We're back: AI selloff reverses, US earnings, Aussie property & more

**Bryce Leske** (0:00)
While I was away, scanning headlines, the story for Australia was really house prices. Falling in Sydney and Melbourne particularly is increasing.
Auction rates were falling. No one was showing up to auctions.

**Alec Renehan** (0:12)
The market is softening, but prices are still wildly out of step with incomes. If we actually want housing affordability to be a thing, we should expect further fall.

**Bryce Leske** (0:23)
Absolutely.
Welcome to another episode of Equity Mates Podcast, where we explore what's possible in the world of investing. If you've just joined us for the very first time, a huge welcome to our community. My name is Bryce.

**Alec Renehan** (0:37)
I'm Ren and today we have a massive episode for you. We are back after five weeks. More specifically, Bryce is back after a five-week holiday.

**Bryce Leske** (0:47)
Yes.

**Alec Renehan** (0:48)
For people watching on video, they can certainly see a tanned and refreshed Bryce.

**Bryce Leske** (0:54)
There is a bit of a difference between the two of us, but...

**Alec Renehan** (0:58)
But look, what a five weeks it has been.
We did our Decade Ahead series. We covered 10 themes for the next 10 years. But whilst we were releasing those episodes, hapes was happening in markets. You picked a good time to go away.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:10)
You can't take a holiday. No, you won't.

**Alec Renehan** (1:12)
Well, you certainly can take a holiday.
So this episode, we're going to just unpack everything that's happened over the past five weeks and help you make sense of it. Because from AI to earning season to the broader macro picture, we're going to cover it all and then close it out by coming back to Australia and talking about what it means for us here down under. But this is truly going to be, I guess, a global look at the investing picture because there's plenty happening all around the world. Before we get into it though, Bryce, give us a Cliffs Notes of your holiday. Cliffs Notes.

**Bryce Leske** (1:45)
It was a fantastic holiday. Spent five weeks in Europe. Very fortunate to be able to do that.
London was good. Caught up with family in London. Had some time in Ireland. Hidaka. Went through the Wicklow Mountains. If anyone hasn't been there, highly recommend. Then Italy, we were in Piedmont for a little bit and enjoying the Barolo Red Wine. Very famous. Then a couple of weeks in Greece, we did Milos and Siphanos, two small islands, just island hopping and enjoying the local cuisine.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:17)
It was good. It was very good. Sounds good.

**Bryce Leske** (2:19)
But I'm back. I'm refreshed. I kept an eye on what was going on.
It was a bit hard not to with some of the headlines that were coming through, but I didn't touch my portfolio, I didn't open my stocks. So yeah, looking forward to unpacking everything.

**Alec Renehan** (2:34)
Are you going to ask me what I've been doing for the last five weeks?

**SPEAKER_3** (2:36)
I know what you've been doing.

**Bryce Leske** (2:38)
What have you been doing?

**Alec Renehan** (2:39)
Well, I'm glad you asked. So it's been a busy five weeks here at Equity Mates, a lot happening.
We should shout out some of the shows that continue to be produced.
Get Started Investing continues to go from strength to strength. Second episode launched, How I Got Started. So if you want to hear how everyday people in the Equity Mates Get Started Investing community are investing, head over to that YouTube channel or podcast feed. There's now two episodes a week hosted by Jess. But Bryce, the other exciting news is that FinFest continues to be planned away in the background. More than 70 percent of tickets are sold. So if you haven't got your ticket yet, make sure you do.

**Bryce Leske** (3:17)
What is FinFest?

**Alec Renehan** (3:18)
FinFest is Australia's biggest investing festival. More than 2,000 people down at Carriageworks in Sydney on Saturday, 24th of October. Five stages, food trucks, bars. It's going to be the interesting information of an investing conference with the vibe of a food and wine festival at a time and at a ticket price that everyone can attend.
No longer held at 11 o'clock on a Tuesday, like so many investing conferences are. Now, the big exciting news is we are close to being able to announce our lineup. And there's some big guests, yes, which I'm just going to tease for now because we can't quite announce it yet. But if you haven't got a ticket, you're going to want to get one because you're not going to want to miss it.

**Bryce Leske** (4:01)