What’s your take on EOFY sales? Is it a ‘better time to buy’ (in terms of saving money) a big-ticket item you’ve had your eye on for a while than Black Friday and Cyber Monday, or is it wiser to hold out until then? Where does Boxing Day fit in these days?

I’m fascinated in the psychology of sales - with so many major shopping events now spread through the year, it’s understandable for consumers to feel overwhelmed and have a bit of sale fatigue. Keen to hear your thoughts - just reply to this email.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has kept the cash rate on hold at 4.35%.

The decision comes as easing tensions between the US and Iran have helped push oil prices lower, reducing concerns that higher energy costs could add to inflationary pressures.

In its announcement on Tuesday, the RBA said that the inflation rate was “still too high”.

The cash rate is the interest rate the RBA charges banks for short-term loans.

We usually refer to changes in the cash rate as the RBA changing interest rates, because the cash rate affects interest rates across the economy, including home loans.

That means higher rates make it more expensive to borrow, increasing mortgage repayments for households.

All members of the RBA Board voted unanimously to keep the rate on hold.

In announcing the hold, the RBA said "inflation is still too high" and that the Board had "judged that it was appropriate to leave the cash rate target unchanged while it assesses the response to previous interest rate rises and the impact of the oil supply disruption."

The central bank had held the cash rate steady at 3.6% for four meetings in a row before lifting rates three times this year.

All four of Australia's major banks – NAB, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and Westpac – as well as HSBC, had predicted the RBA would keep rates on hold.

Economists pointed to weak business and consumer confidence – a measure of how willing people are to spend and invest – as a sign the RBA may pause further increases.

Westpac expects the RBA to resume raising rates at its August and September meetings.

One of the RBA's key responsibilities is keeping inflation (the rate at which prices are rising) within its target range of 2-3%.

The latest Consumer Price Index, which measures changes in the price of a basket of goods and services, showed inflation was 4.2% in the year to April, down from 4.6% in February.

The RBA is trying to bring inflation back to target without tipping the economy into a recession.

If interest rates remain too high for too long, borrowing becomes more expensive and households and businesses may cut spending, slowing economic growth.

The central bank remains under pressure to contain inflation, although easing tensions in the Middle East and lower oil prices are expected to reduce some inflationary pressures.

Reporting by Adella Beaini and Lachlan Keller.

Shares and tax: what you need to know

Making money from shares? You’ll need to think about taxes that may apply. Profits from selling shares are subject to Capital Gains Tax (CGT), while dividends are added to your assessable income. If you hold shares for over 12 months you may be eligible for a CGT discount or might be able to use franking credits to reduce what you owe.

^{Transparency: This is a sponsored section of the newsletter. It’s the best way we can keep this newsletter free for you.  Information is general in nature. Investing carries risk. To find out more, you can visit commsec.com.au .}

Anthropic disabled two of its powerful AI models over the weekend after the U.S. government ordered the company to block access to foreign nationals.

Access to the models Fable 5 and Mythos 5 was blocked due to national security concerns, including for Anthropic employees based outside the U.S., the company said in a blog post.

Here’s what to know.

Anthropic is one of the biggest AI companies in the world, best known for developing Claude, an AI chatbot and family of large language models. Fable 5 and Mythos 5 are variants of the base Claude 5 system.

Anthropic received an export control directive from the U.S. government to block access to the two models on Friday afternoon eastern U.S. time.

These orders allow the U.S. government to restrict the export of goods, services or technology for national security reasons.

In the AI industry, these orders have typically been used to control the sharing of semiconductor technology with other nations, such as China, which the U.S. sees as a competitor in the AI field.

Friday’s announcement marks one of the first times they have been applied to the technology itself in the U.S.

While the order only applied to foreign nationals – people or organisations that are not American – Anthropic said it could not target individual users. Instead, it blocked access to the models entirely to comply with the directive.

Access to Anthropic’s other models, including other Claude models, will not be affected.

The order was light on details, but Anthropic believes the U.S. government is concerned about the possibility of bypassing the model’s safeguards, known as “jailbreaking”.

These safeguards prevent the model from being misused for cyber attacks or identifying vulnerabilities in computer systems, including potentially against the U.S. government.

Different AI systems are often referred to as models. Each has different strengths, weaknesses and capabilities.

OpenAI's ChatGPT is the most famous model, but Anthropic's Claude is another well-known one. Fable 5 and Mythos 5 are two different versions of Claude 5.

There are several Claude models available depending on price and functionality. Fable 5 and Mythos 5 are the same underlying model, but with different safeguards applied.

Fable 5 is the version made available for general use, with safety classifiers that filter certain sensitive topics. Mythos 5 has some of those safeguards lifted and is restricted to a smaller group of approved users.

The release of these models earlier this year was controversial.

Anthropic has warned that the Mythos-class of models in particular is extremely good at finding weaknesses in computer systems and could be dangerous if used by the wrong people.

It was recently made available to a small group of users in Australia, alongside mainly U.S.-based companies.

For now, Australians are locked out of using the models, along with most users around the world.

Anthropic has not said how difficult it would be to allow only U.S. nationals to use the models, so all users may remain locked out until the situation with the U.S. government is resolved.

While Anthropic acknowledges the models can be dangerous, it says the guardrails in place are sufficient to stop bad actors.

The company says the U.S. government has only provided verbal evidence of what it describes as a limited jailbreak vulnerability.

"We disagree that the finding of a narrow potential jailbreak should be cause for recalling a commercial model deployed to hundreds of millions of people," the company said.

The company said the order was based on a misunderstanding and that it was working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Anthropic also clashed with the U.S military earlier this year over plans to use its AI models for domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons systems.

Last week, the company called for a global pause on AI development over concerns that, as AI models begin training themselves, they may develop at a pace beyond human control.

Anthropic said it would only pause if other frontier labs agreed to do the same under verifiable conditions.

The company recently confidentially filed for an initial public offering as it races alongside fellow AI giant OpenAI to reach the public market.

Reporting by Lachlan Keller.

“Set and forget” doesn’t mean never checking in

ETFs are often used for long-term investing – but it’s still worth reviewing your portfolio occasionally.

Your goals might change, markets move, and some investments may grow faster than others. That’s where rebalancing comes in.

The key is staying disciplined: learn from performance, but avoid making emotional decisions during market ups and downs. Over time, ETFs can become the building blocks of a portfolio that grows with you.

^{Information is general in nature. Investing carries risk. Consider the offer and Pocket T&Cs, and other fees and charges at commsec.com.au before deciding.}

Footballroos just doesn't have the same ring to it.

But the Socceroos aren't just playing for World Cup glory. There's also a pretty big payday on the line.

Each member of Australia's 26-player squad is set to earn about $245,000 just for making the tournament.

That figure climbs with every knockout round. Reach the round of 16 and it's about $407,000 each. Make the semi-finals and it jumps above $730,000.

And if the Socceroos somehow lifted the trophy? Every player would pocket roughly $1.36 million.

Reporting by Lachlan Keller.