The early wave of 2022 profit reports from the ASX’s blue chips shows Australian businesses have largely weathered the pressures from rising costs and choked supply chains to deliver durable earnings, according to UBS.
“Early signs suggest that this will again be a results season in which companies show their durability in the face of multiple supply-side challenges and a softening demand picture,” said Richard Schellbach, equity strategist for UBS, in a research note. “Thus far it has been the banks that have provided the best barometer on the market’s overall health, with their results being on balance positive, and pointing towards an economy which will decelerate, but avoid recession,” Mr Schellbach said., the highest level in two decades.1.