Breaking News Today – Tuesday 30 December 2025

Business News Today

SA bonds Strengthen Further

South Africa’s 10-year government bond yield eased to near 8.30%, the lowest level since January 2020, amid subdued holiday trading in global markets and ongoing strong foreign inflows into the domestic economy. South African assets have performed well this year as firmer economic fundamentals and still-attractive yields have boosted business confidence. These improvements include stronger fiscal performance, lower inflation, cuts to the repo rate, a firmer rand, and increased infrastructure investment, which have helped cushion adverse global headwinds such as aggressive US tariffs. At the same time, the coalition government, has managed to generally maintain cohesion and implemented policy measures expected to boost economic growth. Looking ahead, expectations of further interest rate cuts in both South Africa and the US are expected to provide additional support to markets.

Meta Acquires AI Start-up Manus

Meta Platforms has agreed to acquire Manus, a Singapore-based AI startup that’s become the talk of Silicon Valley since it came out of stealth in early 2025, with a viral demo video that got the AI industry buzzing. The clip showed an AI agent that could do things like screen job candidates, plan vacations, and analyze stock portfolios. Manus claimed at the time that it outperformed OpenAI’s Deep Research. By April, just weeks after launch, the early-stage firm Benchmark led a $75 million funding round that assigned Manus a post-money valuation of $500 million.

Nigerian Oil Company Debt Write-Off Announced

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has approved the write-off of $1.42 billion and 5.57 trillion naira ($3.85 billion) in debts owed by state oil firm NNPC Ltd to the government. The decision is part of Tinubu’s push to clean up NNPC’s books and boost transparency as Africa’s top oil producer deals with weak revenue and soaring debt, ahead of plans to sell shares in the country’s oil and gas assets. These “legacy” liabilities built up over years due to historical practices in Nigeria’s oil sector, including under-remittances of oil revenues to the federation.

By clearing the balance sheet of these historical burdens, NNPC is set to focus on commercial operations, improve transparency, and building investor confidence, potentially ahead of asset sales or future IPO plans. Recent performance already shows progress, with a ₦5.4 trillion profit after tax in 2024 and rising monthly profits in 2025, and this relief should support sustained profitability by reducing financial drag and enabling better investment in upstream activities.

Tech Stocks Falter in The US

US stock futures were trending lower in after-hour trade today, after all major averages fell in the previous session amid growing concerns over AI-related companies, resurfacing in thin holiday trading. Investors also looked ahead to today’s US Federal FOMC meeting minutes, Wednesday’s initial jobless claims, and the Chicago PMI before the new-year holiday. In regular trading on Monday, US equities ended lower, with the Nasdaq 100 falling 0.3% and the Dow sliding 0.4% after reaching record highs on Friday, as concerns over exaggerated valuations for companies in the AI sector weighed on sentiment.

Losses were led by heavyweight stocks, with Nvidia and Tesla setting the pace after dropping 1.2% and 3.3%, respectively. Oracle was down -1.3% and Palantir down by -2.4%, also underperformed as markets continued to question whether heavy AI-related capital spending by software and data-centre companies will translate into the high returns that have been projected by industry leaders.

Breaking News Shorts:  

• China is set to introduce strict new rules for artificial intelligence platforms that will be regulated to provide safeguards for children and prevent chatbots from offering advice that could potentially lead to self-harm or violence. Under the planned regulations, developers will also need to ensure their AI models do not generate content that promotes gambling.
• Beyoncé has officially been declared a dollar billionaire by Forbes, making her the fifth musician to join its list of the world’s wealthiest people.The American star has joined an elite group of musicians with 10-figure fortunes, Forbes reports, including Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Bruce Springsteen and Beyonce’s husband Jay-Z, who the business magazine lists as having a net worth of $2.5bn (£1.85bn).
• U.S. home sales have shot to the highest level in nearly three years in November, as improving affordability conditions drew in buyers, the National Association of Realtors said on Monday.Pending home sales rose 3.3% last month after an upwardly revised 2.4% gain in October, while the U.S. economy in 2026 looks set to grow further due to President Donald Trump’s tax cuts.
• Senegal’s economy grew by 4.2% year-on-year in Q2 2025, slowing sharply from an 11.8% surge in Q1, which was the second-fastest growth rate since records began in 1961, and marking the softest expansion since Q2 2024. 
• Gold prices rose above $4,370 per ounce today, after plunging more than -4% in the previous session due to profit-taking. Monday’s selloff marked the metal’s largest intraday drop since October and the second time this year that it has fallen sharply in a single day. Still, persistent geopolitical uncertainty has supported demand for the safe-haven bullion. 

Markets by Numbers 

Currency markets indicate the US dollar weaker today, with the Euro trading against the US dollar at 1.17788 while the Pound is trading at 1.35163 to the US dollar. The Yen is currently trading at 156.03 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR) is currently trading at around R16.65 to the dollar.

Commodities:  

• Gold futures are currently trading slightly softer after surging yesterday and currently selling at around $4366.15 per ounce.  
• Copper prices are trending over 2% higher today, with prices currently around $5.6417
• Silver futures have spiked by 0ver 4% today, and currently trading around $75.052
• Platinum futures have surged again this morning after losses yesterday, and up by over 2% today, and currently trading at $2158.10, While Palladium prices are 0,4% higher this morning, , and currently trading around $1644.50 per ounce.
• Brent crude oil prices are trending softer today, and currently at $61.40 with WTI trading at $58.01
• Cocoa futures have surged by over 4.8% today, and currently trading around $6242 per ton. 
• Coffee futures are currently trading higher at around $3.5130 per pound

Crypto Currencies: 

• Bitcoin prices are fairly flat this morning, and trading at around $87311 per coin currently 
• Ether prices are slightly up today, and are currently trading around $2942.75
• $Trumpcoin are trending lower today, and currently trading around $4.905

(All prices quoted at approximately 08H55 Central African Time) 

Africa News Briefs:

• The UK government, yesterday, categorically stated that it does not recognise the independence of Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, and reaffirmed its support for Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. China has also reaffirmed it does not support the separation. Last week, Israel became the first country to formally recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state.
• Zimbabwe will be looking to improve its electricity supply with a $455 million refurbishment of ageing power units at the Hwange coal-fired power plant. The project follows a 15-year concession agreement with an Africa-focused unit of India’s Jindal Steel, approved by cabinet in September and signed in December.