Here’s what you need to know today

• Reports are that Lebanon and Israel are close to a ceasefire deal. The deal would see Israeli forces withdraw from Lebanon for 60 days and in return Hezbollah would move its weapons away from the Israeli border. (BBC)
  
  

• Victoria has announced a $100 limit on poker machines and will require machine operators to slow the spin rate of each game by 40% from December next year. Victorians lost more than $3 billion on the pokies last financial year. (AFR)
  
  

• Apple CEO Tim Cook is being forced into becoming a part-time diplomat. In recent days, Cook has been lauded for his management of Trump (Wall Street Journal) and on Monday, Cook was once again playing diplomat as he met China’s prime minister Li Qiang. Li Qiang assured Cook that China valued globalisation and would not devalue the currency to offset the effect of Trump’s tariffs. (Bloomberg)
  
  

• Speaking of tariffs, the US dollar surged after President-elect Trump pledged sizeable tariffs on America’s three largest trading partners - Canada, Mexico and China. This pushed the Aussie dollar to a four-month low against the USD. (AFR)
  
  

• The Australian government looks set to share its response to Meta’s decision to walk away from the News Media Bargaining Code and end $70 million worth of deals with Australian publishers. The government is expected to announce a levy on digital platforms that would then be redistributed to publishers. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• Japanese carmaker Nissan is searching for a new investor as long-time partner Renault sells down its stake in the troubled carmaker. On the back of declining sales in both China and the US, estimates are that Nissan has 12 to 14 months before declaring bankruptcy. (AFR)
  
  

• A poll has found that 82% of young workers use AI as part of their job. Specifically, 93% of Gen Z and 79% of Millennials said they use two or more AI tools on a weekly basis. Be mindful of the source though - this poll comes from Google, who obviously have a vested interest in the uptake of the technology. (Quartz)

What the…?

Struggling American department store Macy’s delayed releasing its quarterly earnings after revealing that an employee had hidden $154 million of delivery expenses between 2021 and 2024.

Macy’s was seen as a big loser from eCommerce and the share price was down more than 90% between 2015 and 2020. However, the last few years has seen a turnaround and shares are up 150%. Investors backing the turnaround story will be hoping this accounting scandal is an isolated incident. (Wall Street Journal)

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today.

This is an excerpt from our book Don’t Stress Just Invest, which last week won Best Investing Book at the 2024 Business Book Awards. Pick up a copy here.

Control your ego, control your spending

We came across this idea in Morgan Housel’s book The Psychology of Money and particularly liked the concept.

Outside the absolute essentials and everyday basics, Morgan writes that much of our spending is a reflection of our ego. The clothes we wear, the restaurants we frequent, the cars we drive, the houses we buy and the places we travel are all ways to project a certain image into the world, often to show that we have (or had) money.

So getting on top of our money doesn’t start in our bank account. It starts in our head. As Morgan writes:

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Recent winner of the Best Personal Finance & Investing Book at the 2024 Australian Business Book Awards

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