AU Morning Wrap: ASX slumps, but Woodside, Santos shine after stellar results

Moomoo News AU wrote a column · Oct 20, 2022 07:29

G'day, mooers! Check out the latest news on today's stock market!
• S&P 500 retreats as yields pop, Netflix stock soars
• Australian shares dips 0.95 per cent minutes after opening
• Stocks to watch: Woodside Energy, Santos, Link
- moomoo News AU

Wall Street Summary
US stocks retreated as rising yields pressured rate-sensitive sectors such as real estate and financials. A choppy morning gave way to selling pressure as the yield on ten-year US treasuries broke to a fresh 14-year high.

The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ faded 25 points or 0.67 per cent. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ shed 100 points or 0.33 per cent. The $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ lost 92 points or 0.85 per cent.

Strong trading updates from Netflix, United Airlines, Procter & Gamble and Travelers were overshadowed by a 12 basis point jump in the yield on ten-year US treasuries to 4.13 per cent.

AU Market Watch
Australian shares dipped 0.95 per cent minutes after opening, led by losses in materials and health care sectors.

Energy was the only category in the black, buoyed by eye-popping results from Woodside and Santos.

Stocks to Watch
$AGL Energy Ltd (AGL.AU)$: The interim chief executive of AGL Energy says some of the initial negative reaction from analysts to the company's plan to develop $20 billion of zero emission generation assets was because of "sticker shock" at the sheer size of the investment, and that will slowly fade.

$Woodside Energy Group Ltd (WDS.AU)$: Woodside Energy has increased its guidance for full-year production after posting record output in the September quarter that contributed to an all-time high in sales.

Sales for the September quarter surged 70 per cent from the June quarter to $US5.86 billion ($9.3 billion), boosted by a full quarter contribution from the BHP Petroleum assets that Woodside swallowed up in June.

$Challenger Ltd (CGF.AU)$: Challenger is sticking to 2023 profit guidance of $485 million to $535 million on a normalised net profit before tax basis.

Challenger Bank will be sold for $36 million to Heartland Group.

$Santos Ltd (STO.AU)$: A further increase in gas prices has propelled Santos to record sales for both the September quarter and the year to date, while free cash flow topped $US1 billion ($1.6 billion) for the three-month period.

Sales reached $US2.15 billion in the September period, up 15 per cent on the June quarter. Nine-month sales surged 86 per cent to $US5.91 billion, while production rose 12 per cent, boosted by the takeover in December last year of Papua New Guinea's Oil Search.

$Novonix (NVX.AU)$: Novonix is trying to secure a $US150 million grant from the US Department of Energy to improve the security of the battery supply chain which, if successful, would have to be matched by Novonix itself.

$Zip Co Ltd (ZIP.AU)$: Zip quarterly revenues jumped 19 per cent to $163.2 million in September compared with last year, taking the revenue margin at 7.4 per cent.

Merchants on the platform increased 70 per cent year-on-year to 94.1,000 and included Australia's Hoyts and the United States's Barnes & Noble College.

$Atlas Arteria Ltd (ALX.AU)$: Atlas Arteria reported a 0.8 per cent increase in toll revenue in Q3 compared with the same period last year even though traffic during the quarter fell 2 per cent.

$Silver Lake Resources Ltd (SLR.AU)$: Silver Lake continued its track record of accretive ore reserve and mineral resource growth through FY22.

Ore reserves have increased 17 per cent year-on-year to 1.59 million ounces, the largest in the company's history.

$Link Administration Holdings Ltd (LNK.AU)$: Link appointed Macquarie and UBS to sell Link Fund Solutions Limited, the business that was linked to the Woodford funds impasse.

Link said on September 21 that the UK Financial Conduct Authority issued a draft warning notice with respect to the Woodford matter, in which Link was the authorised corporate director.

Ex-dividend: None

Dividends paid: $Horizon Oil Ltd (HZN.AU)$, $Ten Sixty Four Ltd (X64.AU)$, $Energy One Ltd (EOL.AU)$, $Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Ltd (NEC.AU)$, $Lovisa Holdings Ltd (LOV.AU)$

Commodities
• Iron ore futures fell 0.5% to US$94.5 a tonne.

• Oil prices are starting to turn after an 8.2% selloff in recent weeks.

"The White House goes all-in on sending oil prices lower over the short-term. The Biden administration will release an additional 15 million from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves," said Oanda senior market analyst, Ed Moya. Biden said the US will refill its SPR when US oil prices are at or below $72 a barrel

• Gold prices tumbled after US Treasury yields hit fresh 14 year highs and the US dollar snapped a two day losing streak.

Source: Dow Jones Newswires, AFR

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