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Here’s what you need to know today

• Australia’s stock market hit record highs on Friday as the ASX 200 index rose 1.4%. For the year so far, the ASX 200 is up 6.8% and this is despite a 14% fall between February and April.
  
  

• One company driving the ASX higher on Friday was mining giant BHP that reported record levels of copper and iron ore production. BHP shares were up 3% on the news. (Australian Mining)
  
  

• On Friday, a Kiss Cam video from a Coldplay concert broke the internet, generating over 100 million views and spawning countless memes. Over the weekend, Andy Byron, the CEO of Astronomer who was caught on the Kiss Cam cheating with his company’s head of HR, resigned. (ABC News)
  
  

• Earnings season continues in the US. Netflix and PepsiCo both beat Wall Street’s expectations, however, the highlight from last week was Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC who also beat expectations as it reported a 39% increase in revenue and a 61% increase in profit. (Quartz)
  
  

• Uber is all-in on the robotaxi boom. It announced plans to deploy more than 20,000 robotaxis over the next 6 years, powered by electric vehicle-maker Lucid Motors and an autonomous driving startup Nuro. (Quartz)
  
  

• Australian biotech Mesoblast saw shares jump 35% after it announced revenue of $20.3 million for the most recent quarter. This follows the March launch of its cell therapy product, Ryoncil, in the US. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• US President Donald Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal, its parent company News Corp and its owner Rupert Murdoch personally, after the newspaper published an alleged letter Trump wrote to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. (Financial Times)
  
  

• Reporting from the Wall Street Journal suggests that President Trump initiated a review of all US government contracts with SpaceX. While the intention of the review was to end these contracts, multiple sources reported it was found that many of these contracts were vital and the review did not result in any cancellations. (WSJ)
  
  

• After 32 years on air, CBS has decided to cancel The Late Show. The decision to axe one of its most-watched shows, which ranks #1 in its time slot, was explained by the network as a “purely financial decision”. However, the timing is curious, with it coming after host, Stephen Colbert, criticised CBS parent company Paramount Global and its decision to settle a lawsuit with President Trump. (CNN)
  
  

• Companies are divided over the European Union’s code of practice for general-purpose AI. While the code is voluntary, it is intended to give companies certainty in navigating the EU’s new AI laws. A number of companies, as varied as Airbus to Meta, have said they will not sign. Meanwhile, Microsoft has suggested it will sign. (Reuters)

What the…?

The CEO of Delta Air Lines was clear, “We are not planning to pay tariffs on aircraft deliveries.” The American airline has found an interesting way to avoid paying tariffs on planes made by Airbus in Europe.

Rather than paying the 10% baseline tariff to import them into America (which will become 30% on 1 August), Delta are taking receipt of new Airbus jets in Europe, removing parts and then shipping those parts to the US to power their old, grounded planes.

That way there is no cross-border transaction. Rather it is just a company moving its own assets around the world. We’re sure its not the only company trying to find new workarounds to these tariffs. (Bloomberg)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today.

Minimising mortgage repayments

Community Question: What's the best way to structure a home loan to minimise the interest repayments?

We put this question to Jacob McCudden, financial adviser at Back-to-Back Financial Planners.

Easy. Borrow the least amount you can and repay it as fast as you can. That’s it. 

In practice there are many ways this can be achieved:

• Don’t overspend why buying a home – that is, don’t just borrow what the bank will lend, remember, it’s in their interest to lend you as much as they can, only the gov’t is the one holding them back to “lend responsibility”. They are not your friend, they are not helping you out, they are selling you a financial product (i.e. a mortgage) and will be paid handsomely for it in the form of interest at your expense (literally).  As an anecdote, they say when you buy a house you pay for it twice, once for the purchase price, and again on the interest you will pay to the bank over the life of the mortgage (don’t believe me? Average mortgage debt of about $600k, interest rate of 5%, loan term of 30 years… total repayments to the bank = $1,159,535 ($600k in principal, $559,535 in interest).
  

• Start by understanding how much of your household budget can be allocated to “housing”, ideally under 30%, but no more than 40%. Then you can easily work out what repayments you can afford and thus how much you can borrow, but also when you want to be “debt free”, ideally before retirement but potentially even earlier (so whilst it may be a 30-year mortgage, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should be taking 30 years to pay it off)
  

• Don’t fall into the pressure of the bank/broker/real estate agent who all profit from the more you borrow and spend (easier said than done, I know, but this is most likely the biggest expense of your life, so it pays to take it extremely seriously and to do your homework)
  

• Then, once we’ve actually got the house and loan, need to think about things like perhaps using offset accounts (if and when they make sense and they may not for everyone as loans with offsets generally come with a higher effective interest cost)
  

• So more technical strategies could include debt recycling, which is where you leverage investment assets as a tool to slowing replace your “bad debt” (aka non-deductible debt like your mortgage) with “good debt” (aka deductible or investment debt), but these should be “advisable” before you embark on one.
  

• Seek advice! As really the only way to put together a strategy for your individual situation and help you decide what’s right for you is to speak with a financial planner who can develop a plan to help you achieve your financial goals (e.g. pay less interest over life of loan, pay of loan faster, be debt free, retire early, etc.)

Want to speak to a financial adviser? Fill out the form on our website and we’ll match you with one of our hand-picked advisers.

A message from Scouting Australia Podcast 

Australian Housing Market Predictions For The Remainder of 2025

Join Sammy Gordon, Equity Mates’ go-to property expert, for a special EOFY Roundtable with the powerhouse APS team. They unpack the biggest lessons from the past 12 months - what’s changed, what’s working, and what investors need to know heading into the new financial year.

From shifting interest rates to evolving strategies, it's a behind-the-scenes look at the real market. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, this one’s packed with insights.

Want more Equity Mates?