Today’s News

The Big Picture

• Melbourne-Brisbane rail project scrapped after $45bn blowout. An independent assessment found the 1,600km freight line would now cost three times its original budget, causing the Labor government to cut its funding. Regional communities and businesses are furious, having spent decades and millions of dollars preparing for the project to bolster their economies. (ABC)
  
  

• US fuel exports hit record levels as Europe and Asia raise demand. Over 8.2 million barrels of refined fuels were shipped from the US last week, a 20% increase year-over-year. The surge has lifted profits for US energy companies but poses a risk for Trump, whose voters are facing rising gas prices. (FT)
  
  

• Advocates push to double troubled $10bn housing fund. Homelessness and domestic violence bodies are pushing for at least another $10 billion of investment into the Housing Australia Future Fund for social and crisis housing. The HAFF has faced scrutiny as it has only delivered 6,000 homes since 2022, far from its target of 55,000 by 2029. The Greens have called it slow, clumsy, and cost-ineffective — it is currently being audited. (ABC | Greens)
  
  

• WA waves off RBA with 8th consecutive surplus. The resource-rich state will have a surplus on the back of an expected $10 billion in mining royalties. The RBA raised concerns that government spending will raise inflation, a concern that was rejected by WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti, who announced one-eighth of the surplus will go toward cost-of-living handouts. (AFR)

Companies in the news

• Semiconductor industry surges 12% in five days: The industry is experiencing historic growth, highlighted by Samsung shares rising 15% on Wednesday to break $1 trillion in market cap. AMD stock rose 19% the same day after handily beating Wall Street’s targets, with data centre revenue rising 57% year-over-year. The S&P Global Semiconductor Index is up 12% in the five trading days of May. (CNBC | IBD | S&P)
  
  

• AGL raises risk of power supply crunch via data centre demand. The CEO of the energy giant said the market is deeply underestimating power demand from data centres. AGL forecasts data centre demand could reach 34 terawatt-hours annually, nearly seven times their current consumption. For reference, Sydney consumes roughly 40 terawatt-hours per year. (AFR)
  
  

• CDC inks Australia’s largest data centre deal. The deal with a US investor will provide 555 megawatts of capacity over 30 years, bringing CDC’s total contracted capacity to over 1 gigawatt. Parent company Infratil saw its shares rise 12% on the news. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• Tabcorp tumbles as watchdog launches money laundering probe. Financial crimes watchdog AUSTRAC is investigating Australia’s largest bookmaker over its ability to prevent money laundering. This comes almost 10 years after Tabcorp paid a $45 million penalty for failing to prevent over 30 accounts from laundering money for organised crime. Tabcorp stock fell over 20% on the news. (AFR)
  
  

• Major publishers sue Meta, Zuckerberg over illegal usage. The publishers claim Meta illegally used millions of copyrighted pieces to train AI models. Zuckerberg is personally named as having authorised and encouraged the breach. Anthropic settled a similar lawsuit for $1.5 billion last year. (AFR)
  
  

• Anthropic strikes deal with SpaceX to meet AI demand. The maker of the Claude AI tools will use over 300 megawatts of compute power from SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data centre to meet demand for its popular models. This comes after SpaceX merged with fellow Musk-owned xAI. (FT)
  
  

• High-protein yogurt fuels 838% profit surge for Chobani. Australians’ hunger for high-protein foods is pointed to as the cause, driven by social media trends and weight-loss drug popularity. High-protein yogurt sales are up 28% across the dairy industry more broadly. (AFR)
  

What the…?

Amsterdam is putting their values on their sleeves and on their streets. Starting 1 May, the city has banned public advertisements for both meat and fossil fuel products. Ads for Maccas, airlines, petrol cars and more will not be seen in Amsterdam’s flowery streets anymore.

This comes as the Dutch capital aims to be carbon neutral and have locals cut their meat consumption by half by 2050. Advocates hope this will spark a “tobacco moment” wherein cutting advertising results in reduced usage. (BBC)

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.

Today’s Insight

Rebalancing: How and How Often?

We posed a question to financial adviser Matt Ingram from Northhaven about rebalancing portfolios, and he had a few ideas about how to do it effectively.

How often should I be checking and rebalancing my portfolio?

I think it mostly comes down to what you actually own. If you’re invested in broad, index-based ETFs, or even a few thematic ETFs, you don’t need to be watching them constantly. These are designed to be diversified and long term by nature. Checking in once a month is usually more than enough. Rebalancing might only need to happen once or twice a year, or when your allocations drift meaningfully from your original plan.

If you’re investing in individual companies, that’s a bit different. In that case, it can make sense to check in every few days. Not to stare at the share price, but to see if there’s any major news. Earnings updates, leadership changes, regulatory issues. Anything that could change the reason you bought the company in the first place.

A good reality check is asking yourself how often you check your super. In most cases, people have far more invested inside super than they do in their personal brokerage account. Yet I regularly see someone with $20,000 in shares outside super checking daily, while their $200,000 inside super barely gets a glance.

Shares are long term investments and day-to-day movements are mostly noise. The key is to check often enough to stay informed, but not so often that you let short-term movements dictate long-term decisions.

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

Today in Equity Mates