Today’s News

The Big Picture

• Budget to include $10 billion to boost Australia's fuel. With the federal budget next week, Anthony Albanese confirmed a $10 billion Australian Fuel Security and Resilience package aimed at shoring up the country's fuel reserves. The package includes $7.5 billion in financial support for fuel companies to purchase fuel, $3.7 billion to establish a government-owned emergency reserve holding one billion litres of diesel and aviation fuel, and a 10-day increase to Australia's minimum stockholding obligation. (ABC)
  
  

• 2 million Australians added to income support in past decade. New data shows more than 8 million Australians are now accessing some form of income support. This figure is up 2 million over the past decade across all 11 major income support systems. Mental ill health now accounts for roughly one-third of claims, spanning sick leave, workers' compensation and life insurance. (ABC)
  
  

• SEC proposes ending quarterly reports. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed allowing public companies to report earnings twice a year rather than quarterly. SEC chair Paul Atkins framed the move as increasing regulatory flexibility, though critics are likely to argue it leaves investors with less timely information. (FT)
  
  

• South Korean market hits record highs as Samsung crosses US$1trn. South Korea's Kospi index crossed 7,000 points for the first time, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each climbing more than 10%. The rally pushed Samsung to a $1 trillion valuation, helped along by reports that Apple has held exploratory talks with Samsung and Intel about producing chips for its devices in the US. (ABC)
  
  

• UK borrowing costs hit highest level since 1998. Long-term UK borrowing costs have surged to their highest level since 1998, with 30-year government bond yields hitting a 28-year high and 10-year yields an 18-year high. Rising yields across major economies since the Middle East conflict began mean governments like the UK are paying significantly more to borrow. (BBC)

Companies in the news

• OpenAI president testifies Elon Musk wanted $80bn to colonise Mars. OpenAI president Greg Brockman testified this week that Elon Musk supported converting the AI startup into a for-profit company, but wanted full control partly to raise $80bn to colonise Mars. The testimony came in the second week of a trial in which Musk accuses OpenAI of deceiving him out of $38m by abandoning the company's charitable mission. (Reuters)
  
  

• Ladbrokes and Neds breach self-exclusion rules. Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes and Neds, breached Australia's self-exclusion rules more than 500 times by opening accounts for people registered with BetStop. In one case an account stayed open for more than a year after the customer had self-excluded. (ABC)
  
  

• Apple agrees to pay customers US$250m over Siri. Apple has agreed to pay $250m to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of misleading customers about its AI features, including the much-hyped upgrade to its Siri voice assistant. US customers who bought an iPhone 15 or 16 between June 2024 and March 2025 are eligible for between US$25 and US$95 each. (BBC)
  
  

• ARN claws back 3.2m in shares from Kyle and Jackie O. ARN Media has reclaimed 3.2m in shares each from Kyle Sandilands and Jackie "O" Henderson worth around $800,000 each as the court battle continues. (AFR)
  
  

• Canva cops near $1m fine while revealing $4.1bn in revenue. Canva's Australian business posted an after-tax profit with revenue surpassing $4.1bn last year, but the numbers only emerged after ASIC fined the design giant $792,000 for failing to file audited accounts for four local entities on time. (AFR)

What the…?

The tiny Caribbean island accidentally cashing in on the AI boom. In the early days of the internet countries were allocated a domain suffix that closely related to their name. Australia received .au, the US received .us and so on and so forth. In 1995, Anguilla, the Caribbean island home to around 15,000 people, was handed the domain suffix .ai. At the time this seemed like a forgettable administrative decision that sat dormant for three decades, up until the introduction of Artificial Intelligence.

There are now 2,000 new .ai domain registrations every single day, sending revenue from US$60k a month to an estimated US$3-4 million, which now accounts for nearly half of Anguilla's entire national budget. The island is now lowering taxes, rolling out free healthcare for kids, and building a new international airport. (BBC | Instagram Explainer)

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Today’s Insight

Our Spotify Breakdown

Bryce and Ren give their take on Spotify’s recent earnings results after their April 2026 portfolio update. Be sure to check out the episode in the following links. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

Bryce: Let’s talk Spotify. On paper, this was a strong result… but the market hated it. Shares down about 13%.

Ren: Which is wild, because the numbers were good. Monthly active users hit 761 million, up 12%. Premium subscribers up 9% to 293 million. Revenue came in at €4.5 billion, up 8%, and profit jumped 40% to €715 million. Margins improving too. This is a business that’s finally making money. So why the sell-off?

Bryce: Because the market is forward-looking. Spotify guided that next quarter profit could go backwards, and user growth might stall.

Ren: And that’s the key shift. The story was: growing users plus expanding margins equals a compounding business. Now that’s being questioned.

Bryce: Exactly. If subscriber growth drops below that ~10% mark, or margins stop improving, that’s a red flag.

Ren: To be fair, it’s still a great product. Nearly 300 million people pay for it. They’ve shown pricing power without huge churn.

Bryce: And it’s generating serious cash now. Strong free cash flow, buying back stock, paying down debt.

Ren: But what’s the next growth engine? Music is mature. Podcasting hasn’t delivered huge profits. Audiobooks are promising but clunky, especially with Apple in the mix. So you’re left asking, can they keep growing, or is this now just a steady, slower business And at about 35 times forward earnings, it’s not obviously cheap if growth slows.

Bryce: So the takeaway: Spotify has proven it can make money. The question now is whether it can keep growing.

Today in Equity Mates