📈 Meta told to remove addictive features | China races to catch SpaceX

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The Big Picture

• Iran ceasefire over but peace talks continue. President Trump declared the ceasefire over, with the US and Iran trading missile strikes. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dropped once again and oil prices are up, with Brent Crude up 5% in a week to around $76 USD a barrel. (CBS)
  
  

• US earnings season kicks off this week. US companies will update the market on their Q2 results (April - June 2026). Analysts expect the collective earnings of the S&P 500 to rise 24% from Q2 last year, largely driven by technology companies. As is tradition, the banks will kick off reporting on Tuesday Australia time with TSMC, Johnson & Johnson and Netflix some of the big names reporting later this week. (Reuters)
  
  

• Australia rejects America’s latest tariff push. The Trump Administration is proposing a 12.5% tariff on Australian imports due to issues of forced labour in Australian supply chains. The Australian embassy in Washington has lodged an objection, using the US Trade Representative’s own report that found “no credible evidentiary basis” for this finding against Australia. (ABC)
  
  

• China one step closer to reusable rockets. China launched its Long March 10B rocket and then used a giant net to successfully catch the rocket’s booster. This is the first time China has launched and partially recovered a rocket, and is part of their effort to catch up to America’s SpaceX and Blue Origin that have successfully built reusable rockets. (WSJ)
  
  

• Macquarie green lights private credit funds. The Australian bank has made 17 private credit funds available to superannuation members, after previously cutting them after the collapse of the Shield Master Trust. (Capital Brief)

Companies in the news

• Meta may have to disable addictive features. The European Commission has found Meta failed to mitigate the risk of the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook. In particular, it called out features like infinite scroll, autoplay and personalised recommendations. The Commission suggested Meta may have to disable these addictive features on its platform in Europe or face fines of up to 6% of global revenue (which would be ~$12 billion based on 2025 revenue). (BBC)
  
  

• Apple sues OpenAI. The tech giant claims two of OpenAI’s developers stole “secret and confidential information” about Apple’s unreleased technology and products. Both developers previously worked for Apple, with one allegedly accessing files through an old work laptop. (FT)
  
  

• Telstra CEO apologises for outage. Vicki Brady apologised and acknowledged the company let their customers down with the outage that impacted Triple-Zero networks, public transport and payments systems across the country. Brady, and fellow Telstra executives, are set to be questioned further at a Senate inquiry this week. (ABC | AFR)
  
  

• SK Hynix lists in the US. The South Korean memory-chip maker saw shares rise 14% on their first day of trading in the US. This jump came despite South Korea’s KOPSI index falling into a bear market this week (down 20% or more from recent high’s). SK Hynix raised $26.5 billion as part of the dual listing, making it the largest-ever American listing by a foreign company.
  
  

• Boeing’s latest safety issue. A Boeing 737 flown by Ryanair was forced to make an emergency landing in Greece after a cabin window dislodged and a passenger was partially sucked out the broken window. Local media reports the passenger had to be pulled back inside the cabin by his legs. The timing couldn’t be worse for Boeing, who was expecting US regulators to certify its latest version of the 737 this month and give Boeing the authority to preform final safety signoffs itself. (ABC)
  
  

• Another US safety app lists on the ASX. Boston-based digital safety app Aura has acquired ASX-listed Qoria and taken over their ASX listing. Aura joins Life360, a fellow American safety app that is listed on the Australian share market. (Capital Brief)

Have you got your ticket to FinFest 2026?

The market is closed and the bar is open, come and trade ideas at Australia’s biggest investing festival.

1,200 people have already secured their tickets to FinFest. Make sure you do before they sell out.

You’ll hear from some of Australia’s best Investors and entrepreneurs and leave with the knowledge and confidence to take the next step on your investing journey.

This is going to be big. You don’t want to miss this.

Being tired is no excuse, says Fair Work Commission

A Victorian council worker requested to work from home four days per week due to “work-related fatigue” due to his age, a request that was denied by the council. Despite already working from home three days per week, the planning and building liaison officer appealed to the Fair Work Commission, where he was denied again.

The worker, believed to be 58, claimed his age and fatigue required an additional day of working from home. Macedon council disagreed, saying it would cause “a significant loss of efficiency”. Looks like being too tired isn’t a good enough reason to work from home. (Link)

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Starting a business is exciting - but it also comes with plenty of ‘what ifs.’

What if it doesn’t work, what if you’re not ready?

With ANZ, you don’t have to figure it out alone. They can help you set your business up properly from the start - with step-by-step checklists, practical set-up tips and cashflow tools designed to give you more confidence as you begin.

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Autonomous vehicles are here

In the first episode of our Winter series, we’re taking a look at the business of EVs, autonomous vehicles, how you can invest in them for the decade to come.

In 2019, less than 3% of new cars sold were electric. In 2025, that number is near 25%. Market leaders like Tesla, BYD, Xiaomi, and Rivian have stormed onto the scene, and their high-tech EVs come have unlocked the concept of autonomous cars.

One of the most exciting outcomes of autonomous vehicles is the rise of robotaxis. Waymo's the clear market leader, doing 500,000 paid rides a week across ten US cities, more than the whole of China combined. But Waymo sits inside Alphabet, where it's a small piece next to search and cloud. Tesla, Amazon, and Baidu all share the same story wherein robotaxis are a side bet inside a much bigger business.

Investors looking for more pure exposure to robotaxis will be looking to China for names like Pony.ai or WeRide, both of which are listed on the NASDAQ and are far smaller and far more volatile than the household names. For the more diversified play, there's also a brand new ETF: Roundhill's robotaxi fund (ticker CABZ), which launched this year.

The biggest risk: trust. Every robotaxi incident will be covered as news in a way ordinary car accidents never are, and the bar these companies have to clear with the public is far higher than the bar human drivers clear every day.

• Equity Mates Investing: One in three Australians love their pets more than their families. Today we’re looking at the pet care industry and how pet owners are caring for their fluffy friends. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)