ASX edges higher despite energy drag

ASX finishes flat, earnings season gathers steam, Magellan, AMP surprise
 
The S&P/ASX200 (ASX: XJO) traded flat throughout the day, ultimately gaining just 1.7 points as strength in the real estate sector (up 1.6%) offset more weakness in energy and consumer staples, both of which were down over 1%.
 
Whilst the US successfully navigates another earnings season the Australian market is powering through AGMs or Annual General Meetings, offering an updated into business recovery.
 
Magellan (ASX: MFG) and Perpetual (ASX: PPT) were the standouts today gaining 7.8 and 2.3% respectively, with Magellan confirming that their less than popular equity stake in Investment bank Barrenjoey was profitable in the third quarter.
 
They also highlighted strong demand for the FuturePay retirement income production with institutional investments flagging interest.
 
Shares in AMP gained 4%, slowing moving off their all-time low, despite AMP Capital suffering another $12 billion in outflows due to a number of large redemptions in the September quarter.
 
Assets under management fell to $180 billion, however, in a positive sign flows onto their North platform have begun to improve.
 
Energy prices bolster weaker production, BlueScope upgrades, Healius sees huge COVID demand
 
Both Woodside (ASX: WPL) and Santos (ASX: STO) fell on Thursday, down 2 and 1% respectively, however both delivered strong revenue updates.
 
Woodside has seen revenue increase 19% in the quarter, on the back of a 28% increase in the price of oil with production falling 2% to 22 million barrels.
 
Santos delivered a record of US1.14 billion in sales in the September quarter, a 6% increase on 2020, but important free cash flow was over 30% higher allowing debt to be reduced and supporting more dividend increases.
 
BlueScope Steel (ASX: BSL) gained slightly after raising guidance for the first half of 2022, the company now expects earnings to be between $2.1 and $2.3 billion, well above the $1.8 to $2.0 billion of previous guidance.
 
Healthcare group Healius (ASX: HLS) gained over 4% as it reported some 40,000 daily COVID-19 tests were being delivered every day.
 
Revenue jumped to $690 million from $480 million in 2020 with earnings hitting $202 million as non-COVID revenue surprised to the upside.
 
US markets mixed, earnings beating expectations, IBM tanks, Tesla consolidates
 
US markets continued their recent strength, with the Nasdaq outperforming, gaining 0.6% on the support of Tesla (NYSE: TSLA) which added over 3%.
 
The Dow Jones underperformed, falling 0.1% and the S&P 500 0.3% as company specific news separates the weak from the strong.
 
It was International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) that detracted most from the Dow falling close to 10% after announcing a near 30% reduction in profit despite revenue remaining broadly flat year on year.
 
Management responded by announcing their intended spin off of Kyndryl, which despite the names takes care of the boring IT infrastructure work of major enterprises.
 
It was a much brighter day for Tesla which reported record electric vehicle sales over the summer despite many competitors blaming a shortage of computer chips on their sales.
 
This delivered the biggest quarterly earnings result ever, hitting US$1.62 billion, 500% higher than the same time last year.
 
Revenue also increased over 10% to US$13.76 billion with a boost in margins being seen by many as a sign that the company may well be able to live up to their lofty tech expectations.

The Inside Adviser