Here’s what you need to know today

• Australia’s Reserve Bank held the cash rate steady at 3.6%. This was widely expected after Australia’s inflation came in higher than expected last week, with underlying inflation rising to 3%. (ABC News)
  
  

• Speculation is rife that Sussan Ley will drop a commitment to Net Zero by 2050 from the Liberal Party platform in a bid to save her leadership. This comes after key leadership rivals, including Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie, have followed the National Party and lined up against Net Zero. (AFR)
  
  

• Electricity companies will be required to offer a new type of plan that offers up to 3 hours of free electricity each day. The policy, dubbed Solar Sharer, is intended to encourage households to run appliances during the day when the electricity grid is awash with solar energy. The federal government will require energy retailers to offer it to all customers with a smart meter in NSW, SA and south-east QLD starting in 2026. (ABC News)
  
  

• One of the fastest growing stocks in the world is Australian-based IREN (up 696% in the past 12 months). The company just inked a 5-year, US$9.7 billion deal with Microsoft, which will see the American tech giant buy computing power from the Australian data centre operator. (Bloomberg)
  
  

• That wasn’t the biggest AI-data centre deal signed last night. Amazon and OpenAI signed a 7-year, $38 billion deal for Amazon’s Web Services division to sell computing power to the ChatGPT operator. (WSJ)
  
  

• Australian cross-border payments platform Airwallex has reached US$1 billion in annualised recurring revenue. This is a major milestone for the company that grew revenue 90% over the past year. (Yahoo Finance)
  
  

• Consumer staples giant Kimberly-Clark has agreed to buy Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, for $48.7 billion. Kenvue has had a rough quarter after US President Trump claimed that use of Tylenol during pregnancy causes autism. Tylenol now joins Kimberly-Clark’s portfolio of brands including Huggies nappies and Kleenex tissues. (WSJ)

What the…?

Pay packets at Australia Post are in the headlines after the government-owned corporation tabled its annual report in the Senate. 10 of AusPost’s executives all are taking home salaries of around $1.6 million, and that is before the executive bonus pool of another $6.8 million.

Salaries at Australia Post have always been contentious, and have come in from the days of former-CEO Ahmed Fahour earning $10.8 million in one year. But this year’s 34% increase in pay for executives will certainly raise some eyebrows in government. (AFR)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today

Different options to invest in India

This is an excerpt from an episode of Get Started Investing where we compared the most popular ETFs to invest in India (Apple | Spotify | YouTube)

Ren: So you don't see India, any of these passive ETFs or active managers as a core, put-it-in-the-bottom-drawer, set and forget holding?

Bryce: Not yet, no. The reason that we said earlier about it being an emerging economy, there's still so many elements that can lead to instability and there's a lot that can go into the performance of these companies.

I wouldn't have confidence in having this as a 40% holding, as I do the S&P 500. And so then for me it's like, well, what's the best way to get performance in these economies? And I have a view that active management has a role to play.

Ren: Yeah. Well look, I don't really disagree with any of that. I guess you've got a market cap weighted index ETF [ASX: NDIA], thematic ETF [ASX: IIND], and an active ETF [ASX: FIIN]. So however you want to approach this market, you have choices in Australia, which is the great thing about investing in 2025.

I hear what you're saying about the active ETF. We always say “for small caps and emerging markets, stock picking makes sense”. I still think India classifies as an emerging market where you can screen out some of the slower growing industrials, prioritise some of the more interesting newer companies that are a bit smaller, but perhaps a bit more on the precipice of the new economy rather than sitting back in the old.

Bryce: I think back to what we said at the top, which is as an economy, it potentially is going to be the world's largest at some point in the future -

Ren: - It won't be the largest.

Bryce: It might. It's getting there. These ETFs are going to give you exposure to the broad rise.

Interested in investing in India? Check out the full episode on the Get Started Investing YouTube channel:

A message from Fidelity

Over the past two decades, Asia has evolved from the world’s manufacturing hub into a dynamic region of innovation, affluence, and ambition. With tech startups booming and a rising middle class reshaping consumption, the next big investment story may already be unfolding.

Just as India was once overlooked, can investors afford to miss the next evolution of Asia?

Issued by FIL Responsible Entity (Australia) Limited, ABN 33 148 059 009, AFSL No. 409340. This is general information only and is not intended to be advice of any kind. Consider the PDS and TMD available at www.fidelity.com.au

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