Monday, 7 April - London calling

Good morning, it’s Monday, 7 April. In your Squiz Today…

• US tariffs have caused chaos in global stock markets

• Israel’s military says it targeted a convoy of aid workers by mistake

• And a new Gen Z trend is bonkers, innit… 🇬🇧

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Is how Melbourne designer Perri Cutten has been remembered by the director of her eponymous brand. Cutten, who has died at the age of 73yo, made a name for herself with her “classic and contemporary” designs over more than 4 decades. She’s left quite the legacy, and fans can still find her designs in department stores and her namesake boutiques…

Tariffs cause market mayhem

The Squiz

The Trump administration's 10% baseline tariff on goods imported from every country in the world has kicked in over the weekend, and so have the reactions to it... Most notably, it’s sent international markets into chaos, with the stock markets recording their worst week since the pandemic in 2020. As for the expected impacts on the US economy, President Donald Trump has told Americans to “hang tough” and that the market turmoil is “an economic revolution” that the US will come out on top of, but many economists aren’t so sure…

What are their concerns?

The big one is that global brokerages, which deal with stock markets day in, day out, have raised the odds of the US heading into a recession off the back of Trump’s tariffs. FYI - a recession is a significant decline in economic activity. If that happens, it could prompt a global recession similar to what played out during the Global Financial Crisis. To give you an idea of how serious the recession risk is, some of Trump’s Republican colleagues are speaking out… On Friday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz said if other countries retaliate against the tariffs, it could start a full-blown trade war that would “do real damage to the US economy”. China - hit the hardest by Trump’s plan - has already announced significant retaliatory tariffs, so there’s that…

And what does it mean for us?

The US stock market wasn’t alone in feeling the pain last week - the Australian Securities Exchange (the ASX) had its worst week since 2022. That’s tipped to continue when trading begins this morning, with local stocks likely to fall further. As for what the tariffs mean for our exports to the US, we were slapped with the 10% rate while others in our region, like China, were hit with 34% tariffs and more. Economists say that means the direct impacts of the tariffs on our major exports will be minimal - but we’re at risk of indirect impacts if China and our other trading partners suffer. Some Aussie producers are looking on the bright side - almond growers reckon there might be more demand for our nuts over those from the US…

Networking with the best in the biz

HubSpot’s GROW event in June is one for business leaders. Across 15 sessions, you'll network with other leaders and hear from an incredible line-up of speakers on what’s moving the needle in business growth today… Big names like Tourism Australia's CMO Susan Coghill, HubSpot's Chief Yamini Rangan, and author Mark Pesce. Not to mention the headliner - Joe Brumm, the creator of Bluey... You'll leave armed with new knowledge about measuring marketing impact, strategies, and insights from organisations using HubSpot's customer platform to power their growth. Tickets are $375 + GST - you can find out more here.

Squiz the Rest

Israel admits targeting medics by mistake

Israeli forces have admitted they mistakenly targeted and killed a convoy of 15 unarmed medics in Gaza last month. The convoy was made up of Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulances, a United Nations car and a firetruck when Israeli troops opened fire on 23 March near Rafah in Gaza’s south. Israeli soldiers said they fired on the group after it approached in darkness without headlights which they said looked “suspicious” but mobile phone footage showed the vehicles had lights on while they travelled to help people wounded in Israel’s renewed airstrikes. The Red Crescent Society and other humanitarian groups have called for an independent investigation. And as that plays out, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to the US for a meeting with President Trump to discuss Iran, Gaza and - you guessed it - tariffs. 

Walking it back

It’s less than 4 weeks ‘til polling day, and our political leaders are campaigning hard… PM Anthony Albanese spent yesterday at a Labor campaign event in Brisbane, where he talked up his new solar battery subsidy. He says Labor will spend $2.3 billion on reducing the price of solar batteries for households, small businesses and community groups by 30% to encourage more uptake. Analysis from Labor says it could shave about $4,000 off a typical solar battery. As for Coalition leader Peter Dutton, he’s changed his mind about forcing public servants back to the office and he now says he won’t be changing current flexible work arrangements, including work from home policies, and he also won’t be going after 41,000 job cuts. 

