Here’s what you need to know today

• All eyes will be on the US Federal Reserve today as we get their decision on interest rates. Despite markets hitting all-time highs and inflation ticking upwards, traders are betting the Fed cuts rates because of weakness in the US jobs market. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• In anticipation of a US rate cut, the Australian dollar has risen to a 10-month high against the US dollar. 1 Australian dollar now buys 66.5 US cents, which is up 7 cents from when President Trump announced his Liberation Day tariffs in April. (AFR)
  
  

• The Australian government has released its latest climate report, modelling the impacts on Australia of 1.5, 2 and 3-degrees of global warming (the world is currently at 1.2-degrees above pre-industrial levels), and the findings are not pretty. Extreme heat, coastal flood, but the headline that caught our eye came from the ABC: “Sydney heat deaths to double even at global warming best-case scenario”. This report comes as the government prepares to release Australia’s 2035 emissions targets. (ABC News)
  
  

• Climate change may end up being the one force powerful enough to bring down Australian housing prices. One conclusion from the government’s climate report was that Australia’s housing market could lose more than $600 billion by 2050 with more than 1.5 million people living in areas affected by sea level rise or coastal flooding, making some land unliveable and raising insurance costs. (AFR)
  
  

• ANZ has admitted to engaging in unconscionable conduct in relation to its role in issuing 10-year Australian government bonds in 2023 and has agreed with ASIC to pay a $240 million fine. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• Russian drones entered Romanian airspace for a brief time over the weekend. This is the second time in the past week that Russia has breached the airspace of a NATO country after sending 19 drones into Poland last week. (ABC News)
  
  

• The Washington Post reports that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio privately reassured Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles that the AUKUS submarine project would be going ahead. This report comes one day after Australia announced an additional $25 billion commitment to submarine maintenance and shipbuilding in Perth and in the week leading up to Anthony Albanese’s visit to Washington. (Washington Post)
  
  

• Australia and Papua New Guinea will this week sign a deal to “totally integrate” their defence forces. The deal will allow both countries to recruit each other’s citizens, operate shared equipment and consult each other where security or sovereignty is threatened. Papua New Guineans serving in the ADF will be eligible for Australian citizenship. (ABC News)
  
  

• China and the US continued their trade talks, this time in Madrid. On the agenda: trade, tariffs and TikTok. The talks come as President Trump extended China’s lower tariff rate into the US and a 17 September deadline for the sale of TikTok is fast approaching. (BBC)

What the…?

Here’s the most dystopian business model we’ve seen in a while: Sunlight as a service.

A company started by a former-SpaceX executive, Reflect Orbital, plans to launch satellites with giant mirrors into space and then use them to reflect sunlight to anyone that pays for it. That way, those that want it can have sunlight whenever they want it overnight.

Why? You might be wondering. The key use case the company has discussed to date is allowing solar farms to continue producing energy 24/7. Where it goes from there? Who knows. (Mashable)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today

Ben Griffiths: The #1 tip I’d teach every investor

We’ve asked a number of experts their #1 tip for investors. This week in the email, we’re sharing some of their answers. (Watch the full montage here)

Today, we’re sharing the answer from Ben Griffiths, Managing Director and a Senior Portfolio Manager at Eley Griffiths Group.

Ben: One must be patient.

Some of the great gains that are made in stock investing are not, ‘I doubled my money. How good am I?’ And moving right along. It’ss staying the course. It is not folding. It’s staying with winning positions and letting them run. You must be patient.

Otherwise, how do you get a 10 bagger? How do you make 10 times your money on a stock you love and you believe in? You need to resist the temptation to take the profit, which in some cases, some investors' minds should be just not looking every day at the price.

So I think in matters of finance, one must be patient.

That belief was born out in the book Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. If anyone on the podcast has not heard of it or is curious about it, I suggest that you do buy it. And one of the key tenets in that book is that the big money in stock investing is not made in the thinking. It’s made in the sitting. And there’s no truer word has been uttered in the context of share market investing. It’s the sitting that makes you the money, not the thinking. So that would be my most ardent advice for investors.

Watch the full collection of answers on the Equity Mates Clips YouTube channel:

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