Here’s what you need to know today

• Australia’s underlying inflation ticked up for the first time in 3 years. Trimmed mean inflation - the RBA’s preferred measure of inflation - came in at 3%, well above the 2.7% expected by economists. Meanwhile, headline inflation came in at 3.2%, a 15-month high. (AFR)
  
  

• The Reserve Bank of Australia is due to meet next Tuesday, and after today’s inflation reading, investors believe there is no chance of an interest rate cut. Commonwealth Bank economists have gone further and ruled out any further rate cuts all together, after previously believing Australia would see one more in February next year. (AFR)
  
  

• Meanwhile, over in the US, the Federal Reserve cut rates overnight by 25 basis points. This was the second consecutive interest rate cut, taking rates to a 3.75%-4% range, and was widely expected by the market. In a statement, the Fed explained it cut as “risks to employment rose in recent months”. (CNBC)
  
  

• The US government has unveiled an $80 billion plan to build nuclear reactors. In one of the most ambitious atomic energy plans in decades, the agreement sees the US government agree to arrange financing and permitting for a consortium of Westinghouse Electric, Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management to build the nuclear power plants. In return, the US government will own up to 20% of the project. (Reuters)
  
  

• Australian uranium stocks rose on the back of this US government announcement. Boss Energy was up 20%, Paladin Energy was up 11% and Deep Yellow was up 8%.
  
  

• OpenAI has completed its transition from a nonprofit to a nonprofit with a controlling stake in a for-profit company. As part of the restructure, Microsoft nows owns a 27% stake worth US$135 billion. Not bad from an original investment of US$13 billion. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• OpenAI’s restructure pushed Microsoft’s valuation above $4 trillion. (FT) It wasn’t alone, with its Big Tech peer Apple briefly passing $4 trillion before falling back below that level. Meanwhile, Nvidia keeps powering ahead, closing at a $4.9 trillion valuation. (CNBC)
  
  

• Nvidia has announced a US$1 billion investment in Nokia for a 3% stake in the phone maker. Together, the two companies will work together on developing 6G and other AI-enabled networking technology. Nokia shares were up 21% on the announcement. (Bloomberg)
  
  

• Furniture retailer Nick Scali had a great day with shares jumping 13%, after it reported sales in Australia and New Zealand rose 12%. Shares are up 78% over the past 12 months. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• CSL had another tough day, falling 4%. The company is now down 50% since its 2020 all-time highs. Chairman Brian McNamee, who took the company public as CEO in 1994, vowed to stay on for at least two more years to help right the ship. (AFR)
  
  

• Australia’s corporate regulator ASIC has confirmed that Bitcoin is unlikely to be considered a financial product. However, products incorporating Bitcoin, such as stablecoins, wrapped tokens, tokenised securities and some digital wallets, may still be considered financial products with issuers required to hold an Australian Financial Services Licence. (Capital Brief)

What the…?

Doomscrolling has become routine, with people spending hours lost in endless TikTok, Instagram, and X feeds.

While most platforms encourage that behaviour, YouTube is taking a different approach, adding a feature to its Shorts app that lets users set daily time limits and get alerts to take a break.

The move comes amid growing scrutiny of tech addiction, with dozens of U.S. states suing Meta and health officials continued warning of social media’s impact on teen mental health. (Quartz)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today

How to assess an active manager?

This is an excerpt from our conversation with Jared Pohl, partner and portfolio manager at ECP Asset Management. (Listen on Apple or Spotify)

How can retail investors identify the subset of active managers who consistently outperform?

First, find fund managers that suit your personality. If you’re more optimistic, maybe growth is better. They should articulate where they take risk, why, and how they get paid for it. If they say they’re growth and the portfolio is value or momentum, something’s off. It’s hard to assess alpha generation, but if they do what they say they’ll do, that’s a good sign. Then look at long-term performance. In our small cap product, it's about 9.5% alpha over 10 years. In our all-cap Australian product, it’s around 5%. Long track records of consistent alpha generation matter. But if you don’t understand what they’re doing, don’t invest with them.

How long should investors assess performance to judge a fund manager’s effectiveness?

It depends on the strategy. Value is high velocity—you get called away a lot. Whitehaven might be cheap now, but not forever. You rotate often. Maybe shorter-term numbers work better there. Growth takes time to build. Your podcast business is an example—it’s still growing. We have positions we’ve held for 10 years. If you’ve got three to five years of data, you can start assessing whether a manager has structural skill. People use sharp ratios and other measures. But to truly assess, you need to strip out factor exposures, which is hard.

A message from Vanta

APAC’s fintech sector is booming. And so are security risks. 

With rising compliance demands, growing cyber threats, and increasing reliance on third-party vendors, fintechs are under more pressure than ever to protect sensitive data and demonstrate trust. 
 
This free guide explores how leading fintechs can navigate security risks without slowing down innovation.  Here’s what’s inside:   

• Three biggest security challenges facing fintechs in APAC today  

• How automation helps fintechs accelerate compliance, build trust and manage vendor risk  

• Real-world case studies from fintech trailblazers who’ve scaled trust with Vanta 

Learn how to overcome fintech security obstacles, so you can focus on business growth. 

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