The Vital Metals Limited (ASX: VML) share price has been busy this past week.

Shares in the rare earth miner have soared more than 30% since last Monday.

Vital Metals continued the positive momentum today, after releasing a promising update.

Here’s what the company had to announce.

Vital Metals share price surges on US capital markets expansion

The Vital Metals share price has surged today after the company announced its intention to expand into US capital markets.

In its market update, the company informed shareholders that it has engaged a consulting and advisory service.

To that end, Vital Metals noted it has signed an agreement with Ecoban Securities Corporation, specifically with its listing arm Tectonic.

The agreement will see Tectonic serve as the company’s North American investor relations and capital markets consultant and advisor.

Under the agreement, Tectonic will perform a range of services for the promotion and management of securities in Vital Metals.

Vital Metals informed investors that expansion into US capital markets follows the success of its operations at its Nechalacho rare earth project in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

As part of the agreement, the company will issue 10,000,000 3-year unlisted options to Tectonic.

These options will have an exercise price of $0.07 and are subject to various vesting conditions being met.

Tectonic will be familiar to many Vital Metals shareholders. The company assisted the rare earth miner with its $43 million capital raise earlier this year.

More on Vital Metals

Vital Metals is a mining explorer and developer focusing on rare earths, technology metals and gold projects. The company’s flagship projects include the Nechalacho Rare Earth Project and its Wigu Hill project in Tanzania.

Last week, Vital Metals provided a couple of updates on its Nechalacho project.

Last Tuesday, the company first reported outstanding first-pass assay results from the project. Vital Metals highlighted thick zones of mineralisation with total rare earth oxides (TREO) grades above 2%.

This was followed by a production update late last week.

Vital Metals noted that drilling results had intersected high-grade rare earth oxide (REO) mineralisation in the northern wall of the Nechalacho project.

As a result, the company highlighted the potential expansion of the pit beyond the existing mine plan.

At the time of writing, the Vital Metals share price is trading more than 5% higher at 6.1 cents.

Shares in the rare earth miner were up more than 8% earlier, having hit an intra-day high of 6.3 cents.

The post Here’s why the Vital Metals (ASX:VML) share price is flying today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Vital Metals (ASX:VML) share price leaps 6% on production update
• Here’s why the Vital Metals (ASX:VML) share price is flying higher today

Motley Fool contributor Nikhil Gangaram has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) share price has started the week in the red.

In afternoon trade, the online travel agent’s shares are down 2.5% to $5.08.

This latest decline means the Webjet share price is now down 20% from its March high.

Why is the Webjet share price dropping?

The weakness in the Webjet share price today comes despite there being no news out of the company.

However, potentially weighing on its shares today was a broker note out of Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) relating to rival Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT).

According to that note, the broker has downgraded Flight Centre’s shares to a neutral rating and cut the price target on them by 11% to $15.50.

That note reveals that Macquarie has pushed back its earnings recovery estimate for Flight Centre by six to nine months due to recent lockdowns in Australia following the outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta variant.

It suspects that Flight Centre’s total transaction value (TTV) will now only reach 65% of FY 2019 levels in 2023. This compares to its previous expectation of hitting 80% at that point.

One positive, though, is that corporate demand remains robust thanks to the government and mining sectors.

Is Webjet’s weakness a buying opportunity for investors?

Despite downgrading Flight Centre, Macquarie hasn’t made any changes to its Webjet recommendation at this stage.

It currently has an outperform rating and $6.35 price target on the company’s shares. Based on the current Webjet share price, this implies potential upside of 25% over the next 12 months.

Another broker that might see the weakness in the Webjet share price as a buying opportunity is UBS.

Late last month it put a buy rating and $5.90 price target on its shares. Its analysts see the company as a top re-opening option for investors.

The post Webjet (ASX:WEB) share price tumbles: Is this a buying opportunity? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Why is the Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) share price slipping 2% today?
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Flight Centre Travel Group Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Motley Fool Australia Chief Investment Officer Scott Phillips joined Nine’s Late News on Sunday night to discuss Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS), Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) earnings, plus upcoming economic data on Business and Consumer Confidence.

The post The economy and ASX earnings in focus. Scott Phillips on Nine’s Late News appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Scott Phillips owns shares of Telstra Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Corporation Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price slumped from its intraday high this morning amid news of a system outage.

Woolworths’ website and app crashed this morning, with customers unable to access either between 7:30 and 10:30 am. Woolworths announced the outage occurred and had been resolved at 11 am.

Right now, the Woolworths share price is $40.14. That’s 0.22% higher than its previous close.

However, it crashed from its intraday high of $40.33 to $40.00 at around midday before rebounding.

Let’s take a closer look at the outage that irritated Woolies customers this morning.

Woolworths’ online order outage

The Woolworths share price slipped to below its previous closing price earlier this morning amid news the supermarket’s website and app had both crashed for multiple hours.

Some shoppers inconvenienced by the outage took to Twitter to ask if the platforms were malfunctioning.

I am wondering if the Woolworths app has died and I'm going to miss the pick up window. No notifications #lockdownnsw #woolworthsaustralia @woolworths

— Mrs Boogooloo Watts (Rādhikā) (@MrsBoogooloo) August 8, 2021

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Woolworths later tweeted the issue was widespread, and its team was working on restoring its platforms.

Technical issues are impacting our website & mobile apps. Our team is working to get our systems back up & running. We know online services are playing a key role supporting many customers right now and we’re sorry for the inconvenience. More here: https://t.co/9MgGyyciI8

— Woolworths (@woolworths) August 9, 2021

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According to Woolworths, online orders placed before the outage have now been dispatched. However, those placed to be delivered this afternoon and this evening may be delayed.

A Woolworths spokesperson commented on the malfunction, saying:

We know our online services are playing a key role supporting the essential needs of many customers across the country right now. 

We’re very sorry for the inconvenience the outage caused our customers this morning and thank them for their patience as we worked to resolve it as quickly as possible.

Woolworths is still unsure what caused the outage. Investigations into the malfunction are ongoing.

Additionally, its unclear whether the outage was the cause of the Woolworths share price’s slump.

Last week, Woolworths’ operations manager for Western Sydney, Ian Roper, said demand for online orders from Woolworths’ supermarkets is growing, particularly in Sydney.

Woolworths share price snapshot

It’s been a good year so far for the Woolworths share price.

It has gained 18% since the start of 2021.

The post Woolworths (ASX:WOW) share price struggles after online order outage appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Twitter. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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