Microcap Madness: These Tiny Stocks Just Lit Up the Market 🔥📈

U.S. stocks pulled back Tuesday as financial shares weighed on the market and investors digested renewed policy uncertainty from President Donald Trump.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2%, the Dow fell 0.6%, and the Nasdaq edged 0.1% lower, led by losses in JPMorgan Chase and other financial stocks despite solid earnings results.

Markets also reacted to Trump’s recent proposals, including a potential cap on credit card interest rates, which pressured banks and payment companies.

Earlier gains faded even after softer-than-expected core inflation data offered some reassurance on price pressures, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve may delay rate cuts until midyear following last week’s mixed but stable jobs report.

Top Movers: Under $10 

Beyond Air Inc (XAIR) is up 146.00% today to trade at the current level of $2.15. This comes after the company announced a binding agreement to acquire 85% of NeuroNOS Ltd.

AlphaTON Capital Corp (ATON) zoomed 87.91% in today’s trade to $1.71 after reporting the signing and closing of a strategic $46 million AI compute infrastructure deal, adding 576 NVIDIA B300 chips, a half cluster, to its books.

In current trading, Edible Garden AG Inc (EDBL) stock is at $1.09 after announcing that Urban Market and DUMBO Market locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan now carry its herbs, hydroponic basil, and Pickle Party and Pulp brands.

Sky Quarry Inc (SKYQ) rose 21.96% in the early hours of today's trading to move at $0.61 after announcing that it is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to evaluate commercial utilization of the power generation assets at the Company's PR Spring facility in Utah.

In the current trading session, Decoy Therapeutics Inc (DCOY) jumped 37.42% to $1.12 over a previous close of $0.81 after announcing that developing a global manufacturing platform for peptide-conjugate antivirals is a key funded project with the Gates Foundation.

Ex-Dividend Stocks

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc (CBRL) is about to trade ex-dividend Friday, meaning that investors who buy the stock after Friday will not be eligible for the next dividend payment. The company's next dividend payment will be $0.25 per share. It has fixed January 16 as the record date for the same and will pay the actual dividend on February 11. Last year, the company distributed a total of $1.00 to its shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, CBRL has a trailing yield of 3.12% on the current stock price of $32.08.

Another stock that is shelling out dividends Friday is Dime Community Bancshares Inc (DCOM), having a market capitalization of $1.30B. It will pay a dividend of $0.25 per share, the payment date of which is January 23. Currently, the stock is trading at a trailing dividend yield of 3.37%.

Shares of Friedman Industries, Inc (FRD) will be the talk of the stock market on Friday as the stock will turn ex-dividend. The company's next dividend payment will be $0.04 per share, and in the last 12 months, it paid a total of $0.16 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that FRD has a trailing yield of 0.83% on the current share price of $19.26.

First United Corp (FUNC) is also set to go ex-dividend Friday. The next dividend payment from FUNC will amount to $0.26 per share. January 16 has been designated as the record date for this dividend, with the actual payout scheduled for February 02. In the previous year, FUNC distributed a total of $0.92 to its valued shareholders. Considering the cumulative dividend payments from last year, the trailing yield for FUNC stands at 2.45% based on the current stock price of $37.59.

Global Water Resources Inc (GWRS) will be paying out a dividend of $0.03 per share to shareholders holding their shares as of the close of the business hours on the record date of January 16. Over the past 12 months, GWRS has paid out a total of $0.30 per share in dividends. Based on the total dividends paid out last year, GWRS boasts an impressive trailing yield of 3.45% on the current share price of $8.69.

Crypto Market Highlights

• YZi Labs, led by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, invested in onchain trading terminal Genius Trading, highlighting growing investor interest in cross-chain trading infrastructure.

• Privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero reached a new all-time high as tightening digital asset regulations increased demand for privacy coins.

• Payments terminal provider Ingenico partnered with WalletConnect Pay to enable in-store stablecoin payments across its POS systems, pushing crypto payments closer to everyday retail use.

• Franklin Templeton amended two Western Asset institutional money market funds to connect directly with the emerging US stablecoin regime and tokenized cash infrastructure rather than launching new crypto-native products.

• BNB Chain’s Fermi upgrade will cut BSC block times to 0.45 seconds and reduce transaction finality to around one second, positioning the network as one of the fastest major EVM chains.

Most Shorted Stocks

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp (GO) was one of the most shorted stocks as of the latest short interest figures, with 25.90% short interest. The days to cover ratio, a measure of how long it would take for all the short positions to be covered based on average trading volume, is 8.4. This represents a change of 760769 shares, which corresponds to a 3.24% increase in short interest. The total value of the shares held short is estimated to be around $232.8 million. The average daily volume stands at 2.76M shares, and the market capitalization of the company is $940.95M.

The Avis Budget Group Inc with the symbol CAR currently has a short interest of 52.85%. The short interest has changed by 601365 shares. The days to cover ratio stands at 14.1. The estimated value of the shares held short is approximately $1.1 billion. On an average day, 728.77K shares are traded, with the company's market capitalization totaling $4.40B.

For the stock Altimmune Inc (ALT), the current short interest is at 25.87%. This represents a significant short interest change of 2091995 shares, corresponding to a short interest percentage increase of 8.82%. The days needed to cover the short positions amount to 4.7. The approximate worth of the shares held short is $104.27 million.

With the symbol LENZ, the stock currently has a short interest of 26.39%. The short interest change is 513695 shares, compared with a short interest percentage change of 7.16%. It would take approximately 9.0 days to cover all the short positions. The shares short value is estimated to be around $414.51 million. The company boasts an average daily volume of 1.19M shares, contributing to a market capitalization of $502.51M.

The stock BBAI has a current short interest of 24.74%. The short interest percentage has experienced an increase of 15.07% while there was a change of 14072454 shares in short interest. The ratio indicating the time required to cover short positions is 1.2. The calculated worth of the shorted shares amounts to around $46.82 million. Trading activity averages at 111.85M shares per day, while the company's market capitalization stands at $2.66B.

EV Stock to Watch

According to our ST Score evaluation, Cirrus Logic, Inc (CRUS) emerges as a high-quality stock in the EV industry, attaining an impressive score of 55. The stock's profitability, financial strength, and Piotroski Score are strong. However, its performance and growth are weak. Additionally, it is neutral in terms of stock sentiment and forecast.

Our ST Score also classifies General Motors Company (GM) as a high-quality EV stock today, presenting a Score of 50. The stock has strong fundamentals in terms of profitability, performance, and Piotroski Score. However, it has weak financial strength. The growth, stock sentiment, and forecast are neutral.

Another stock in the category, Teck Resources Ltd (TECK) has the ST Score of 50, which means that the stock carries the potential for higher returns. The stock is strong in profitability and Piotroski Score but weak in performance and growth. Financial strength, stock sentiment, and forecasts suggest a neutral outlook.

Enersys (ENS) stock has the ST Score of 52, which implies that the EV company has a high probability of beating the market. The stock's strengths lie in its profitability, performance, and Piotroski Score, but its weaknesses lie in its growth. However, it shows neutral outlook in financial strength, stock sentiment, and forecast.

Alphabet Inc (GOOG) currently has the ST Score of 51, which signifies a huge upward potential. The EV stock's strong points are its profitability, performance, and Piotroski Score. The stock's growth, financial strength, stock sentiment, and forecast indicate a neutral outlook.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading. Good luck out there!

Best Regards,

Stocks Telegraph Team

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