📈 Australia third wealthiest country by median wealth | Meta cloud sparks AI infrastructure sell-off

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The Big Picture

• UBS: Australia third wealthiest country in the world by median wealth. UBS data shows Australia ranks third globally for median wealth at US$210,783 per person, behind only Luxembourg and Belgium. Australian households collectively owning $12.3 trillion in residential property, more than the combined GDP of Japan, India and the UK. (ABC)
  
  

• Government targets influencers in gambling ad crackdown. The government has introduced legislation banning gambling companies from making sponsored content deals with people of influence. The bill has received criticism from different parties that claim the measures don't go far enough, with some labelling the reforms "half-arsed." (ABC)
  
  

• Australian households facing tougher conditions than 17.5% rates in 1989. A new study has found that Australian households have faced one of the heaviest interest rate burdens on record recently, worse than when interest rates peaked at 17.5% in 1989. The study reflects how much larger household debt levels are today, with interest payments as a share of income across all households now exceeding those seen four decades ago. (ABC)
  
  

• Record number of ETFs hit the ASX last year. A record 72 new ETFs listed on the ASX in the 2026 financial year, up from 50 the prior year, as fund managers rush to meet surging retail demand. There are now 458 exchange-traded products, with the ASX expecting that figure to hit 500 within the next 12 months. (AFR)
  
  

• US scraps trade deal with Canada and Mexico. The US will not renew the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, casting doubt over the future of a trade pact that has been key to the commerce between the three countries since 2020. The decision comes despite a new poll showing nearly three-quarters of US voters believe the agreement is beneficial for the country. (FT)

Companies in the news

• Meta cloud plans spark AI infrastructure sell-off. Meta is developing a cloud infrastructure business to sell AI computing power. The reports sent Meta shares up nearly 9% but triggered a wave of selling across AI infrastructure stocks, with Micron falling 10.6%, SanDisk dropping 10.2% and AMD down around 7%. (AFR)
  
  

• Sony to stop producing physical games from 2028. The Japanese gaming giant will become the first major console maker to end physical game disc production from January 2028. The decision has triggered an online backlash from fans who still want to physically own games or buy cheaper second-hand copies. (FT)
  
  

• Swedish court orders Google pay $1.97 billion to Klarna. A Swedish court has ordered Google to pay the largest fine in Swedish competition history to Klarna-owned price comparison service PriceRunner. It comes after the court ruled the tech giant gave preferential treatment to its own shopping service in search results. (WSJ)
  
  

• Burry shorts Nvidia, Tesla and Caterpillar in AI sell-off bet. The investor who called the 2008 housing bubble has disclosed short positions against Nvidia, Caterpillar, Tesla, Applied Materials and the SOXX semiconductor ETF, calling time on what he sees as an overextended AI rally. Burry shorted Caterpillar after it surged 86% in the first half of 2026 alone. (CNBC)

Buffett pauses donation to Bill Gates foundation for first time in 20 years

Warren Buffett has delayed his annual donation to Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ Gates Foundation, his first delay in two decades, while awaiting the outcome of a review into the foundation's ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Buffett, who has donated more than US$43 billion to the foundation since 2006, told CNBC in March that he had not spoken to Bill Gates since the Epstein files were released, saying it "doesn't make sense to do a lot of talking" until the matter is cleared up. (CNBC)

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Ren’s Shift to Active Management

Ren and his wife recently withdrew money from their mortgage offset account and invested it through a financial adviser on Hub24. The decision they faced was to put it all in low cost index ETFs, or sample the investment menu of active managers that Hub24 gives them access to. They chose the active managers. He broke down why in a recent episode of Equity Mates Investing. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

Long time Equity Mates listeners will know the boys have spent years citing the SPIVA scorecard, the S&P Global study that consistently shows the majority of active managers fail to beat the index over the long term.

So why do it?

Ren's reasoning was the data shows the median active manager underperforms. It does not show that all of them do. The question is whether you can identify the managers who sit in the minority that outperform before they prove it, not after.

The portfolio he has built spans three buckets: roughly a third in private equity across 5V Horizons, Schroders and Hamilton Lane, a third in large cap growth managers including Monroe Global Growth and Loftus Peak, and the remaining third split between small cap managers like Ophir and a Betashares Asian Tech ETF.

The risk he flags himself is what Margin of Safety author Seth Klarman calls the institutional performance derby, where investors keep chasing last year's best performer, always arriving late and leaving early. Ren's approach is the opposite: pick managers with conviction and stick with them unless the original thesis breaks.

The active sleeve now represents 42% of his total portfolio. It is a significant bet and will be interesting to check in with future portfolio update episodes to track his progress.

• We’re joined by Jordan Eliseo, General Manager from ABC Bullion on Equity Mates Investing to break down all things gold. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

• And today on Buy or Sell Ally chats with Douglas Isles from GCQ Funds Management, Arms Rosenberg from Minotaur and John Stavliotis from Antipodes at the Morgan Stanley conference for their Buy or Sell picks. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)