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The Big Picture
US rejects Iran’s 7-day ceasefire plan. Iran’s proposal would have seen Washington lift its blockade of Iranian ports in return for Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a resumption of peace talks. Trump rejected it, and the WSJ reports he has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the November midterms. (FT | WSJ)
OpenAI pauses AI training as rogue agent reports mount. It is the AI lab’s second pause in three months and comes after it notified dozens of governments, universities and public agencies about security breaches similar to Australia’s Medicare hack. One report suggests OpenAI’s agents tried, unsuccessfully, to hack the US Department of Education. (The Guardian | OpenAI)
US and China talks end with tariff reduction, not much else. President Xi’s three day visit to the White House ended with an agreement to reduce tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods and to continue discussions on AI. The White House also claims both sides agreed to use the term “super intelligence” rather than “artificial intelligence” - a recent focus for President Trump. (ABC)
Australia’s unemployment rate reaches post-pandemic high. Unemployment hit 4.6% in August, up 0.1 percentage points from July. The participation rate - the share of working age Australians working or looking for work - rose to 67.1%, just below the record high of 67.2%. While unemployment rose, it is unlikely to be enough to stop the RBA raising the cash rate when it meets on Tuesday. (ABC)
‘Sunni NATO’ meet to discuss attacks on Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a mutual defence pact last month that treats an attack on one partner as an attack on all (similar to NATO). As Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia escalate, the three nations agreed to hold emergency meetings to discuss how to respond. Any spread of hostilities into Turkey - a member of actual NATO as well - could see the US and European allies asked to defend Turkey under NATO’s Article 5. (Al Jazeera)
Companies in the news
Manchester City found guilty of 114 financial breaches. Since being bought by the Abu Dhabi royal family in 2008, the football powerhouse has won eight league titles, four FA Cups and one European championship. In 2023, it was charged with 115 counts of breaching financial rules, including misrepresenting its finances and breaking spending rules. On Friday an independent panel found it guilty on 114 of those counts, and the most extreme punishments could include being stripped of titles or removed from the Premier League. (BBC | FT)
Star Entertainment still not ready to get its casino licence back. The NSW regulator ruled on Friday that Star's Sydney casino licence will stay suspended for another nine months, until the end of June 2027. NSW Independent Casino Commission chief Philip Crawford said recent allegations in the Nine papers about Star's governance, leadership and culture were serious, and the business had more to do to win back its licence. (AFR)
Microsoft quits the personal AI chatbot race. In April last year, the tech giant pitched its consumer Copilot as "your AI companion" to compete with ChatGPT and Gemini. It is now folding that consumer version into its workplace product and focusing on corporate customers. As executive Charles Lamanna put it, "We're not going to build a Copilot that's like your personal companion." (Straits Times)
Europe's largest steelmaker halts Ukrainian production. ArcelorMittal said it was stopping production at Ukraine's largest steel plant, in Kryvyi Rih, after Russia struck it four times in five weeks, killing five workers. Steel once made up 15% of Ukraine's exports.(CBC)
Australian F-35 parts somehow end up in China
A shipment of F-35 fighter jet parts travelling from Australia to the US for repairs were unexpectedly diverted to Hong Kong earlier this year, and have not been seen since. The parts include one of the jet’s canopies that are built with top-secret stealth technology, raising concerns that China may have gained access to this technology.
Reports suggest China has engaged in widespread espionage on the F-35 program, a $2 trillion program that involves the US and its allies including Australia, the UK, Denmark, Norway and Poland. It is not clear how these shipments got diverted to Hong Kong or why they have not continued on their journey. Lockheed Martin, which manages the F-35 supply chain, says it follows all US shipping regulations. (Politico)
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Financial literacy improves, the gender gap remains
Each week, Ren shares a few things that caught his eye. Read the full article on the Equity Mates website.
Every year, the Australian government funds a survey of 17,000 Australians known as the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. Every four years, it includes a section on financial literacy.
There are three questions that are used to measure Australia’s financial literacy:
Q1: Suppose you put $100 into a no-fee savings account with a guaranteed interest rate of 2% per year. You don’t make any further payments into this account and you don’t withdraw any money. How much would be in the account at the end of the first year, once the interest payment is made?
Q2: Imagine now that the interest rate on your savings account was 1% per year and inflation was 2% per year. After one year, would you be able to buy more than today, exactly the same as today, or less than today with the money in this account?
Q3: Buying shares in a single company usually provides a safer return than buying shares in a number of different companies. [True, False]
(For those playing along at home, the answers are: $102, Less, False)
When academics look at the results, they consider a person financially literate if they can correctly answer all three of these questions.
The 2024 results were released earlier this year, and it is a good news-bad news story.
The good news: Australia’s financial literacy is improving. In 2016, 55% of Australian adults were able to correctly answer all three questions. By 2024, that is up to 60%.
The bad news: that still leaves 40% of Australians unable to answer all three of these questions.
Digging into the breakdown of results by gender, there is another good news-bad news story. In 2016, 63% of adult men and 48% of adult women were able to answer the three questions correctly – making a gender gap of 15 percentage points.
Fast forward eight years and both genders have improved – men are now at 69% and women at 54%. However, the 15-percentage-point gap has not moved.
The improvement in financial literacy scores is a positive step. The absolute number of Australians that cannot answer those three questions and the persistent gender gap shows there is still plenty of work to do.
