Breaking News Today – Tuesday 11 November 2025

Business News Today

Bank of America Downgrades Nvidia Amid AI Hype Skepticism

Bank of America has slashed its Nvidia price target from $180 to $150, citing overblown AI infrastructure spending and potential demand slowdowns in 2026. Shares dipped by 1.2% in pre-market trade, erasing last week’s 5% rally. BofA’s Vivek Arya has warned that hyperscalers like Amazon and Microsoft may cap GPU buys after 2025’s frenzy, with Blackwell chip delays adding risks. Nvidia’s market cap, still over $3 trillion, faces valuation scrutiny at 45x forward earnings value versus it peers’ average of 30x. This shift reflects broader AI investment fatigue. Enterprise adoption lags at 25% as per Gartner, hampered by integration costs exceeding $10 million per deployment.

For the semi-conductor sector, there has also been cautionary warnings. AMD and TSMC fell 0.8% in sympathy. Investors should eye Q4 earnings for compute revenue breakdowns; if data-center growth slips below 80% YoY, further derating is likely to loom. Globally, this tempers Asia’s chip boom, with Taiwan’s Taiex down 0.5%. Businesses pivoting to edge AI may favour costlier but efficient alternatives, reshaping supply chains.

US Stocks Rally on Imminent Government Shutdown Resolution

US equities surged yesterday as US bipartisan talks advanced toward a deal to avert a federal shutdown, injecting optimism into markets battered by recent volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 381 points (1.1%) to close at 44,728, while the Nasdaq Composite leaped 2.3%, its strongest day since May. The surge was fuelled by tech rebounds, and The S&P 500 added 1.6%, breaking an eight-session skid where it shed 2.4% on economic jitters and elevated valuations. Bond yields dipped slightly as Treasury auctions eased, but health-care stocks lagged, down 0.5% on regulatory fears. Analysts at Bloomberg attribute the lift to fiscal relief expectations, potentially unlocking $100 billion in delayed spending. For investors, this signals a bullish pivot if Congress seals the deal by week’s end, though Fed rate cut odds (75% for December) remain a wildcard.

Ghana’s Economy Outpaces Nigeria with 6.3% Q2 Growth in West Africa Surge

Ghana’s real GDP expanded 6.3% in Q2 2025, outstripping Nigeria’s 2.8% and signaling a West African rebound, as per Deloitte’s economic outlook. Fishing saw a 16.4% surge with non-oil exports growing by $2.5 billion, or 12% propelled growth, aided by the cedi currency stabilisation post-IMF bailout and AfCFTA cocoa deals worth $800 million. FDI inflows hit $1.2 billion in agriculture tech, drawing Bayer and Syngenta partnerships for climate-resilient farming. Nigeria lags on oil dependency (prices flat at $75/barrel) and forex shortages, with naira reforms stalling manufacturing at 3% growth. Regional trade rose 18% YoY, with Ghana-Nigeria border flows up 25% via upgraded ports. Deloitte projects 5.5% full-year for Ghana versus Nigeria’s 3.2%, potentially adding 200,000 jobs in agro-processing.

Breaking News Shorts: 

• South Africa’s Competition Commission has referred the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to the Competition Tribunal over suspected anti-competitive conduct dating back to 2017 and is seeking a fine of up to 10% of the bourse’s annual turnover. The JSE said that it is preparing a plea to the Commission’s referral, which will be filed in early 2026.
• Rare Earth restrictions for the US to continue as China plans to stop the flow of rare earths and other restricted materials to the U.S. via a system that will exclude companies with ties to the U.S. military while fast-tracking export approvals for other firms, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter.
• Gamma, a startup that creates AI-generated presentations, websites, and social media posts, announced on Monday a $68 million Series B round at a $2.1 billion valuation led by Andreessen Horowitz. Co-founder and CEO Grant Lee posted on X that the company has profitably hit $100 million in ARR, with 70 million users.
• Gold rose above $4,130 on today, hitting a three-week high as growing economic uncertainty in the US fueled expectations for a near-term Federal Reserve rate cut. Last week’s data showed job losses in October, particularly in government and retail sectors, while consumer sentiment fell to a 3½-year low.

Markets by Numbers 

Currency markets indicate the US dollar marginally softer today, with the Euro trading against the US dollar at 1.15628 while the Pound is trading at 1.31688 to the US dollar. The Yen is currently trading at 154.19 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR) is currently at R17.16 to the US dollar.

Commodities:  

• Gold futures have jumped this morning, above the $4130 mark, but have slipped slightly and are currently trading around $4125.00 per ounce.  
• Copper prices are slightly lower today, after a big surge in prices yesterday, with prices currently around $5.0507
• Silver futures prices are trending higher today, and currently trading around $50.718
• Platinum futures are up marginally today, and currently trading at $1582.30, While Palladium prices are trending 1% higher this morning and are currently trading around $1447.00 per ounce.
• Brent crude oil prices have slipped today, and currently at $63.77 with WTI trading lower at $59.83
• Cocoa futures have clawed back ground above $6000 per ton, and currently trading around $6088.33 per ton. 
• Coffee futures have gained almost 2% today, and are currently trading at around $4.1590 per pound

Crypto Currencies: 

• Bitcoin prices have lost momentum this morning, down over -0.6%, and currently trading at around $105320 per coin 
• Ether prices are trending over -0,5% lower today, and are currently trading around $3549.00
• $Trumpcoin are trending 3% higher today, and currently trading around $8.481

(All prices quoted at approximately 07H45 Central African Time) 

Africa News Briefs:

• The World Bank has approved a $925 million (R15-billion ZAR) loan to South Africa, aimed at bolstering a six-year initiative to rejuvenate the nation’s primary urban centres through performance-based incentives. This funding, drawn from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, forms part of a broader $2.775 billion program designed to enhance essential services like water supply, electricity distribution, and waste management in eight major municipalities. 
• Senegal’s bonds plunged yesterday after the country’s prime minister, Ousmane Sonko, said at the weekend that the International Monetary Fund wanted the country to restructure its debt but that the government had dismissed the idea. Senegal’s euro-denominated 2028 bond slumped more than 6 cents to under 77 cents in early trading, Tradeweb data showed, while its 2031 dollar-denominated bond fell more than 5 cents to 71 cents on the dollar.The IMF completed a mission to Senegal last week without agreeing a new lending programme.
• A Malian female TikToker has been seized and killed execution-style by suspected jihadists after she had been accused of helping Mali’s army. Mariam Cissé, said to be in her 20s and with over 100,000 TikTok followers, posted videos about life in her Tonka hometown in the northern Timbuktu region and often expressed support for the army. Her death has shocked the nation, which has been battling a jihadist insurgency since 2012.