After more than a month of nothing but red, it looked as though the ASX had finally shaken things off and last Friday’s rally was quickly morphing into a mini bull market.
asserted
rally → look → market
Oil woes were supposedly subsiding, rate rises were fully priced in and after a few shaky months, it looked like business as usual for the market bulls.
asserted
it → subside → bulls
Traders had barely finished congratulating themselves before the market delivered yet another uppercut.
asserted
market → finish → uppercut
Any lingering optimism about peace in the Middle East was wiped out by Thursday morning as a sea of red greeted traders after the terrible news of surprisingly strong US economic data – even good news remains bad news in 2026.
asserted
news → linger → 2026
US data showed manufacturing was humming, services were firing and employers were hiring at the fastest pace in more than four years.
asserted
employers → show → years
On the surface, it looked like exactly the sort of report investors should have been celebrating.
asserted
investors → look → report
Instead, Wall Street took one look and groaned.
asserted
Street → take → look
The catch is that costs are climbing almost as quickly as activity.
asserted
costs → climb → activity
Businesses reported rising fuel, freight and labour expenses as supply chains crack under the pressure.
asserted
chains → report → pressure
The current cost of a giant oil tanker freight has pushed to over US$1 million a day, an unprecedented 8 times its cost back in January.
asserted
cost → push → January
Closer to home, and the bearish energy analysts were back, warning $4 a litre diesel was not far away if supply disruptions continued and shipping routes remained under threat.
asserted
routes → warn → threat
The market’s mini revival and favourite narrative - that interest rates were peaking – was definitely a little premature.
asserted
rates → peak → ?
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury Notes also punched back through 5.2 per cent to end the week, levels not seen since before the GFC.
asserted
yield → punch → GFC
Oil meanwhile stormed back to US$107 a barrel as traders tried to decipher a daily barrage of contradictory headlines surrounding Iran, the Strait of Hormuz and fresh Houthi attacks on Saudi targets.
asserted
traders → storm → targets
There was only one thing running other than oil in global markets – Mark Zuckerberg’s latest triumph – MUSE.
Meta’s new AI agent platform, MUSE, consumed Wall Street’s attention all week.
asserted
platform → be → attention
Investors were not just clamouring for the latest time-saving wizard; they bought absolutely anything that might sell MUSE a chip.
uncertain
that → clamour → chip
Euphoria quickly turned to panic as the market worked out who MUSE might put out of business and promptly decimated the broader market instead.
uncertain
MUSE → turn → market
A personal AI agent that re-shops your car insurance every renewal, audits your subscriptions, compares energy providers and haggles with your phone company
asserted
that → re → company
is bad news for any business whose margins rely on customers being too busy, distracted or lazy to do it themselves.
asserted
customers → rely → it
The casualty list read like a household’s monthly direct-debit statement.
asserted
list → read → statement
Planet Fitness shed more than 10 per cent of its value in a day, as investors contemplated a future where your AI assistant finally acts on the fact you haven’t visited a gym since before COVID.
asserted
you → shed → COVID
And judging by Muse being the no.1 downloaded app in the world this week, it seems nobody’s too worried about handing old Zuckerberg even more of their data.
asserted
nobody → judge → data
After he already let Cambridge Analytica rifle through half our Facebook profiles, what’s a little more personal data between friends?
asserted
data → let → friends
Our Runners list was thin again this week, with little love for the small caps, as an unexpected biotech company topped the week after a serious share price slide in 2026 was stopped short when its chairman stepped up and bought a swathe of shares on the market.
asserted
chairman → top → market
MICRO-X LIMITED (ASX: MX1)
Up 200% (1.8c – 5.4c)
Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week was portable medical device specialist Micro-X, which rocketed higher on what initially looked like no news at all on its portable scanning technology.
asserted
what → rocket → technology
After dealing with a pesky reply to the market overlords down at the ASX following a ‘speeding ticket’ about an impressive 200 per cent share surge in one day, Micro-X tried to wave off the gains as 10 days of “generally elevated trading at historically low prices”.
asserted
X → deal → prices
The company added that a “substantial volume” of shares was traded last Thursday, while the ASX query pertained to Wednesday’s trading surge.
asserted
query → add → surge
Micro-X also posited the abnormal activity might have been spurred by selling from Perennial Value Management, which on September 3 said it was no longer a substantial holder.
uncertain
it → posit → September
Unfortunately for long-term holders, the share price had slid under the persistent selling by the fund, which held 6.79 per cent of the company earlier this year.
asserted
which → slide → company
And, despite this week’s share surge, the stock’s price still sits at only half of where it was to start the year.
asserted
it → sit → year
However, it’s a pretty good sign when one of your largest shareholders gets shoved aside by a buy from the company’s current chairman, Patrick O’Brien.
asserted
one → ’ → chairman
The chairman seemingly said, “enough is enough” and bought just over 1.36 million shares between 2.2 cents and 2.9 cents apiece, clearly seeing and believing in the value proposition Micro-X’s developed technology presents.
asserted
technology → say → proposition
The stock then followed suit, rising from 1.8 cents last Friday to an intraday peak of 5.4 cents on Wednesday, up 200 per cent.
asserted
stock → follow → Wednesday
So what does Micro-X do?
asserted
X → do → what
The company is developing lightweight brain-scanning units based on its proprietary cold cathode, carbon nanotube emitter technology.
asserted
company → develop → technology
The company targets stroke detection for its portable units, a field where speed is everything.
asserted
speed → target → field
The core advantage of portable stroke detection is dramatically faster diagnosis and treatment in the critical “golden hour”, summarised by the simple principle that “time is brain.”
asserted
time → summarise → principle
Micro-X is a broader imaging-technology company commercialising lighter X-ray and CT systems and has developed its portable X-ray technology over time.
asserted
X → commercialise → time
It is also impressively contracted to the US Department of Homeland Security to design a next-generation airport security checkpoint, focused on miniaturised CT baggage scanners and passenger self-screening.
asserted
It → contract → scanners
The company says this contract alone could be worth up to $31.7 million in milestone payments, an impressive figure given that at the start of the week the company’s valuation was less than half that amount.
uncertain
valuation → say → week
…and 21 more, not listed.
The Aporia
