Breaking News Today – Friday 12 December 2025

EV Sales in US Hit by Subsidy Hang-over

Tesla’s US sales fell sharply in November to 39,800 vehicles, a 23% decline from 51,513 units in November 2024. This is the lowest monthly figure since January 2022 and a near four-year low. This drop occurred despite the mid-year launch of cheaper “Standard” variants of the Model 3 and Model Y, which were intended to offset the end of federal EV tax credits that came into effect the end of September, but failed to drive demand as expected.

Overall US EV sales have plummeted over 41% year-over-year (Total US vehicle sales are down 4.8%) to around 70,000 units, boosting Tesla’s market share to 56.7% from 43.1% amid broader industry weakness. Ford’s EV sales are down a massive 61% year-on -year, with others such as Hyundai down around 25%. Analysts attribute the slump to a post-incentive “hangover,” with Tesla’s Model 3 sales down 42% year-over-year and Model Y flat. Hybrid sales and combustion engine sales are seeing sales improve

OpenAI Launches New GPT-5.2

OpenAI launched its latest frontier model, GPT-5.2, yesterday, with growing competition from Google’s Gemini AI. GPT-5.2 is OpenAI’s most capable AI series yet, optimized for professional knowledge work like spreadsheets, presentations, coding, image analysis, and multi-step projects. It builds on GPT-5 with 30% fewer hallucinations, near-perfect long-context reasoning (up to 256k tokens), and halved errors in vision tasks like chart interpretation, pitching it as its most advanced model yet and one designed for developers and everyday professional use. 

“We designed 5.2 to unlock even more economic value for people,” Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s chief product officer, said during a briefing with journalists. Simo further denied that the release was rushed and insisted that GPT-5.2 is also safer than predecessors.  Variants include Instant (fast tasks), Thinking (complex reasoning), and Pro (high accuracy). Rolling out in ChatGPT for paid users (Plus/Pro/Business/Enterprise) and via API ($1.75/M input tokens, $14/M output). This release counters rivals like Google’s Gemini 3, emphasizing efficiency for pros saving 40-60 minutes daily.

Employment Data In SA Indicates Fragile Economy

Statistics SA released the latest unemployment numbers for the country yesterday and it was a mixed bag of data. The upside was that total employment increased by 29 000 or 0,3% quarter-on-quarter, from 10 520 000 in June 2025 to 10 549 000 in September 2025. The increases were however mostly driven by part-time employment and concentrated in the community services sector that saw an increase of 39 000 or 1,4%. The trade and mining sectors also saw an uptick in part-time jobs, with a 0,3% improvement in the trade sector and a 1,1% growth in the mining sector.

However, there were decreases reported in business services – down by -0,5%, manufacturing decreased by -0,4%, and construction sector by -0,7%. Total employment decreased by 79 000 jobs or -0,7% year-on-year between September 2024 and September 2025. Full-time employment decreased by 21 000 or -0,2% quarter-on-quarter. Full-time employment decreased by 72 000 or -0,8% year-on-year between September 2024 and September 2025

Breaking News Shorts: 

• Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter has petitioned the US Patent Office for the use the original Twitter brand again with a planned new Twitter, this after Elon Musk who bought Twitter has rebranded the social media platform to X. However this seems unlikely to happen as X would still own the Twitter brand. Musk purchased Twitter (now known as X) for $44 billion on October 27, 2022.
• Robotics company 1X found buyers for 10 000 of its humanoid consumer robots within the portfolio companies of one of its investors. 1X announced a strategic partnership to produce thousands of robots, over the next four years, for EQT’s portfolio companies on Thursday. EQT is a large Swedish multi-asset investor, and its venture fund EQT Ventures, is one of 1X’s backers.
• Reddit has filed a lawsuit in Australia’s highest court this morning, seeking to overturn the country’s social media ban for children under 16, calling it an intrusion on free political discourse and setting the stage for a protracted legal battle. Reddit claims that the ban should be declared invalid as it interfered with free political communication implied by the country’s constitution.
• The US recorded a trade deficit of $52.8 billion in September 2025, the lowest since June 2020, compared to a $59.3 billion gap in August and forecasts of $63.3 billion. Exports jumped 3% to $289.3 billion, the second-highest level on record, led by non-monetary gold, pharmaceutical preparations and financial services

Markets by Numbers 

Currency markets indicate the US dollar losing further ground today, with the Euro trading against the US dollar at 1.17340 while the Pound is trading at 1.33905 to the US dollar. The Yen is currently trading at 155.76 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR) has gained against the weaker dollar and is currently at R16.85.

Commodities:  

• Gold futures are marginally lower this morning, after a surge earlier yesterday and this morning, and are currently trading around $4273.51 per ounce.  
• Copper prices have dropped by around -0.14% today, with prices currently around $5.4056
• Silver futures prices are up by over 0.3% this morning, and currently trading around $63.635
• Platinum futures have lifted close to its all time high this morning, and currently trading at $1713.20, While Palladium prices are up by over 0.8% this morning, and currently trading around $1511.00 per ounce.
• Brent crude oil prices are trending higher today, and currently at $61.78 with WTI trading at $58.13
• Cocoa futures have gained further traction today – up by over 1%, and currently trading around $6235.00 per ton. 
• Coffee futures have gained over 1.6% this morning, and are currently trading at around $4.0745 per pound

Crypto Currencies: 

• Bitcoin prices are trending marginally lower today, and trading at around $92263 per coin currently 
• Ether prices are fairly flat this morning, and are currently trading around $3238.71
• $Trumpcoin are trending lower today, and currently trading around $5.672

(All prices quoted at approximately 07H30 Central African Time) 

Africa News Briefs:

• The DRC conflict, that was supposed to have ended after a peace agreement signed last week, is continuing with devastating results. Thousands of new Congolese refugees are arriving in Neighbouring Burundi to escape the conflict fighting between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and their allies in South Kivu.New reception sites have been set up to manage the influx, including the Kansega transit site in Ndava zone, in Bujumbura province near the border with the DRC. Living conditions there are reported to be dire with no water, toilets or shelters available and masses of refugees with no possessions or food.
• The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is set to abolish air transport taxes from 1 January 2026, in a bid to reduce the cost of air travel across the region.In a statement released yesterday, ECOWAS also said aviation charges related to passengers and security would decrease by 25% starting next year. These measures, follow a decision made by the Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS during their summit in Abuja in December 2024.