Today’s News

The Big Picture

• Wall Street’s spy mission to Hormuz reveals shipping shock. Wall Street firm Citrini Research sent an undercover analyst into the Strait of Hormuz to report on shipping activity. The analyst, dubbed Analyst #3, observed ships and spoke with locals and discovered the Strait is far more open than popularly believed, with many ships switching off beacons or clearly making deals with Iran. (AFR)
  
  

• Chinese AI firm allegedly enabling Iranian strikes. US military intelligence determined an AI tool by Chinese firm MizarVision could be helping guide Iranian strikes on US defence forces. Iran has no satellite imaging capabilities but has been accurately striking mobile US targets, leading US intelligence to believe they are effectively outsourcing targeting imagery to the Chinese firm. The Chinese government, which partially owns MizarVision, adamantly denies this. (ABC)
  
  

• Aussie miners seek American assimilation. As the Trump administration looks to lockdown its supply of critical minerals, US government financing is flowing into US-listed mining firms. Australian mining firms are looking to get in on the action, with a cohort of firms actively looking to list in the US and one adviser saying they should add American directors to better assimilate. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• Regulator warns banks to tighten up on mortgages. The ACCC has told banks to improve their due diligence on mortgage applications as the industry unravels billions of dollars’ worth of fraudulent mortgages. Lenders responded, requesting better access to borrowers’ financial information through the ATO, a move that would improve transparency but is currently illegal under tax law. (AFR)

Companies in the news

• SpaceX to heavily target retail investors in IPO. The space giant will reportedly set aside up to 30% of its shares for retail investors, dwarfing the typical 5-10%. CEO Elon Musk’s expansive following plays a part in this decision, with SpaceX outright saying fans “have been incredibly supportive of us and of Elon for a long time, and we want to make sure that we recognise that.” (AFR)
  
  

• Nvidia doubles Firmus investment as valuation nears $7 billion. Firmus has raised over $1 billion in its pre-IPO round, highlighted by Nvidia reportedly doubling its investment in the Australian data centre firm. Firmus plans to IPO in June or July and aims to develop over $73 billion worth of data centres. (AFR)
  
  

• JPMorgan launches $80 billion American Dream Initiative. The US bank will lend $80 billion to 10 million small businesses over 10 years in an effort to reignite the “American Dream”, which CEO Jamie Dimon says is slipping out of reach for many Americans. The initiative targets six focus areas, including housing access and affordability, healthcare, and financial health and wealth creation. (JPMorgan)
  
  

• NextDC looks long term with $1 billion century bond. The data centre builder will fund AI investments with proceeds from the ambitious $1 billion issuance of 100-year bonds, which echoes Google’s 100-year bond issuance in February. The bond are backed by Canadian pension fund La Caisse and will pay huge interest rates, opening at 7.5% then jumping to 9.2% in five years. For reference, Australian government 10-year bonds yield a bit over 5% annually. (AFR)
  
  

• Uber enters high-stakes High Court battle. The ridesharing company is fighting an $82 million payroll tax assessment by NSW, claiming it acts as a “payment collection agent” rather than an employer. If the High Court rules against Uber, other states are expected to seek similar assessments against Uber. (Capital Brief)
  
  

• NextDC, Aussie gas and miners lead stock surge. Woodside (up 1.5%), Santos (up 0.6%), and Karoon Energy (up 2.6%) were among the gas stocks moving up as Trump’s deadline looms this morning. BHP (up 2.4%) led the miners’ rally, but NextDC (up 12.7%) was the biggest winner on the news of its century bond (see story above). (AFR)

What the…?

Mountain of fraud discovered among Everest sherpas. Nepalese people are famously kind souls, but a small clique of sherpas are breaking bad with some innovative insurance fraud. The guides are being investigated for secretly drugging foreign climbers to invoke altitude sickness-like symptoms, “forcing” the guides to call helicopters to rescue the climbers.

The climbers were forced to purchase rescue insurance before the expedition. When they were rescued, the insurance companies paid the helicopter company, who then paid the guides, making it all an elaborate insurance fraud scheme. (X)

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Today’s Insight

What people get wrong about superannuation

On a recent episode we asked financial adviser Alex Thompson from Viola Private Wealth about superannuation and why it’s so misunderstood.

What’s one thing people misunderstand about super?

Alex: That superannuation is a real genuine portfolio of investments that belongs to them.

Many Australians think of super as some abstract government scheme or a distant pot of money they’ll worry about later, rather than a real portfolio of investments that genuinely belongs to them. Because of that a large number of Australians are disengaged from their super, which is a real shame, because there are some excellent tax savings & strategies available and more often than not, the more people become engaged with it, the better the outcomes tend to be.

I find that most people believe super is just something that they will look at when they get close to retirement because they can’t access it for a long time and unfortunately, when people finally do engage at that point, it’s often too late to maximise their wealth in the most tax‑effective way.

While it can seem boring, it does two things exceptionally well; it creates good, enforced savings and it allows wealth to compound in a highly efficient tax environment all whilst simultaneously reducing reliance on the public purse to fund retirement! 

Are you planning your investing journey to match your stage of life? Fill out the form on our website and we’ll match you with one of our hand-picked advisers to help you get started.

Today in Equity Mates