Interest Rates, JDM Cars and Birkenstocks

Australian News

• RBA kept rates at 4.1% for the 4th month in a row.

• The Australian dollar hit its lowest in 11 months as the Australian share market erased all the gains it made this year.

• House prices in Byron Bay have slumped 11%, slicing $250,000 from the median since the start of 2023.

• 1 in 2 trade apprentices drop out of their course due to low wages, poor work conditions, and bullying.

• Another 550K Australians will roll off fixed mortgages onto higher variable rates in the coming months.

• New housing approval numbers for August grew 7% vs July’s 7.4% decline, as building costs stabilise.

• Multi-storey warehouse construction is expected to boom in Sydney’s industrial market over next 5 years.

• A study of more than 550,000 wealthy Australian traders shows women outperformed men in high-conviction strategies by 7.5% last financial year.

Global News

• Asia faces one its worst growth outlooks in 50 years according to The World Bank.

• India’s elderly population will double and overtake the number of children in their country by 2050.

• US student loan repayments resumed this week after a 3-year pandemic hiatus.

• India orders Canada to withdraw dozens of diplomatic staff.

• Japan pauses its lucrative used-car trade with Russia.

Company News

• Apple now requires new apps to show proof of a Chinese government licence before launching on the Chinese App Store.

• German sandal maker Birkenstock to IPO at up to $14.2B.

• Visa launches $100M venture fund for generative AI startups.

• Computershare, the provider of share registry and employee share plan services, is selling its troublesome mortgage services business in the US for $1.13B.

• Deloitte, KPMG and EY say they already have superior governance structures in place and do not need to emulate the sweeping reforms hitting PwC.

• Nvidia’s share price rose after it was added to Goldman Sach’s Conviction List based on its long-term AI potential.

• Tesla deliveries slid in Q3 as factory closures slowed production.

Other Picks

• Kariko and Weissman, pioneers of the Covid-19 vaccine, win Nobel prize.

• Australian Open adds an extra day to minimise late finishes.

This Week’s All Star Picks

• There is an egg shortage in AU due to bird flu, floods and fires as Aussies consume 18M eggs/day.

• Farmland investment returns are at their lowest levels in years due to slowing capital growth and weaker commodity prices.

• NSW is likely to run out of landfill entirely within 10 years as councils plead for more state funding.

• Construction sector administrations jumped 38% in the year to September 10, a 255% spike from 2021.

• France is trying to fix a bedbug scourge before the Olympics with reports of bugs in trains, cinemas and airports.

• Apple identifies issues causing overheating in the iPhone 15 including a bug in the iOS 17 software.

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