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Here’s what you need to know today

• Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump met for nearly three hours on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska. There were red carpet greetings, fighter jet flyovers and plenty of theatre, but no deal was reached (ABC). The two leaders didn’t disclose what was said behind closed doors, but reports later suggested that Putin told Trump that Ukraine must withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk to end the war. Trump is now expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington on Monday. (BBC)
  
  

• International talks on Friday to tackle plastic pollution also failed to produce an agreement. Delegates from 184 countries debated several draft treaties at the UN-backed meeting, but disagreements over production limits and toxic chemical controls led to a deadlock. (The Guardian)
  
  

• The Business Council of Australia has launched a push for deregulation ahead of the federal government’s Economic Reform Roundtable, warning that excessive red tape is holding back growth. It’s report estimates that cutting red tape by just 1% would unlock $1 billion a year for the economy, while compliance with the nation’s 86,000 regulations currently costs Australians $110 billion annually. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• US wholesale prices jumped significantly in July, reigniting inflation worries. The Producer Price Index rose 0.9% from June, triple forecasts and the biggest monthly gain in over three years, lifting the annual rate to 3.3% from 2.4%. The surge, driven in part by tariffs, leaves the Federal Reserve in a tough spot on future rate decisions. While consumer inflation data last week suggested stability, wholesale prices often foreshadow what shoppers will soon face at the checkout. (Quartz)
  
  

• UnitedHealth Group shares rose 12% on Friday after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a new stake in the troubled US healthcare giant. A filing on Thursday revealed Berkshire bought 5 million shares worth about $1.6 billion at the end of June (Financial Times). If you want to hear more about UnitedHealth, on a recent segment of Mr Beat Up we broke down why it has been one of the S&P’s worst performers this year and whether it could be primed for a comeback. Watch it here on YouTube.

  
  

• Shares in Intel jumped more than 7% on Friday after reports that the Trump administration is in talks to take a stake in the chipmaker. The potential deal would support Intel’s plans to build a major manufacturing hub in Ohio and comes just days after CEO Lip-Bu Tan met with President Trump, who had previously accused him of being “highly conflicted” over past ties to China. (Bloomberg)
  
  

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) has cleared founder Klaus Schwab of “material wrongdoing” after reviewing whistleblower allegations. Schwab stepped down from the board in April following claims he and his wife misused funds. The WEF also named Larry Fink, the boss of BlackRock, the worlds largest asset manager, and André Hoffman, vice-chairman of Roche as interim chairs of the board. (WSJ)
  
  

• The Canadian government has stepped in to end a strike by Air Canada cabin crew that disrupted travel for 130,000 passengers. Thousands of flight attendants walked off the job on Saturday over a wage dispute. Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration and order an immediate end to the strike. Air Canada said it could take four to five days to resume full operations if the request is approved. (BBC)
  
  

• Another A.I company has raised at an eye watering valuation. This week Toronto-based AI startup Cohere raised $500 million at a valuation of $6.8bn, as it positions itself as a more secure alternative to rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic. Cohere builds enterprise-specific models, often running them on customers’ own infrastructure. The startup launched its AI agent platform, North, in January and has doubled its annual recurring revenue to $100m since the start of 2025. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• Meanwhile, current and former employees of OpenAI are preparing to sell nearly $6 billion worth of shares to investors including SoftBank and Thrive Capital. The deal would value the ChatGPT maker at about $500 billion. (Reuters)

What the…?

A Pokémon-themed Happy Meal promotion in Japan ended abruptly after overwhelming demand led to unexpected chaos.

Meant for children, the meals, called ‘happy sets' in Japan, came with limited-edition trading cards that quickly became targets for resellers, with some flipped for up to tens of thousands of yen online.

Within hours, stores were overwhelmed, food was discarded en masse, and images of rubbish piling up outside restaurants spread online. McDonald’s Japan apologised and pulled the campaign after just one day. (SBS)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today.

How to achieve your financial goals

Community Question: How do I set financial goals that I’ll actually stick to?

We put this questions to Matt Ingram, Partner and Financial Adviser at Northhaven Financial Management.

Setting financial goals is one thing (that many people struggle with) but actually sticking to them is a whole other battle.

You’ve probably heard of the SMART acronym for goal setting. It’s a classic for a reason, and it works just as well for money goals as it does for anything else.

• Specific: Be clear about what you want to achieve. Instead of “save more,” try “save $1,000 from each pay check.”

• Measurable: Make sure you can track your progress. Numbers are your friend here.

• Achievable: Set a goal that’s challenging but realistic for your situation.

• Relevant: Pick something that actually matters to you and have a reason for doing it. If you don’t care about it, you probably won’t stick with it.

• Time-bound: Give yourself a deadline. Open-ended goals tend to drift.

I like to take it a step further by setting SMARTER goals, the “ER” stands for Easily Reviewed. This means you build in regular check-ins to see how you’re tracking and make sure you it’s not a mission to check in on how you’re going – otherwise you just won’t do it.

When you know what your SMARTER goals are:

• Write them down.

• If you have more than a five or six goals, think about scaling back and stick to just a few that you can really focus on.

• Break big goals into smaller steps.

• Share your goals with someone you trust

Interested in speaking to a financial adviser? Fill out the form on our website and we’ll match you with one of our hand-picked advisers.

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