Wall St. Down Under
Issue #23 | Sunday, 11 October 2026
New Highs, an Unmoved 10-Year, and a Household That Is Not Celebrating | Week Ending 9 October 2026
The S&P 500 finished the week near a record with the 10-year still at 5.24%, after a minutes-day high near 5.36%. Most Fed officials want another hike this year. The Aussie rose about 0.7%, so an unhedged holder kept roughly 0.5%, not the 1.2%.
Portfolio Diversification: The Only Free Lunch in Investing
In September, the Dow fell 4.3%, the Nasdaq rose 1.9%, the equal-weighted S&P 500 fell about 5%, bonds sold off and gold dropped — all in one country. Diversification can reduce risk without automatically reducing expected return. Here is how it works, where it fails, and a four-question audit.
AI Picks and Shovels (Arc 2: Wiring the Mind): Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) — The Home
Every AI chip needs a building, power and neighbours. Equinix owns the building where those neighbours already live. A REIT at about 24 times cash earnings in a 5.2% bond market — connectivity, not concrete. In pension phase the 2% cheque is closer to 1.7% after US tax that cannot be refunded.
Wall St. Down Under
Issue #22 | Sunday, 4 October 2026
The Bond Rout, the Jobs Miss, and a Hike That Didn’t Help the Aussie: What Moved Markets This Week | Week Ending 2 October 2026
US 10-year yields hit their highest since 2002, jobs badly missed, and the RBA hiked to a 15-year high — yet the AUD fell. Here’s what moved markets from New York to the ASX, and why FX mattered more than equities for unhedged Aussie investors.
The Stock Screening Playbook: Finding Quality Companies Before They Become Consensus Picks
Most retail discovery starts after the price has already moved. This five-step screen replaces that habit with a standing filter on returns, cash, and balance-sheet strength — and is honest about the businesses a durability screen will miss.
How to Actually Claim FITO on Your US Withholding
Following our May guide on US dividend double taxation, this piece covers what everyone asks next: where FITO goes in myTax, how the cap is calculated, when the $1,000 shortcut is enough, and the mistakes that leave real money on the table.
AI Picks and Shovels (Arc 2: Wiring the Mind): Micron (NASDAQ: MU) — The Memory
Without memory, advanced AI chips are just expensive calculators. This week’s featured company is one of only three on Earth supplying the memory modern AI needs to think in context, and the shortage is already showing up on Australian retail shelves.
Wall St. Down Under
Issue #21 | Sunday, 27 September 2026
Bonds, Barrels, and Beijing: What Moved Markets This Week | Week Ending 25 September 2026
Treasury yields closed the week at their highest level since 2007 and a new Russia-sanctions law armed a tariff lever just before Trump sat down with Xi. Equities still finished higher. The gap between those two outcomes is the week.
Investing 202: The Perma-Bear Tax — Deconstructing Negative Carry, Index Mechanics, and the AUD Safe-Haven Paradox
Wrong market views cost money, but permanent bears lose even when right—because the instruments built to express sustained pessimism leak. For Aussie investors, currency mechanics already do part of the defensive job without the decay. Permanent pessimism is not a mindset flaw. It’s bad engineering.