Our Monthly Portfolio Update - September 2026

Alec Renehan (0:00)

I mean, America, you are caught. The worst thing that happened was that they legalized sports gambling in 2018 They just do everything on steroids.

Bryce Leske (0:09)

I love the healthcare space. I think these guys have such a strong moat.

Alec Renehan (0:12)

You buy more?

Bryce Leske (0:13)

Yeah.

Alec Renehan (0:14)

I think there's better growth opportunities out there. I just don't have the conviction. So I sold. Move on. Another reason why Alphabet is just dominant. Waymo, YouTube, Cert, Cloud, the only vertically integrated AI play.

Bryce Leske (0:32)

Welcome to another episode of Equity Mates, a show where we explore what's possible in the world of investing. If you have just joined us for the very first time, a huge welcome to our community.

Alec Renehan (0:41)

My name is Bryce and I'm Ren and today we are doing our monthly portfolio update. We're going to cover how our portfolios have gone and then some of the key things we've been learning about or researching this month. But Bryce, before we get into that, you've brought the hat back.

Bryce Leske (0:55)

I've brought the hat back. I have, Ren.

Alec Renehan (0:57)

Long time watchers or watchers of Equity Mates would know that you used to wear a hat quite a lot.

Bryce Leske (1:02)

I used to wear our hat that has our disclaimer on the front, not financial advice.

Alec Renehan (1:06)

Yes. But you've got a different hat on today.

Bryce Leske (1:08)

I do. I would safely say this is the best merch line that we have ever done. And the good news is it's going to be available at FinFest. I know FinFest is sold out.

Alec Renehan (1:19)

Yeah, that's the bad news.

Bryce Leske (1:20)

But if you are at FinFest, you will have the opportunity to not only get your hands on the current hat that I'm wearing, which is Long Term Capital Club, with a beautiful Equity Mates on the side, very subtle. But there's going to be another hat design and some tees as well.

Alec Renehan (1:35)

Yeah, yeah. So if you haven't got a ticket and you want one, there is a wait list. Head to equitymates.com/finfest. If you do have a ticket, we can't wait to see you there.

But Bryce, let's get into it because whilst we've been preparing for FinFest, a lot has been happening in markets.

SPEAKER_6 (1:51)

An artificial intelligence agent has infiltrated an Australian government website. The AI agent accessed both public and non-public files.

SPEAKER_4 (2:02)

Dario Amade, Sam Altman, and even Elon Musk all have embraced this idea of slowing the pace of developing the most advanced artificial intelligence models.

SPEAKER_7 (2:12)

Micron and Intel down bad, nearly 7 percent. We're looking at chip makers deep in the negative territory as we heard a drumbeat of AI safety warnings.

SPEAKER_8 (2:20)

Anthropic, the company steamrolling ahead with huge AI spending plans going into its blockbuster IPO.

SPEAKER_9 (2:26)

Anthropic is set to devote a substantial portion of its IPO perspectives to warnings of AI's existential risk.

SPEAKER_6 (2:33)

Existential risk.

SPEAKER_8 (2:34)

Existential risk to humanity. Is that a sales pitch or a warning?

SPEAKER_10 (2:38)

Global bond markets, 10-year yields, now breaching 5 percent for the first time since 2023 Isabel, we should note it is a global sell-off.

SPEAKER_11 (2:45)

The Federal Reserve has just raised interest rates by a quarter point in the face of rising inflation.

SPEAKER_3 (2:52)

They pointed to geo-political developments which would obviously refer to the US war with Iran. Brent crude oil hit a hundred dollars a barrel earlier today.

SPEAKER_12 (3:01)

The Strait of Hormuz crisis has by far been the largest energy disruption we've seen.

SPEAKER_5 (3:06)

The Reserve Bank has delivered its fourth rate hike this year, taking the official cash rate to a 15-year high.

SPEAKER_13 (3:14)

The board will increase interest rates again if that's what's needed to get inflation down.

Bryce Leske (3:19)

Well, always plenty going on in the world of business and finance, moving markets, a lot of noise. So how did the markets actually perform after all of that? Well, the ASX 200 was down 4% for the month, S&P 500 flat, down 0.02%. The FTSE 100 over in London down 1.5% and the StockX 600 down 2%.

The Hang Seng down 4%, the CSI 300 down 6%. The Nikkei 225 down 1.3%. Bitcoin though up 7.6%, Gold was down 5.8%.

Alec Renehan (3:53)

Yeah, I mean pretty tough month for all rounds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's get into how our portfolios have gone. And when we do it, every month we do it thanks to Sharesight.

Sharesight is a platform where Bryce and I track our portfolios. We can see how everything, all of our different assets are going in one place. We can also get easy tax reporting, which is great. Head to sharesight.com/equitymates if you want to try it for yourself.