Here’s what you need to know today

The Bigger Picture

• Aussie dollar hits 16-month high. 1 Australian dollar now buys 69 US cents, up 3% so far in 2026. It comes after a better-than-expected jobs report had traders thinking Australia’s economy is looking strong and may see an interest rate rise in February. (AFR)

  
  

• Turkey’s inflation nightmare. While Australia contemplates a rate rise, Turkey is celebrating a big interest rate cut. In 2024, inflation in Turkey peaked at 70%. It is now down to 31% - still nightmarishly high - but it allowed Turkey’s Central Bank to cut rates from 38% to 37%. (Bloomberg)

  
  

• Silver breaks $100 for first time ever. The precious metal is already up more than 40% in 2026. Gold is up 11% so far in 2026 and is nearing $5,000. (Forbes) On last Thursday’s episode of Equity Mates Investing we unpack why silver has outpaced gold over the past two years. (Apple | Spotify | YouTube)
  
  

• Vietnam’s leader promises 10% growth. To Lam was re-elected to a 5 year term as head of the Communist Party and promised GDP growth greater than 10% as part of a push for greater efficiency and innovation. In 2025, Vietnam’s GDP grew at 8% and the stock market was up more than 40%. (ABC)
  
  

• Chinese military purge consolidates Xi’s power. President Xi has just completed the largest purge of the military in Chinese history. Notably, Xi has purged Zhang Youxia, his highest-ranking general and childhood friend, leaving Xi in total control of the armed forces. (AFR)
  
  

• Trump threatens 100% tariffs on Canada. The latest trade threat was in response to Canada’s recent trade deals with China. It came just days after Trump backed down from tariff threats against European allies. (BBC)

Companies in the news

• TikTok’s US operations have finally sold. In 2024, then-President Biden signed a law to ban TikTok in the US if it wasn’t sold to a US owner. Now, in 2026, we’ve finally got a sale to a consortium of investors led by tech company Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake and UAE state-owned investment firm MGX. (CNN)

  
  

• Australia to remain on the Chinese-owned TikTok. For now, the sale only transfers US operations meaning nothing will change for Australian users. For US users, the TikTok algorithm will be retrained on American user data. However, the Chinese parent entity, ByteDance, will continue to manage ecommerce and advertising on the new US platform. (Forbes)

  
  

• US-Australia critical minerals framework leads to deals. Since being signed in October, ASX-listed mining companies have become the focus for the US government. Just last week, Australian Strategic Materials (ASX: ASM) was acquired by US uranium producer Energy Fuels and Victory Metals (ASX: VTM) held meetings with a US government delegation. (Capital Brief)

  
  

• Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance to once again buy Nvidia chips. Nvidia shares were up 2% after reports emerged that the Chinese government would reverse its decision to stop Chinese tech companies buying Nvidia chips. Instead, they will be able to buy Nvidia chips as long as they continue spending a certain amount to support local Chinese chipmakers. (Bloomberg)
  
  

• Airwallex faces Austrac investigation. Australia’s anti-money laundering regulator is investigating the cross-border payments platform for allegedly failing to stop payments that facilitated child sexual abuse. Before this investigation, the $12 billion Australian company had been discussing a public listing in 2026. (SMH)
  
  

• Earnings season continues in US. A number of notable companies are reporting their quarterly numbers this week, including: Boeing, General Motors, Microsoft, Starbucks, Tesla, Meta, Mastercard, Visa, Caterpillar, ExxonMobil, and American Express. Wondering why this matters? By the end of the week we’re going to have a good idea of the health of the US economy and a better idea of whether AI hype is turning into profits. 

What the…?

French President = fashion icon? Emmanuel Macron surprised crowds in Davos last week by giving a speech wearing a striking pair of blue reflective aviators. He didn’t give a reason, but French media suggested a broken blood vessel in the eye.

The glasses-maker, Italy’s iVision, was celebrating this week. In the 3 days after Macron’s speech the €659 glasses sold out, iVision’s website crashed and its share price jumped more than 60%. Macron may have just found his post-politics career.

What’s got us thinking?

Investing is a lifelong journey. Here’s what you can learn today.

Unlisted sports teams are in a bubble

This was taken from our chat with Andrew Brown where he gave us his 14 bold predictions for the year ahead. Find the episode titled ‘14 Bold Predictions with Andrew Brown’ in the Equity Mates Investing links here (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

Bryce: Number seven, there's always a sports related one. Andrew, this one is sports related.

Andrew: Yep it sure is. Okay, if you think AI is a bubble and if you think Crypto is a bubble, ain't nothing compared to the bubble in unlisted sports assets.

Alec: Interesting. Or is it just a massive scarcity play?

Andrew: Part of it's a massive scarcity play. But if you think the Los Angeles Lakers were transacted this year for 10 billion US dollars. Okay? The Washington Commanders were transacted a couple of years ago for $6 billion. You've also had the Boston Celtics transacting at over $6 billion in the last 12 months. You're seeing Americans buying English football teams like they're going out of fashion. If you want me to burn your money, I can do it really easily. Give it to me and we'll run off and buy a Championship (second division) football team in the UK. They all lose more money than you can ever contemplate making. It's farcical. I think someone will try and unload on the public markets. Good theme, remember? There's alleged valuation of Wreham, which is obviously the Rob McElhenney, Ryan Reynolds thing of US$350 million. You've got to be kidding me. They were playing Skunthorpe United three years ago. So I think there's a real bubble there.

And what's amazing is, why don't you look at the listed ones? The world's second most popular team in the world has 1.1 billion followers and the Washington commanders don't have 1.1 billion followers, I can tell you. Is Manchester United's total enterprise value, adding in all the money they owe for deferred transfer fees and everything else is 4.6 billion US. Okay? Equity debt and negative working capital. If that's not enough for you, why don't you try Uventus? They're not exactly unpopular. 1.9 billion. Football, it's growing like a weed. We're not saying NFL's not. We're not saying NBA's not, but football, football, football just keeps growing and growing and growing. So there are some listed companies, they're the best two of them.

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