Today’s News

The Big Picture

• Government unveils gambling ad crackdown, but is it enough? More than 1,000 days after Peta Murphy’s landmark report, PM Anthony Albanese has announced reforms to curb gambling ads. TV ads will be capped, while radio ads during school pick-up and drop-off, targeted social media ads, celebrity endorsements, and ads on jerseys and at sporting venues will face new limits or bans. But critics aren’t convinced. ACT Senator David Pocock said the changes “barely even start to address the issue” and “won’t actually protect young Australians.” (AFR | David Pocock Reaction)
  
  

• Leaders address the war… with mixed impact. US President Donald Trump delivered his first formal address since the Middle East conflict began, reiterating a 2–3 week timeline to achieve US objectives. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain would not be drawn into a war “that isn’t ours”. Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese’s highly anticipated prime-time address left many questioning whether it warranted the build-up, with little new information shared. (ABC | AFR | ABC)
  
  

• States slash fuel excise further. State and territory leaders have agreed to deepen fuel excise cuts, offering additional relief for motorists. Around $400m in extra revenue will be redirected to fund a further 5.7 cents per litre reduction, bringing total relief to 32 cents per litre until June 30. (ABC)
  
  

• Gas shortage fears trigger export warning. The federal government has warned gas exporters to increase domestic supply or face restrictions, as an east coast shortfall looms this winter. The ACCC estimates a potential gap of up to 12 petajoules between July and September, enough to power 76,000 homes. Gas companies have been told they have 30 days to respond. (ABC)

  
  

• Houston, We're Back: NASA Returns to the Moon. For the first time in over 50 years, NASA has sent astronauts around the Moon aboard the Artemis II mission. Christina Koch and Victor Glover made history as the first woman and first person of colour on a lunar flight, with the crew set to travel further from Earth than any humans before them, breaking Apollo 13's 1970 record. The mission tests Orion's life support and docking systems, paving the way for future long-duration Moon landings. (ABC)

Companies in the news

• SpaceX officially files for blockbuster IPO. Elon Musk’s space company has confidentially filed with the SEC to go public. Already considered the world’s most valuable private company, its listing is expected to be the largest IPO ever, potentially surpassing Saudi Aramco’s 2019 record. (BBC)  
  
  

• Eli Lilly wins approval for weight-loss pill. The US drugmaker has secured FDA approval for its new weight-loss drug, Foundayo, its first in pill form. While less effective than injectable alternatives, it is expected to be cheaper and more convenient, potentially expanding demand in the market. (FT)
  
  

• Nike tumbles on China concerns. Shares in the sportswear giant fell 16% after warning sales could drop by up to 20% next quarter. Weak demand in China, its largest market outside North America, continues to weigh on performance amid rising global competition. (WSJ)
  
  

• Xero integrates Claude as code leak emerges. Xero has partnered with Anthropic to integrate its chatbot Claude into the platform, offering a boost to investors after a tough period for SaaS stocks. The news comes as Anthropic confirmed it accidentally leaked part of its internal code due to human error, though no customer data was compromised. (Capital Brief | CNBC)
  
  

• Meg O’Neill makes history at BP. The former Woodside CEO has become the first woman to lead a major global oil company, officially stepping into the top job at BP earlier in the week. She steps in as the company’s third CEO in five years. (Reuters)
  
  

• Chelsea posts record Premier League loss. The club has reported a £262m pre-tax loss for the 2024–25 season, the largest in Premier League history. The result surpasses Manchester City’s previous record and follows more than £1bn in player spending since a US consortium acquired the club in 2022. (BBC)
  

What the…?

Bernie Sanders gets deep and meaningful with Claude. In something that would’ve felt fitting in a dystopian sci-fi movie just a few years ago, US Senator Bernie Sanders has sat down with Anthropic’s chatbot, Claude. In the video, the pair cover everything from data privacy and data centres to the real purpose of AI, which Claude sums up bluntly: money and profit.

Sanders opens by asking how much of the data collected by AI is actually used. Claude’s answer is confronting, explaining that companies gather information from almost every corner of our digital lives, from browsing history and purchases to how long we linger on certain pages. When asked why all this data is collected, Claude doesn’t sugar-coat it. “Money, Senator. It’s fundamentally about profit,” it replies, prompting a chuckle from Sanders.

It’s a surreal watch, and well worth a few minutes if you haven’t seen it. (Senator Bernie Sanders - YouTube)

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Today’s Insight

What exactly is a Model Portfolio?

This was taken from our recent Equity Mates Investing episode where we sat down with Kerry Craig from JP Morgan Asset Management titled ‘Is Your Portfolio Actually Built for the Long Run?’ (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

Ren: So Kerry, to start with can you explain what a model portfolio is?

Kerry: Yeah, it's holistic way of thinking about investing. It's bringing together investments across the equity landscape, across fixed income, and putting them together in a way that either achieves an outcome around a growth target or an income target for a presumed level of risk.

So the initial question about what retail investors may do that they perhaps shouldn't do when they’re starting out on their investing journey, is they're not thinking about how their assets go together or what the risk and correlation of their assets are.

A model portfolio takes those considerations into account to build something that's going to provide a smoother investment journey over time because you're getting assets that don't have the same correlation between them. That creates both some sort of income bias towards it, if you have an income generic one or if it's a growth one, it's going to be more growth oriented. It also won't limit you to thinking about just the domestic market. Generally, they'll have both international and a domestic flavour to them to really capture the full opportunity set of what's available around the world.

So in short it’s a much more holistic approach when thinking about investing that as you rightly mentioned, many institutional clients would do. They would think about all their asset classes, not just investing in a single one.

Today in Equity Mates