Breaking News Today – Tuesday 2 December 2025

Business News Today

South African Currency Showing Resilience

The South African rand traded around the 17.1 per USD mark, near its best level since mid-November. Year-to-date, the Rand (ZAR) has appreciated by over 8% against the USD, recovering from highs near 19.74 earlier in 2025. This was supported by a softer dollar as well as rising prices of precious metals, particularly gold and platinum. The position reflects continued expectations of US rate cuts later in the month and anxiety over changes in the Fed’s leadership. Meanwhile, investors awaited key domestic economic data due this week, including Q3 GDP figures, current account and foreign reserves. In the meantime, sentiment among South African manufacturers dropped to the weakest level since the pandemic crisis in 2020. Even so, the rand continues to draw support from monetary easing, improving fiscal indicators, and a clearer inflation-targeting framework, all of which strengthen the country’s economic outlook.

AI Data Centre Power Supply Requirement set to Triple

Planned future data centre construction shows no signs of fading, with new additions to require 2.7X or almost triple, the sector’s current demand for electricity over the next decade, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The rapid growth in the sector will result in data centres requiring 106 gigawatts of power by 2035, up sharply from the 40 gigawatts they use today. According to the report, much of that growth will occur in more rural areas as facilities grow in size and as sites near urban areas become scarce. Currently, only 10% of data centres draw more than 50 megawatts of electricity, however in the next decade, the average new facility is anticipated to draw over 100 megawatts with almost 25% larger than 500 megawatts, and a few will exceed the 1 gigawatt power draw. 

Gas Development Project in Mozambique Loses Steam

The Government in the UK, announced yesterday that they will withdraw its $1.15 billion backing for the TotalEnergies-led Mozambique Liquefied Natural Gas project. Britain given promised of financial support for the $20 billion project via UK Export Finance in 2020, shortly before it pledged to stop providing direct government support for overseas fossil fuel projects. The development had been slated to make Mozambique a major LNG exporter to Europe and Asia, but was halted in 2021 due to an Islamist insurgency. Jihadist attacks have once again surged in Mozambique this year , with Total bringing in workers and equipment by air and sea for security reasons. Total lifted force majeure on the project in November, but made restarting construction conditional on the Mozambican government’s approval of a new budget, which the president said he may dispute.

Breaking News Shorts: 

• The ISM Manufacturing PMI for the US fell to 48.2 in November 2025, the lowest in four months, compared to 48.7 in September and below forecasts of 48.6. The reading showed that the manufacturing sector contracted for the ninth consecutive month and at a faster pace, led by pullbacks in supplier deliveries (49.3 vs 54.2), new orders (47.4 vs 49.4) and employment (44 vs 46)
• In a major shake-up move, Apple has announced John Giannandrea, the company’s AI chief since 2018, is “stepping down”, He will be replaced by Amar Subramanya, a highly regarded Microsoft executive who spent 16 years at Google, most recently leading engineering for the Gemini Assistant.
• Shopify faced a major outage that disrupted the operations of numerous merchants, leaving them unable to fulfil transactions yesterday, on Cyber Monday, one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.Shopify’s status page has now confirmed that the company had identified and remedied the cause of the problem: its login authentication flow
• U.S. departments of Justice and Homeland Security are reportedly set to investigate online retailers Shein and Temu, which ship most of their merchandise from China, for wide-scale intellectual property theft and counterfeiting, according to a report from Reuters.
• Silver futures dropped more than 1% to $57 per ounce this morning, as investors took profits following a record high. The retreat followed a six-session rally that has driven silver prices up over 100% in 2025, having doubled from last year’s 52-week low near $28.30.

Markets by Numbers 

Currency markets indicate the US dollar softer today, with the Euro trading against the US dollar at 1.16085 while the Pound is trading at 1.32134 to the US dollar. The Yen is currently trading at 155.68 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR) is currently at R17.09 to the US dollar.

Commodities:  

• Gold futures have dropped slightly on profit taking this morning, and are currently trading around $4217.61 per ounce.  
• Copper prices are trending -0,4% lower today, with prices currently around $5.1496
• Silver futures prices have slid by over -1% this morning, and currently trading around $5.7303
• Platinum futures have slipped over -0.8 % this morning, and currently trading at $1648.30, While Palladium prices are -0,6% lower this morning, currently trading around $1411.50 per ounce.
• Brent crude oil prices are softer today, and currently at $63.22 with WTI trading at $59.43
• Cocoa futures are trending lower today, and currently trading around $5359.52 per ton. 
• Coffee futures are down by -1.6% this morning, and are currently trading at around $4.0598 per pound

Crypto Currencies: 

• Bitcoin prices have gained some traction today, and trading at around $87033 per coin currently 
• Ether prices are marginally higher this morning after a slump yesterday, and are currently trading around $2804.35
• $Trumpcoin are trending higher today, and currently trading around $5.73

(All prices quoted at approximately 07H20 Central African Time) 

Africa News Briefs:

• Cameroon’s popular opposition party leader, Anicet Ekane has died in military custody. Ekane’s family and legal representatives announced thatEkane, 74, passed away on Monday morning in Yaounde, the country’s capital, 38 days after security forces detained him in the port city of Douala. His death has sparked widespread outrage and threatens to deepen the political chaos gripping Cameroon following October’s controversial presidential election, which saw 92-year-old Paul Biya claim another term after more than four decades in power.
• Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has sent a delegation to hold mediation talks with the Guinea-Bissau military leaders of last week’s coup. The delegation is led by ECOWAS chairman and Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, who has urged the military leadership to restore constitutional order in the country, as regional pressure mounts on the military leaders who seized power after a disputed election.
• Nonkululeko Patricia Mantula, a South African radio presenter for the national broadcaster SABC, is among five people who are facing charges for contravening a law which prohibits South Africans from joining a foreign army without official permission. They have not yet been asked to plead. Mantula, 39, is a presenter of The Morning Bliss, a show on the SABC’s SAFM radio station. Neither she nor SABC has commented on her arrest. Her arrest, follows the dramatic resignation from parliament last Friday of Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, the daughter of South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma, who has been accused of duping the 17 South African men – including some of her relatives – into fighting for Russia