Two-speed US consumer: luxury vs discount

The Vatican is launching its own equity indexes (and the top holdings might not be what you expect). In the second installment of the Equity Mates Community Portfolio Scott pitches Playside Studios. Bryce and Ren also unpack the biggest earnings season themes, from AI CapEx to tariffs, before finishing with a practical breakdown of currency risk and hedging for ETF investors.

In this episode:

0:00 Disclaimer + intro

0:52 The Vatican Bank launches Catholic equity indexes

4:28 US earnings season: equal-weight beating Big Tech

5:56 AI CapEx explodes + tariffs squeeze margins

8:17 Australia reporting season: CSL shock, CBA surge, Macquarie threat

10:29 Community Stock Pitch: Playside Studios

17:59 Currency risk explained: why hedging matters

26:57 Hedged vs unhedged ETF returns + the fee trade-off

Stocks & ETFs mentioned: Meta (NASDAQ:META), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Ford (NYSE:F), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), Newell Brands (NASDAQ:NWL), Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG), Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL), LVMH (EPA:MC), Dollar General (NYSE:DG), Target (NYSE:TGT), Walmart (NYSE:WMT), Kroger (NYSE:KR), CSL (ASX:CSL), Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA), Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG), Xero (ASX:XRO), Playside Studios (ASX:PLY), iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (ASX:IVV), iShares S&P 500 AUD Hedged ETF (ASX:IHVV), Betashares NASDAQ 100 ETF (ASX:NDQ), Betashares NASDAQ 100 Currency Hedged ETF (ASX:HNDQ)

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