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- 📈 ASX recovers after tough week | Anti-Apple alliance forms
📈 ASX recovers after tough week | Anti-Apple alliance forms
Here's what you need to know today
Today’s News
The Big Picture
ASX recovers after tough week. Last week, the Australian share market dropped 2% as fears about AI disruption in the US affected the share market here at home. But in one day on Monday, the ASX 200 recovered most of the loss as the ASX 200 rallied 2%. A reminder to avoid the day-to-day noise and focus on the long-term growth of the share market. (AFR)
Tax-cutting Japanese Prime Minister re-elected. Sanae Takaichi’s coalition government is expected to secure two-thirds of Japan’s lower house seats. This paves the way for tax cuts and heavy spending that spooked Japan’s market two weeks ago. Japanese bonds yields hit record highs on fears of growing government debt and rising inflation. (FT)
Judge labels Musk fair game in DOGE lawsuit. A US judge ruled Elon Musk can be deposed over his actions as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE laid off roughly 300,000 employees before being dismantled itself and is now being sued by government workers. (Bloomberg)
Tourists leave America behind. Despite international tourism ticking up 4% in 2025, visitors to the US declined 4.2% following policies that make it harder for travellers to visit the US, including suspending visa issuance to 75 countries. The $3 trillion US tourism industry supports 15 million jobs, and each percentage point equates to billions of dollars and thousands of jobs lost. (FT)
Companies in the news
Unlikely alliance forms against Apple. American payment tech company Block and Commonwealth Bank are pressuring the Australian government to increase competition in the digital wallet space, targeting Apple Pay’s dominance. Digital payments are booming, up 122% year-on-year in Australia. (Capital Brief)
Employees on the chopping Block. Speaking of Block, the company has been informed employees of its plans to cut up to 10% of its staff. The company’s stock is down 13% this year. (Bloomberg)
SpaceX puts Moon ahead of Mars. The space firm has told investors it will delay its proposed 2026 mission to Mars to prioritise its 2027 mission to the Moon wherein it is developing a lunar lander for NASA. (WSJ)
Reddit slides on… good news? Despite 19% user growth, an ad-driven 9% revenue forecast beat, and a billion-dollar stock buyback announcement, Reddit stock continued to slide, finishing down 7% on Friday. The stock has fallen 42% this year. (Reuters)
Anthropic doubles valuation in new funding round. The creator of the Claude AI platforms raised over $20 billion in its latest round at a $350 billion valuation, nearly double its previous valuation. This comes following a breakthrough week of Claude success and as Anthropic races OpenAI to IPO in 2026. (Reuters)
Big AI spenders race to fund build-out. Google, Amazon, and Meta shocked investors with heavy spending forecasts. Big Tech is forecast to invest over $660 billion in AI and data centres this year, up 60% from 2025 and 165% from 2024. This will outpace cashflows and require debt or equity financing, raising debt and dilution concerns. (FT)
What the…?
COVID can’t stop Aussie Olympian. Australian snowboarder Josie Baff got the scare of a lifetime days before her second Olympic games. Two positive COVID tests at her European training centre were revealed last Sunday, threatening to take her out of the Olympic competition she has been training for since her Beijing debut.
In spite of initially being prevented from joining the Australian team in the Olympic village, Baff tested negative for COVID and will be able to compete in her events. She says her mentality was never shaken and that she is “ready to rumble”. (9News)
Today’s Insight
The lazy investor wins
On the most recent episode of Equity Mates Investing, we walked through an example of a lazy investor and an overactive investor in something of a “tortoise v. hare” scenario.
In the example we gave, a lazy investor puts $1,000 into the ASX 200 at the start of the year, pays a couple of dollars in brokerage, and just lets it run. If the market returns 10.1% that year, they finish with about $1,090.
But the active investor starts with the same $1,000 and moves their money around 20 times, trying to time the market. Those extra trades rack up around $40 in brokerage, leaving them with less money actually invested. So even if they beat the market, they don’t really win, as they’d need to earn closer to 15% just to end up in the same place as the lazy investor.
That’s the power of doing nothing: fewer decisions, fewer costs, and more time for compounding to work. Lazy investing isn’t lazy when it’s disciplined.
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