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- 📈 Australia's economic slowdown begins | Amazon & Temu sell banned products to Aussie kids
📈 Australia's economic slowdown begins | Amazon & Temu sell banned products to Aussie kids
Here's what you need to know today
Olivia Trotter
June 04, 2026
Presented by
The Big Picture
Australia's economic slowdown begins. Australia's economy grew just 0.3% in the March quarter, a slowdown from 0.9% the previous quarter. RBA rate rises in February and March weighed on activity, compounded by cyclone disruptions to mining and exports. Annual growth held steady at 2.5%, though the RBA is forecasting further weakness ahead with growth expected to slow to 1.9% over the year to June. (ABC)
Oil rises for third straight day as US and Iran exchange strikes. US crude futures jumped 2% to $95.40 a barrel as the US military launched strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, citing attempted Iranian attacks across the Middle East. Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes on US bases in the region, firing at Kuwait and Bahrain. (Reuters | BBC)
Iconic Tasmanian brewery to close after 145 years. James Boag will cease production at its Launceston brewery in November, ending 145 years of Tasmanian brewing as parent company Lion Australia moves production out of the state. The Independent Brewers Association has called the closure a sign of the rising cost of brewing in Australia, urging reform of alcohol taxes. (ABC)
Bitcoin down 41% from peak. The leading cryptocurrency has fallen from its October peak of just over US$122,000 to around US$67,000. Experts have cited the AI boom diverting capital away from crypto, quantum computing raising questions about blockchain security, and inflationary pressures as reasons for the drawdown. (Yahoo Finance)
Trump orders early government access to AI models. President Trump has signed an executive order asking AI companies to provide their models to the federal government up to 30 days before public release. This would allow authorities to assess advanced capabilities and determine whether a model meets the threshold of a "covered frontier model." (CNBC)
EU moves to fulfil trade deal with US ahead of deadline. A European Parliament committee has voted to remove import tariffs on many US goods, moving to comply with the trade deal struck last July before a July 4 deadline. Trump had threatened "much higher" tariffs after the EU spent ten months failing to fulfil its side of the agreement. (Reuters)
Companies in the news
Amazon, Temu & AliExpress selling banned products to Australian kids. Consumer groups have warned that some banned products are reaching Australian homes through major online retailers via legal loopholes. Products of concern include novelty cigarettes, toy-shaped lighters, removable tongue studs that can become choking hazards and flammable garments. (ABC)
Anthropic extends its most powerful AI model to Australia. Anthropic is offering access to its Mythos model to Australian organisations for the first time. It’s part of a staggered rollout across more than 15 countries designed to identify security vulnerabilities before wider release. Anthropic declined to name the specific Australian companies or government agencies involved. (AFR)
Microsoft's new quantum chip is 1,000x more reliable. The new Majorana 2 quantum chip is 1,000x more reliable than its predecessor, with qubits, the basic unit of information used to encode data in quantum computing, surviving an average of 20 seconds compared to milliseconds in the original. The company says the breakthrough puts it on track to deliver a quantum computer capable of solving commercially viable problems by 2029. (BBC)
KPMG Australia's COO steps down amid escalating whistleblower scandal. KPMG Australia's chief operating officer has stepped down while the firm investigates a whistleblower scandal that has already claimed its CEO and head of audit last Friday. (AFR)
New York Knicks finals tickets sell for $390,000
The New York Knicks' first NBA Finals appearance since 1999 is coming at a steep price, with two courtside seats selling for almost $390,000 (US$280,000) in total. The cheapest resale tickets for home games at Madison Square Garden start at $5,916 (US$4,247), rivalling the average monthly rent for a Manhattan apartment.
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How Loftus Peak Finds the Best Company in a trend
Most investors can identify a big trend. The harder part is knowing which company within that trend is actually worth owning. Anshu Sharma, Founder & Portfolio Manager from Loftus Peak joined a recent episode of Equity Mates Investing to explain how they approach that question. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)
It starts with a framework they built in 2014: six long-term themes they believe will capture most of the disruption playing out in the global economy. Networks, data centres, China, energy as a technology, internet of things, and more recently, life sciences. Every company they look at sits within one of those six buckets.
But the part that sets their process apart is how they do the research once they have identified a theme.
Beyond the standard broker conferences and company meetings, Loftus Peak spends significant time at trade shows. The logic is straightforward: a company presentation is a controlled environment where management is telling you what they want you to hear. A trade show is not. Anshu described sitting with engineers who openly told him their own company's product was falling behind a competitor.
It also helps them track the pace of change in real time. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, Anshu noticed that humanoid robots had gone from occupying two or three booths to filling almost half the floor. That shift, from a footnote to a dominant presence, is exactly the signal Loftus Peak looks for when deciding whether a theme is approaching an inflection point worth investing in.
As Anshu put it, the question they are always trying to answer is not just whether a trend is real, but whether it is about to go mainstream.
