It’s Wednesday, the 3rd of September. 185,000 permanent visas will be made available to migrants in this financial year - a figure that’s unchanged from last year - with the government forced to clarify the number yesterday, as it deals with rising voter unease over immigration. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed the Labor caucus, where he warned against demonising everyone who took part in anti-immigration protests over the weekend, saying some had legitimate concerns, and "not everyone there was associated with the neo-Nazis.”

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News in brief

Consumer confidence is picking up, with the ANZ-Roy Morgan index jumping two points to 88. That’s nearly five points stronger than the same time last year, with Australians reporting they're feeling more positive about buying big-ticket items.

Australia’s wine industry has lost hundreds of growers since China’s tariffs devastated exports. Wine Australia says grower numbers fell 13% between 2018 and 2024, though vineyard area remained stable due to consolidation.

Two-thirds of Australians say they’d prioritise work-life balance over higher pay, but rising living costs are forcing Australians to rethink the trade-off between money and lifestyle, according to SEEK. Only a third of workers say they feel financially secure.

Global food giant Nestlé has sacked its chief executive after he failed to disclose a romantic relationship with a subordinate, in a clear breach of the company’s code of conduct. Laurent Freixe spent four decades at Nestlé, but only stepped into the top job last year.

Serena Williams has become the latest celebrity to promote weight-loss drugs, sparking fresh debate over diet culture. A website campaign with an image of Williams posing with an injection vial has drawn accusations that the rise of GLP-1 drugs, marketed by athletes and influencers, risks normalising medication as a quick fix.

Fear-o-meter

Andrew Mitchell, founder of Ophir Asset Management, writes about a lesser-known metric that puts one Aussie company ahead of the rest:

What if I told you there was one Aussie company that on one key metric eclipses almost all companies in the world including Nvidia?!? Drum roll....

When NVIDIA smashed through the $4tn barrier, it did so with just 36,000 employees. That’s about the population of Orange, NSW, running a business worth more than double the value of the Australian stock market.

That gives NVIDIA one of the highest market cap per employee ratios in the world, nearly 5x more than Meta, its closest Magnificent 7 peer.

But here’s the kicker.

On this measure, NVIDIA doesn’t even hold the crown.

The winner? Pro Medicus.

With fewer staff than were on my flight home yesterday, each employee is worth a staggering US$156m.

Why does this matter?

Market cap per employee is often used as a proxy for scalability, efficiency, and investor enthusiasm.

While some Aussie tech names can hold their own against the Mag-7, Pro Medicus is in a league of its own.

Business By Numbers

The top 3 numbers to know for the week, brought to you by Xero

$US3,500: yet another milestone passed by the gold price yesterday.

185,000: the number of permanent visas being made available by the federal government in 2025-26

$US415 billion: Elon Musk's net worth, which has risen by almost $15 billion in a month.

Fear & Greed Q+A today

On gold passing $US3,500 an ounce and hitting a new record, as investors flock to the precious metal as a safe haven. We ask the question: why, in 2025, is gold still seen as the ultimate safe haven asset?

"Where else would they go? So historically they would have gone to the US bond market, right? So the completely risk-free rate as written in textbooks is the US 10-year treasury. And that is now being undermined completely by the US President. I mean, that is very clear that his policies, his unconventional style, his attack on institutions that govern where US treasuries go, has probably therefore meant, if I can't get risk-free rate in the U.S. 10-year, where else am going to go?

 

Crypto? Well, that's not risk-free in any shape or form, even though some will argue that's a new hedge for inflation. That's clearly not the case. Equities are not that either. U.S. property is not the answer. We've seen that with [the] subprime mortgage [crisis] and that sort of history is still in most people's minds. Gold is still it. I mean, gold has been it not just for 2025, but it's been there for millennia."

Greed-o-meter

Elon Musk has had a good month - his net worth has increased significantly in the last month, according to Forbes. He's the richest person in the world by a huge margin, with $144.7 billion between him and the second richest person, Oracle founder Larry Ellison.

Source: Forbes

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