Hormuz reopens as US & Iran extend ceasefire | Lendlease fires KPMG before Parliamentary hearing

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The Big Picture

• US and Iran agree to peace deal, reopening Strait of Hormuz. Both nations have confirmed the deal, as well as mediators from Pakistan and Qatar. The deal, to be signed in Switzerland on Friday, will permanently and immediately end the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and immediately remove both Iranian and US blockades of the Strait. (FT)
  
  

• Stocks and gold surge, oil drops on new peace deal. Brent crude dropped 4%, now at its lowest levels since the conflict began in March. The ASX 200 rallied 1.3% on the news, and stock futures climbed on both the S&P 500 (up 1.3%) and Nasdaq (up 1.9%). Gold bullion rose 2.7% after having fallen 2.5% last week. (AFR)
  
  

• SMSFs poses potential tax shelter, Senate told. A tax researcher has warned the Senate that changes to capital gains taxation could push investors to game the superannuation system and make property investments through self-managed super funds (SMSFs), which will retain their one-third discount on capital gains. (AFR)
  
  

• Japan to invest $34bn in UK under new deal. Japanese firms will invest in UK infrastructure, financial services, and offshore wind, reportedly creating tens of thousands of jobs in the struggling British economy. Japan and the UK are also cooperating on a joint fighter jet program and nuclear technology development. (BBC)
  
  

• UK seizes Russian shadow fleet ship in English Channel. British forces seized the unprotected tanker, which was carrying over 100,000 tons of sanctioned Russian crude oil. Russia funds its war effort in Ukraine with funds from its oil sales, and the UK declared the seizure “a blow to Putin’s war chest.” (Guardian)

Companies in the news

• Lendlease fires KPMG ahead of parliamentary hearing. After KPMG misused confidential information and allegedly attempted to cover it up, Lendlease has fired KPMG as its auditor. The consulting giant will face a parliamentary hearing this week, is barred from federal work for three months, and will likely be banned from all audit work for a year. (Capital Brief | Australian)
  
  

• Gina Rinehart grabs $1.4bn of SpaceX at IPO. The mining billionaire reportedly bought over US$1 billion of Elon Musk’s space-AI company after having had several meetings with him in the months leading up to the IPO. Her stake is SpaceX is her largest outside of her mining company, Hancock Prospecting. (AFR)
  
  

• Space stocks fall as investors pile into SpaceX IPO. This comes after months of price growth as excited investors bought into SpaceX-adjacent companies. Several notable space names fell on the day of the IPO, including Rocket Lab (down 8%), Planet Labs (down 8%) and Virgin Galactic (down 39%). (Reuters)
  
  

• Chemist Warehouse abandons $14bn Boots acquisition. Shares of its parent company, Sigma Healthcare, rose 7.6% on the news. Its stock fell 9.6% when the acquisition was announced last week as investors felt the acquisition was oversized and a poor fit. (AFR)
  
  

• ASX cops $20.5m penalty for misleading statements. The Australian market operator will additionally pay $3 million in legal costs to the regulator, ASIC. Its stock rose 2.6% as investors were pleased to get the lawsuit behind them. (AFR)
  
  

• Dashdot collapse leaves clients missing over $10m. Two weeks after going into voluntary liquidation, the creditors of the buyers agency revealed it owed $16.6 million when it collapsed — $10.6 million is owed to customers for prepaid services and refunds. (Capital Brief)

FinFest 2026

FinFest Early Bird Tickets are now live! Don’t miss Australia’s largest finance festival. October 24th, Carriageworks Sydney.

A new legal battle: AI-generated evidence

An English police officer is under criminal investigation after it was discovered they had used AI to create evidence in a number of cases. This is the first known allegation of AI misuse by police in a criminal case in the UK.

Though it is unclear what evidence was generated by the police officer, the concept of police creating evidence with AI threatens the course of justice. Legal officers are already on edge about the use of AI by criminal defendants and in civil matters, but now there’s proof that police may be using it too. (FT)

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An Adviser’s View on Infrastructure

Financial adviser Charlie Viola from Viola Private Wealth was quick to tell us about the strengths of infrastructure investments in clients’ portfolios.

How do you see infrastructure's role and how are you expressing it in portfolios at the moment?

Charlie: Yeah, so we love infrastructure, right? We for a long time have had a lot of Macquarie bankers in our client base who are infrastructure junkies, they love it. We really like infrastructure and infrastructure has changed over time.

Infrastructure used to be kind of toll roads and airports and then it was poles and wires and now it's companies investing in infrastructure and there's lots of data centre exposure, et cetera. We like the fact that the discounted cash flow on these assets is really long term, generates revenue through the cycle. There's a preference to the income on this stuff over dividends and other growth. We like it as a good sort of solid defensive asset.

And those investments have now been so heavily democratised that virtually anyone can kind of invest in them and any advisor who uses those kind of widely held platforms now can kind of, and I'm sure you guys where you're using Hub24 or netwealth or any of those types of arrangements can get into these investments.

Want to work with an adviser like Charlie to get infrastructure into your portfolio? Fill out the form on our website and we’ll match you with one of our hand-picked advisers to help you get started.

• Equity Mates Investing: From footy to finance, Chris Judd knows his stuff. He’s joining us today to tell us why everyone is wrong about the AI bubble. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

• Get Started Investing: Every investor makes a mistake eventually. Jess just made hers — today’s episode covers how she learned not to make it again. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)