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Here’s what you need to know today

• The price of the average Australian home has passed $1 million for the first time ever. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the average Australian home was worth $1,002,500 in the March quarter, up 0.7% in 3 months. (SMH)
  
  

• All Australian states and territories recorded rises in property prices in the March quarter, but growth is slowing. Overall, across Australia for both houses and apartments, growth was 5.9% for the past 12 months compared to 9.5% for the 12 months before that. (SMH)
  
  

• Protests in the US continue over the Trump Administration’s immigration raids. After the state of California sued the Federal Government over its decision to deploy National Guard troops and US Marines, Trump said he would support the arrest of California Governor Gavin Newsom. (NBC)
  
  

• Russia launched its largest drone attack against Ukraine since the beginning of the war, however, Ukraine reportedly was able to shoot down 460 of the 479 drones. (ABC)
  
  

• Australian fertility giant Monash IVF has admitted to its second embryo transfer mistake in the past 3 months. In both incidents the company transferred the wrong embryo to a patient. Shares are down 50% since the first incident was disclosed in April. (AFR)
  
  

• Warner Bros Discovery has announced plans to split itself in two. One company will be the production studios and streaming platforms including HBO Max, the second company will be everything else including news and sports cable channels. (FT)
  
  

• Apple’s annual developer conference saw the consumer tech giant announce new live translation capabilities, a feature that requires unknown callers to announce their name and purpose before a call goes through, and a ‘foundation models framework’ that allows developers to use Apple’s AI models without internet or cloud costs. Investors weren’t impressed and Apple shares fell 1%. (WSJ)
  
  

• Amazon announced plans for an additional $20 billion investment to build two data centres in Pennsylvania. Big tech continues to increase investment in AI infrastructure. (Quartz)
  
  

• Meanwhile, OpenAI reported it has reached $10 billion in annual recurring revenue. This is almost double the $5.5 billion it reached at the end of 2024. (FT)
  
  

• ASX-listed building services provider John Lyng Group entered a trading halt after it was revealed that private equity giant Pacific Equity Partners is exploring a takeover. (Capital Brief)

What the…?

Greta Thunberg was arrested by the Israeli navy and forced to watch videos of Hamas’ October 7 attacks. That was a sentence we didn’t expect to write. Thunberg was sailing as part of the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ that aimed to bring aid to Gaza and draw attention to Israel’s blockade.

After the Israeli navy was ordered to intercept the ship, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to show Thunberg videos of the atrocities committed on October 7 2023 before being taken to an airport in Tel Aviv for deportation. (SMH)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today.

How to rebalance your portfolio

Community Question: How should Australians approach portfolio rebalancing, and what triggers should prompt adjustments beyond calendar-based reviews?

We put this question to Peter Nevill, financial adviser at Viola Private Wealth

Blind rebalancing can cut off your nose to spite your face. Within reason and in the context of your situation, don’t be afraid to let your winners run. To steal somebody else’s clever analogy – trim the weeds, not the flowers. Provided a share isn’t wildly overvalued or hasn’t grown to a position where you have too much of your portfolio now concentrated in the one stock, and the company continues to grow its earnings and management have a clear strategy to continue doing so, then reducing it to redirect elsewhere for the sake of it may be shooting yourself in the foot. Investors need to know themselves and the volatility they can emotionally withstand, be clear on what they’re seeking to achieve, and manage their portfolios in that context.

An example of where rebalancing can make sense: if broad based markets or a particular thematic have run really hard and the optimism seems to be outstripping the underlying earnings, taking some profits and redeploying to where you see better relative value can be really prudent. Likewise, if markets have a correction – that can be a really good trigger to utilise any excess cash or trim some income assets to capture the expected eventual upside as share markets recover. If you had blindly rebalanced and trimmed equities over the last 2.5 years to allocate to bonds, for example, you would have left significant returns on the table.

Interested in speaking to Peter or another of our hand-picked financial advisers? Fill out the form on our website and we’ll put you in touch.

Today’s sponsor is Fidelity

After a rollercoaster start to 2025, investors are asking whether the era of US exceptionalism is coming to an end.

While headlines continue to focus on the Mag Seven, the next chapter of US market leadership may be quietly forming in the middle.

Issued by FIL Responsible Entity (Australia) Limited, ABN 33 148 059 009, AFSL No. 409340. This is general information only and is not intended to be advice of any kind. Consider the PDS and TMD available at www.fidelity.com.au

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