Today’s News

The Big Picture

• Investors dump software and flee to safety. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 2% as investors dumped software companies. Microsoft and Nvidia fell 3%, IBM fell 6%, Salesforce dropped 7% and Australia’s Atlassian fell 8% in the selloff. Investors fled to safe haven assets as gold and silver jumped 6% and 10% respectively. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• Do Australians have the right to Work From Home? That will be tested in court as a Melbourne software engineer appeals after the Fair Work Commission upheld his employer’s return-to-office mandate. The Commission’s ruling contrasts a ruling against Westpac last year where a remote worker was granted WFH rights despite Westpac’s RTO policy. (AFR)
  
  

• Spain follows Australia’s social media ban. The Spanish Prime Minister announced plans to ban under-16’s from social media to protect them from the "digital Wild West". This follows France, Denmark and the UK suggesting they would also follow Australia’s lead. (BBC)
  
  

• Defence Force to sell prime real estate sites. Sydney’s HMAS Penguin and Victoria Barracks are among the 67 underutilised military sites to be sold. The sales will raise up to $1.8 billion and save $100 million annually, with the land to be used for new housing. (AFR)
  

Companies in the news

• Anthropic strikes fear in the legal industry. The AI giant behind Claude launched new tools that can automate legal work, including reviewing contracts, writing legal briefs and managing compliance workflows. Legal stocks sold off with Relx, the company behind legal database LexisNexis, dropping 14%. (FT)
  
  

• Investors panic about what AI will disrupt next. Claude’s new product launch led to a wave of selling in industries seen as vulnerable to AI. Data providers Gartner and S&P Global were down 21% and 11% respectively, while advertising agencies WPP and Omnicom were down 12% and 11%. (Guardian)
  
  

• Novo Nordisk slides 14% on competition warning. The Danish drugmaker behind Ozempic warned that sales could decline 13% in 2026. Part of this drop comes from its decision to cut Ozempic and Wegovy prices from $1,000 a month to $350 in the US. (FT)
  
  

• Disney names new CEO. Josh D’Amaro, who leads Disney’s parks division, will take the reigns from Bob Iger. Ironically, Iger’s previous successor, Bob Chapek, was also the head of the parks division and was CEO less than 2 years before Iger took the job back. (CNN)
  
  

• French police raid X office, Musk summoned to hearing. The raid is linked to an investigation into algorithm abuse and fraudulent data extraction. Prosecutors have expanded the investigation to include complicity in pornographic depictions of children and sexually illicit deepfakes by X’s AI Grok. (ABC)
  
  

• E-commerce boom sends Walmart over $1 trillion. Investments in e-commerce and fulfilment boosted online sales by 27%. The stock is up 27% in the past 12 months as investors embracing the ‘tech-forward’ approach sent it over the $1 trillion mark yesterday, joining the tech-heavy trillion-dollar valuation club. (NYT)
  
  

• KPMG sends EA jobs abroad. The Big 4 firm will send three-quarters of its 260 executive assistant roles to the Philippines amid cost-cutting efforts, mirroring the growing global trend of corporate jobs being lost to AI and offshoring. (AFR)
  
  

• Santander launches 98% first-timer mortgage in UK. Move over Home Guarantee Scheme, 98% is the new 95%. The British bank launched the five-year fixed-rate loan with a £500,000 cap and very strict rules and criteria. It is the first high street bank to breach the traditional 95% borrowing limit. (Guardian)

What the…?

China plays heavy hand on car door handles. Elon Musk will be back on the drawing board as China will ban concealed door handles such as those popularised by Tesla. The ban will come into effect starting 1 January 2027.

The government cites safety concerns as cause of the ban, highlighted by an October car accident wherein the driver died as rescuers were unable to open the Xiaomi’s concealed door handles. China is the world’s largest EV market, and as EVs often sport concealed handles, manufacturers will need to tweak their designs. (ABC)

Today’s Insight

An Introduction to Geared ETFs

On a recent episode, Ren detailed that he has 60% of his core in GHHF, which is the diversified all-growth geared ETF by Betashares. Let’s take a look at what that means.

By borrowing money and combining it with investors’ money, geared ETFs amplify gains and losses of the underlying assets. Geared ETFs are internally geared, meaning all debt obligations are on the fund, not the investors in the fund. This means no margin calls.

Geared ETFs seek to give retail investors access to low-cost geared investing. Gearing is what makes property investing so viable, and geared ETFs effectively give investors access to gearing at a much lower price point and with less risk.

Check out the full episode on the Equity Mates YouTube:

A message from Viola Private Wealth

Wealth isn't one-size-fits-all. Your investment strategy needs to work for your life and not just the markets.

Viola Private Wealth manages over $2.5 billion for Australians with significant wealth, crafting tailored portfolios across public and private markets. With deep expertise and a client-first approach, Viola helps you focus on what matters: growing and protecting your capital with clarity and confidence.

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