz builds. Picture via Getty Images

• ASX eyes eight-day winning streak as rate-cut buzz builds

• Appen rockets 22pc on profit guidance

• Burry dumps stocks, bets against Nvidia and China tech

The ASX is having a ripper run.

Eight straight days of gains, and on Friday morning it came close to a three-month high, up 0.7% at lunch time, AEST.

The spark this morning was a mix of wobbly economic data out of the US, and growing bets that central banks – both here and in the States – are getting itchy fingers on the interest rate trigger.

Over in America, producer prices dropped harder than expected (biggest fall in five years), and retail sales came in soft.

That had markets whispering about rate cuts, two, in fact, now fully priced in for the US this year.

US 10-year bond yields tumbled on the news, gold rallied, and the S&P 500 gained 0.4%.

Amazon fell over 2% after more job cuts hit its Alexa division. That’s 27,000 layoffs since 2022, even Alexa didn’t see that one coming.

Elsewhere, oil prices slipped another 2% as Iran nuclear deal talk stirred fears of even more crude in an already soggy market.

Meanwhile, Michael Burry (of The Big Short film fame) is back in the headlines.

According to fresh filings, Burry has hit the sell button on just about everything in his fund, Scion Asset Management.

He’s now betting against Nvidia with a stack of put options, and has turned cold on Chinese tech giants like Alibaba, Baidu and JD.com, which he used to hold long.

Burry could be ahead of the curve again here… or way off it. Only time will tell.

Back home on the ASX, banks were off to the races.

Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) surged to a new all-time high of $172.92 before retreating to around $170.

Iron ore, gold miners also rallied, and healthcare joined the fun, with CSL (ASX:CSL) up almost 2% on no news.

Source: Market Index

Source: Market Index

The real screamer of the morning, however, was AI data firm Appen (ASX:APX) , which just skyrocketed 23% on the back of some long-overdue good news.

At its AGM, the once market darling said it’s targeting full-year revenue between $235m and $260m, and reckons it’ll actually turn a profit this year. Investors clearly liked what they heard.

Elsewhere, property stock Dexus (ASX:DXS) was licking its wounds.

It dipped nearly 2% after being accused of breaking confidentiality rules while trying to offload its 27% stake in APAC, the outfit behind Melbourne and Launceston Airports.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for May 16 :

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
ERA	Energy Resources	0.002	100%	7,081,387	$405,396,241
NPM	Newpeak Metals	0.018	100%	2,594,516	$2,898,646
VPR	Voltgroupltd	0.002	50%	300,282	$10,716,208
AMN	Agrimin Ltd	0.076	38%	61,341	$18,879,453
ZMM	Zimi Ltd	0.011	38%	127,741	$3,420,351
M2R	Miramar	0.004	33%	120,000	$2,990,470
OSL	Oncosil Medical	0.004	33%	170,022	$13,819,747
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.004	33%	1,000,000	$8,380,545
RMI	Resource Mining Corp	0.017	31%	12,378,672	$8,650,275
XPN	Xpon Technologies	0.015	25%	5,617,186	$4,971,039
EAT	Entertainment	0.005	25%	1,000	$5,235,144
HCF	Hghighconviction	0.041	24%	174,958	$640,414
APX	Appen Limited	1.515	23%	20,257,756	$325,028,699
AM5	Antares Metals	0.011	22%	8,000,147	$4,633,676
ECS	ECS Botanics Holding	0.011	22%	7,439,000	$11,664,446
BRX	Belararoxlimited	0.120	20%	271,235	$15,652,235
MOH	Moho Resources	0.006	20%	190,112	$3,654,373
SPX	Spenda Limited	0.006	20%	7,296,597	$23,076,077
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.003	20%	325,705	$25,555,958
DTR	Dateline Resources	0.038	19%	57,718,087	$88,498,196
FBM	Future Battery	0.020	18%	296,046	$11,369,701
PFT	Pure Foods Tas Ltd	0.020	18%	1,863	$2,302,236
ESK	Etherstack PLC	0.340	17%	696,864	$38,329,881

ECS Botanics (ASX:ECS) is set for a record cannabis harvest, with most of its 6-tonne outdoor crop now high-value A-grade flower. The company said it’s cutting costs, boosting margins, and launching four new premium strains in June. With strong demand and upgrades underway, ECS says it’s still on track for positive cash flow this year.

Moho Resources (ASX:MOH) has uncovered a 4km-long gold anomaly at its Silver Swan North project near Kalgoorlie, the first real gold sniff at a site once chased for nickel. The hotspot includes a higher-grade 1.4km core and sits just 2km from Horizon’s Black Swan plant, smack in the middle of WA’s gold-rich Eastern Goldfields. Moho reckons it’s a promising sign of what’s sitting beneath.

TMK Energy (ASX:TMK) has offloaded its 20% stake in the Talisman Deeps Project, clearing the decks to focus fully on its Mongolian coal seam gas play. TMK will pocket a deferred $1 million if production ever kicks off at Talisman, but for now, the sale means no more risk or spend on the offshore WA project. TMK says it’s all about Mongolia from here.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for May 16 :

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
EDE	Eden Inv Ltd	0.001	-33%	1,110,000	6,164,822
MEL	Metgasco Ltd	0.002	-33%	48,000	4,372,760
AOA	Ausmon Resorces	0.002	-25%	192,534	2,622,427
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.002	-25%	89,018	9,673,198
DSK	Dusk Group	0.920	-21%	981,347	72,853,402
CP8	Canphosphateltd	0.020	-20%	21,771	7,669,013
ASR	Asra Minerals Ltd	0.002	-20%	976,495	6,765,117
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.004	-20%	366,132	15,867,318
C7A	Clara Resources	0.004	-20%	3,116	2,558,021
CTN	Catalina Resources	0.002	-20%	2,700,278	6,065,048
PPG	Pro-Pac Packaging	0.016	-20%	93,472	3,633,754
OD6	Od6Metalsltd	0.025	-17%	183,765	4,814,039
SCN	Scorpion Minerals	0.015	-17%	391,601	9,433,011
DTI	DTI Group Ltd	0.005	-17%	2,663,510	2,691,308
FBR	FBR Ltd	0.005	-17%	10,476,321	34,136,713
MBK	Metal Bank Ltd	0.010	-17%	754	5,969,508
NOR	Norwood Systems Ltd.	0.020	-17%	1,284,180	11,750,684
TEG	Triangle Energy Ltd	0.003	-17%	508,122	6,267,702
WBE	Whitebark Energy	0.005	-17%	819,370	3,454,733
QEM	QEM Limited	0.045	-15%	78,578	10,114,185
EEG	Empire Energy Ltd	0.175	-15%	1,407,508	208,547,160
X2M	X2M Connect Limited	0.018	-14%	105,295	8,151,819
AN1	Anagenics Limited	0.006	-14%	1,086,148	3,474,243
CLA	Celsius Resource Ltd	0.006	-14%	1,758,694	20,352,998

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Hillgrove Resources (ASX:HGO) has selected industrial minerals and logistics expert Luke Anderson as its new chief financial officer, effective June 2.

Anderson has more than 30 years’ executive leadership experience, having held senior positions with One Rail Australia, OZ Minerals, Unimin Corporation and most recently as CEO of Andromeda Metals (ASX:ADN).

He will lead finance, governance, reporting and planning functions and play a key role in supporting Hillgrove’s long-term growth strategy.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Hillgrove Resources and Andromeda Metals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Lunch Wrap: ASX climbs again, Burry shorts Nvidia, Appen roars back