A cyber wake-up call

After hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen from Aussie superannuation accounts last week, cybersecurity experts have warned super funds and customers to lift their security game. The personal details of thousands of customers who have super savings with funds including Australian Retirement Trust, AustralianSuper, HostPlus, and Rest were stolen, while at least 4 members lost $500,000 between them. Cybersecurity expert Alastair MacGibbon said the cyber attack looked to be a case of “credential stuffing” where customers' passwords are stolen and sold on the dark web. He’s urged customers to create unique passwords for online accounts, saying “if people use the same passwords for multiple accounts, it only takes one data breach for persistent and savvy criminals to gain unauthorised access to their other accounts.”

*Alastair MacGibbon talks more about the increasing cybersecurity risks we face in Australia in his chat with Kate Watson in the latest Newsmakers series on our News Club podcast. 

A spirited launch

The hype surrounding Open AI’s free new image creation tool hasn’t died down, with images generated in the iconic Studio Ghibli style continuing to flood social media. The new tech, which makes images in the style of the beloved Japanese animation house behind Oscar-winning movies Spirited Away and The Boy and The Heron, was so popular it nearly crashed the company’s servers last week. The ability to recreate images within seconds in the style of Ghibli’s creator Hayao Miyazaki without his permission has raised concerns amongst those concerned about AI’s potential to corrode culture. But it didn’t stop the tech giant’s owner Sam Altman from getting in on the action, not-so-subtly targeting billions of potential customers in India...

British slang gets its cheeky revenge

Americanisms like fries, cookies and awesome have gotten under the skin of Brits for decades - now British slang is having its own moment across the pond. Research from Northern Arizona University and Babbel, a language learning platform, has found that American teens are embracing Britishisms at a rapid rate, and it’s down to the popularity of shows like Love Island and Adolescence. According to the study, “bonkers” is now widely used in the US, “maths” is taking precedence over “math”, and “queue” is being said instead of “line”. Other notable additions to US vocab: nutter, dodgy, kerfuffle, cheeky, banter, bollocks, and flummox. Language expert Ben Yagoda said Americans have adopted some Britishisms over the years, like “brunch” and “snog”, but “the pace has really picked up in the past thirty years or so” - or rather “it’s bonkers quick, innit”…

Apropos of Nothing

A couple of critically endangered Galapagos tortoises at Philadelphia Zoo have become first-time parents at the ripe old age of nearly 100yo. The zoo said it’s “overjoyed” at the 4 hatchlings - the first tortoise babies in 150 years. Mum “Mommy” who arrived at the zoo in 1932 and dad “Abrazzo” are the zoo’s oldest creatures. Never say never…

Sailing around the world was always the dream of Aussie Dan Turner, so he knocked together a sailboat in his driveway and now he’s taking part in the Mini Globe Race around the world. His yacht’s called The Immortal Game, and, in the spirit of Castaway, he’s even painted his own Wilson on board to keep him company. 

Wedgewood fine china is known for adorning the tables of British kings and queens, and now, a collection of its finest has been shipped from London’s V&A Museum to Townsville, thank you very much, where it’ll be on display in an exclusive exhibition until August.

Squiz the Day

8.00am (AEST) - The results of BirdLife Australia’s Aussie Bird Count will be released - nationally

9.30am (AEST) - NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb will face a public hearing into how much authorities knew about the Dural fake antisemitic caravan plot - Sydney

7.30pm (AEST) - Soccer: Women’s friendly match between the Matildas and South Korea - Newcastle, NSW and watch on Paramount+

Golf: Masters Week begins, with 5 Australians participating (until 13 April) - Augusta, US - watch on Kayo 

Term 1 school holidays start in NT (until 14 April), VIC (until 22 April), and QLD (until 22 April)

Hung Vuong Festival celebrated in Vietnam

World Health Day - anniversary of the founding of WHO (1948)  

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Rwanda Genocide 

Birthdays for Francis Ford Coppola (1939), Jackie Chan (1954), and Russell Crowe (1964)



Anniversary of:

• Australian Teddy Flack winning gold in the 1,500m final at the first Olympic Games in Athens (1896)

• the release of the world's first animated cartoon Humorous Phases of Funny Faces by J Stuart Blackton (1906)

• Billie Holliday's birthday (1915)

• the High Court quashing Cardinal George Pell’s child sex abuse convictions (2020)