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The Big Picture
Inflation jumps back to 4%. Just one day after the RBA hiked rates to a 15-year high to combat inflation, inflation rose to 4% for the year ended August, above the RBA’s upper target of 3% and up from 3.5% in July. Fuel prices rose 15% in August alone as oil prices tick up globally. Despite the inflation uptick, it was less than expected as market consensus was 4.1% for August. The ASX 200 rose over 1% on the better-than-expected figure. (ABS)
ASIC investigates lenders over $4bn of fraudulent loans. The corporate regulator will review lender conduct and remuneration after at least $4 billion of suspected home loan fraud has turned up across Australia’s major banks. The investigation centers on brokers and introducers who fraudulently referred and obtained loans with falsified documentation. (AFR)
Beijing bails out housing market as economy slows. Nationwide interest rate subsidies will help first-time buyers in an attempt to prop up China’s slowing housing market. The Chinese economy has slowed down more broadly, with GDP growth shrinking to 4.3% in the June quarter, below the official target of 4.5-5%. (FT)
“And that’s finance”: Alan Kohler announces retirement. The legendary ABC finance and economics guru will cap off his 31-year career (which includes two Equity Mates appearances) at the end of the year. 74-year-old Kohler will go down as one of the most influential Australian journalists in history and is renowned for his ability to communicate complex topics in simple terms. Congratulations on the career Alan! (ABC)
Companies in the news
OpenAI indefinitely delays IPO due to safety concerns. After Anthropic’s IPO prospectus was leaked earlier this week, competitor OpenAI has said it will not go public until it can “make confident safety decisions”. The announcement follows this week’s revelations that OpenAI hacked four Australian government agencies. OpenAI is now looking to raise US$30 billion in yet another private funding round. (FT)
Metrics blocks withdrawals from $9.3bn of private credit funds. After slashing the value of its loan book by $168 million, Metrics Credit Partners is now preventing investors from pulling their money out of two of its private credit funds totalling $9.3 billion. Australian private credit, which lends heavily towards real estate development, is under pressure following the $3.4 billion collapse of Bathla and overall downturn of the property market. (AFR)
DroneShield lands $715m contract with US military. The three-year agreement would see DroneShield provide counter-drone technology to the US Department of Defense to protect military installations and infrastructure. The stock jumped 11% on open before settling to a 5% gain for the day. (ITB)
Oura postpones anticipated IPO one day before listing. The smart ring maker announced on Tuesday that its US$15.6bn IPO, scheduled for Wednesday, would be postponed. Analysts point to surging bond yields and interest rates as factors creating the choppy US IPO market, which has now seen three companies delay their IPOs in September alone. (Reuters)
Boeing inks US$20bn Pentagon contract for stealth fighter. The aerospace giant was chosen over competitor Northrop Grumman to produce a new stealth fighter jet for the US Navy. The new airframe will replace the F-18 Super Hornets and will enter the fleet in the 2030s. Boeing is now locked in as the primary producer of sixth-generation aircraft for the US military. (FT)
Chinese AI models hand over bioweapon recipes to researchers
AI developer Moonshot is reviewing its Kimi K2.6 and K3 Swarm models after researchers were able to jailbreak them and get them to explain how to carry out assassinations and create biological weapons despite internal safeguards.
Moonshot models are open-source, making them more vulnerable to jailbreaking. AI security lab Mindguard alerted Moonshot to the vulnerability, which raises a second question: How did the Kimi models get bioweapon recipes in the first place? (BBC)
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Making the Most of Your Home Deposit
In a recent episode, Bryce and Ren answered community member Finn’s question about splitting his super contributions between the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) and his regular super allocation. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)
You don't need to split your super to make the most of your deposit. Under the FHSSS, you can contribute up to $15,000 a year in voluntary contributions, to a $50,000 total. When you withdraw, the ATO ignores how your fund performed and applies a deemed rate of return instead, which resets quarterly.
As Alec pointed out, the usual advice is to keep a house deposit out of the market in case it falls 40%. The deemed rate largely solves that problem.
There are two caveats. Concessional contributions are released at 85%, reflecting contributions tax. And if your actual balance falls below your release amount, the ATO won't top you up. Likewise, a 20% gain in your fund won't boost what you can withdraw.
The takeaway from the episode: Prioritise getting your long-term super settings right, stay in high growth while you're young, and let the scheme handle the rest.
