Small Cap Investors Get Schooled. Nvidia, Apple David V Goliath Battle | Fed Speakers Say Slower Cuts Ahead

With the US election two weeks away, caution is kicking in. Investors are concerned that whoever wins will flush the economy with stimulus, causing inflation to rise and interest rates to stay higher for longer, while Fed speakers are starting to suggest slower rate cuts could be coming. This is happening while Maersk $A.P. Moller - Maersk A/S Unsponsored ADR (AMKBY.US)$, a bellwether for global trade, boosted its shipping rates again amid Red Sea attacks, and oil prices rebounded nearly 2%. So the risk markers the VIX, the US dollar, and bond yields all rose back to July levels suggesting caution is rising.

- The Russell 2000 $Russell 2000 (LIST20783.US)$ small-cap index dropped nearly 2%, while investors bought into Nasdaq 100 $NASDAQ 100 Index (.NDX.US)$ stocks, expecting them to be able keep growing profits amid the AI boom, even if rates stay higher.

- Nvidia $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ shares are worth watching it rose 4% to a $143.71 new record high and is now valued at $3.53 trillion, breathing down the neck of Apple $Apple (AAPL.US)$ in a David vs. Goliath showdown.  Investors are weighing up if Apples October 31 earnings will outpace Nvidia's results out November 20. Nvidia is expected to see 82% revenue growth to US$33 billion. Apple’s revenue is expected to grow just 5.2% to $94.1 billion.

– Australia’s market fell 0.7%, at the open, erasing yesterday’s gain but  the index $S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ stayed in record-high territory.

– Small ASX stocks, like Brainchip $BrainChip Holdings Ltd (BRN.AU)$ Tyro $Troy Resources Ltd (TRY.AU)$ Lovisa $Lovisa Holdings Ltd (LOV.AU)$ and Droneshield $Droneshield Ltd (DRO.AU)$  are worth watching as they’re down 10-18% in 5 days and could see more pressure as bond yields rise.

– While Gold stocks like Westgold $Westgold Resources Ltd (WGX.CA)$ and Regis $Regis Resources Ltd (RRL.AU)$ are up 27% and 20% in five days and Chalice Mining $Chalice Mining Ltd (CHN.AU)$  is up 22% with some betting its palladium, nickel, and copper project will benefit from China’s stimulus.