Breaking News Today – Monday 4 August 2025

Business & Tech News 

Gold Trades lower today After Friday’s Price Spike:

Gold prices were trending lower this morning, and were down to around $3,350 per ounce, as investors took advantage of the higher prices for profit-taking, after prices rose the most in two months on Friday, driven by safe-haven demand and growing bets on an interest rate cut. President Donald Trump last week unveiled new tariffs rates — ranging from 10% to 41% — on imports from dozens of countries, set to take effect on August 7, reigniting global trade tensions. Adding to economic concerns, US employment growth in July came in weaker than expected, signaling potential cracks in the labor market. This has put a September rate cut by the Federal Reserve back on the table, with markets now assigning an 81% probability for a rate cut next month by the US Federal Reserve.

Morocco Employment Numbers Positive:

The unemployment rate in Morocco dropped to 12.8% in the second quarter of 2025, with a 1,7% improvement from Q2 of 2024. This was also Morocco’s the lowest jobless rate since Q2 of 2023, as the number of unemployed dropped by 38 thousand to a six-quarter low of 1.595 million, while the number of employed increased by 5 thousand to a two-year high of 10.863 million. Meanwhile, the workforce declined by 32 thousand to 12.458 million. The unemployment rate among young people showed a positive movement with a decrease to 35.8% from 36.1%, while it dropped to 19.0% from 19.4% among graduates and declined to 10.8% from 11.7% among men. Among the employed, the construction sector added 74,000 new jobs, wile the services sector created 35,000 new jobs and the industry sector contributed an additional 2,000 jobs.

Anthropic’s AI Tiff with OpenAI Grows

According to a report in Wired, Anthropic has removed OpenAI’s access to its Claude AI models, with the company accusing OpenAI of using its Claude AI internal tools, to compare Claude’s performance to its own models in categories like coding, writing, and safety. An Anthropic spokesperson said, “OpenAI’s own technical staff were also using our coding tools ahead of the launch of GPT-5,” which is apparently “a direct violation of our terms of service.” However, the company also said it would continue to give OpenAI access for “for the purposes of benchmarking and safety evaluations.” In a statement of its own, an OpenAI spokesperson described its usage as “industry standard” and added, “While we respect Anthropic’s decision to cut off our API access, it’s disappointing considering our API remains available to them.”

Business, Tech & Market News Shorts: 

• Apple, according to various reports, is working to build an AI search “answer engine” that can respond to questions using information from across the web. This could be a standalone app or provide search capabilities in Siri, Safari, and other Apple products.
• SAP has announced it has finalised terms for the acquisition of recruiting software company SmartRecruiters. In a press release, the European software giant said that SmartRecruiters “powerful, user-friendly interfaces and seamless workflows” will complement SAP’s existing HR tools.
• South Africa’s Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana has indicated that he does not support the position of the SA reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago on reducing the inflation target to a set 3% inflation target that he alluded to in his Monetary Policy Committee statement last week.
• Trump Targeted US Federal Reserve Bank Chair Jeremy Powell with a social media post on Friday, calling him a “Stubborn Moron” after he voted to keep interest rates unchanged on Friday, with two fellow Federal governors, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, voting against Wednesday’s decision, marking the first time two members of the FED board disagreed with FED policy decisions since 1993.

Markets by Numbers 

Currencies: 

Currency markets today indicate the US Dollar trading upwards in early trade, and currently trading against the Euro at 1.15743 and against the Pound at 1.32772. The Yen is currently trading at 147.76 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR)is currently at R18.04 to the US dollar.

Commodities:

• Gold futures prices are currently trading slightly lower after a price spike late on Friday, and currently at $3359.26 per ounce.  
• Copper prices are down marginally today, with prices currently at $4.4083 
• Silver futures prices are marginally up today, and currently at $37.150
• Platinum futures are trading -0,58% lower this morning, and are currently trading at $1308.00 While Palladium prices are trading -0,97% lower this morning and currently at $1195.50
• Brent crude oil prices are currently at $69.54, with WTI trading at $67.19 
• Cocoa futures are trading flat today, and currently at $8227 per ton. 
• Coffee futures are currently trading at $286.36

Crypto Currencies:

• Bitcoin prices are marginally higher today, and currently at $114252
• Ether prices are trending upwards this morning and currently at $3532.99
• $Trumpcoin is currently trading around $8.86

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

Other Breaking News in Africa Today

Illegal Mining Operation in South Africa Shut Down:

South African police announced over the weekend that they had arrested around 1,000 illegal miners in an operation, in Barberton in the Mpumalanga province, that lasted several days. The police issued a statement indicating that the majority of the suspects are undocumented foreigners without any legal visitor visa’s or identification documents. It said their nationalities had not yet been established. There has been a spew of illegal mining operations targeted by the police in South Africa recently, with intensified tactical operations against illegal mining and mines that are often run by larger criminal syndicates. In January, nearly 2000 illegal miners were arrested at an old gold mine in Stilfontein. Of these, 1,128 were from Mozambique, 473 from Zimbabwe, and 197 from Lesotho.