Breaking News Today – Wednesday 2 July 2025

Business & Tech News 

South African Banker Questions High Interest Rates:

Soon to retire, Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie, has expressed his view on current South African interest rates yesterday, and indicating he believes that interest rates in South Africa should actively support the economy. At a media briefing, Fourie said “For me, a better way to look at inflation targeting is to ask if the gap between the real interest rate and inflation is big or small. What is the real cost of interest, and what should that be?” The comments come as South Africas interest rates are being maintained at high levels despite the inflation rates sitting at below 3% consistently over the last two quarters and below the inflation targets set by the central bank. Maintaining ongoing high interest rates is hurting the economy and Fourie has expressed what many economists believe to be an issue halting economic growth in Africa’s largest economy

X – Piloting AI Driven Community Notes:

The social platform X has started a new pilot program of community notes that was launched yesterday. The feature will allow AI chatbots to generate their own Community Notes. These are user-submitted comments attached to some posts that offer additional context that has been a successful way to curb misinformation and pioneered on X. Users who are part of this fact-checking program can contribute comments that add context to certain posts, which are then checked by other users before they appear attached to a post.

Notes become public when they achieve consensus between groups that have historically disagreed on past ratings. Keith Coleman, X’s vp of product and head of Community Notes, told ADWEEK. X has not established specific targets for growing the new AI-generated Community Notes program. “Our focus has always been on increasing the number of notes getting out there,” he said. “And we think that AI could be a potentially good way to do this.”

US Job Openings at 13-Month High

The number of job openings in the US saw a growth of 374,000 in may hitting a total of 7.769 million. This is the highest level of job openings since November 2024 and well above market expectations of 7.3 million. Job openings are a key indicator of economic health in the largest economy globally and indicates a positive growth sentiment. This comes amidst a deadline of 9 July for countries to negotiate tariff deals with the US with countries such as Japan now working with the US administration to finalise a trade deal. The largest gains were in the accommodation and food services sector, which added 314,000 openings, followed by finance and insurance with an increase of 91,000 openings. In contrast, job openings in the federal government declined by 39,000. source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Business, Tech & Market News Shorts:

• A Data breech at Quantas Airlines on 30 June has seen millions of passengers details being exposed and Qantas is contacting customers the cyber attack targeted their third-party customer service platform. They have assured passengers that only personal details and contact numbers were accessed and that no credit card or frequent flyer details or pins were accessed
• Trump’s mega-bill on tax and spending, the proposed new legislation has cleared one of its key hurdles late yesterday and was passed by the US Senate. Vice-President JD Vance cast a tie-breaking vote after more than 24 hours of debate.

Markets by Numbers 

Currencies: 

Currency markets indicate the US Dollar is currently marginally higher against the Euro at 1.17802 and against the Pound at 1.37254. The Yen is currently at 143.84 to the dollar, with the rand currently at R17.65 to the US dollar. 

Commodities:

• Gold futures prices have flattened this morning, and are currently at $3332 per ounce.  

• Copper prices are trending upwards this morning and are currently at $5.0618  

• Silver futures prices are trading marginally lower this morning and are currently at $36.0003 

• Platinum futures are trading slightly lower this morning, and are currently trading at $1351. Palladium prices are trending upwards this morning and currently at $1125

• Brent crude oil prices are trending lower and currently at $67.06, with WTI trading at $65.34. 

• Cocoa futures are currently down by over -4% this morning and currently at $8741 per ton. 

• Coffee futures prices are currently at $301.48 

Crypto Currencies:

• Bitcoin prices are currently trading 1,2% higher this morning and currently at $107006

• Ether prices are over 1.82% higher today and currently at $2449.99

• $Trumpcoin is trading at $8.63

(All prices quoted at approximately 08H30- Central African Time) 

Other Breaking News in Africa Today 

Calls For Resumption of Middle East Peace Negotiations

The foreign minister of Oman, Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, joined his Egyptian counterpart, Dr Badr Abdelatty, in Cairo yesterday for meetings about ongoing regional tensions following the 12-day  Israel-Iran war. Hamad al-Busaidi called on both Washington and Tehran to stabilise the ceasefire and return to the negotiating table. “I urge both countries, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran, not to set impossible conditions for the resumption of negotiations,” al-Busaidi said at a joint press conference in the Egyptian capital. “There must be conditions that create a sound, reasonable and sustainable return to negotiations.“ The two ministers also discussed the ongoing conflict in Gaza.  

Algerian Writer’s Jail Sentence Appeal Denied

A court in Algeria has upheld French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal’s five-year prison sentence yesterday, in a case that has raised alarm over freedom of expression in Algeria and raised diplomatic tensions with France. The ruling also denied a request made by prosecutors at an appeal hearing last week in which they asked a judge to give Sansal the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The “2084: The End of the World” author was charged in March under Algeria’s anti-terrorism laws and convicted of “undermining national unity,” receiving his initial five-year sentence then. The case was based on an interview with a French right-wing media outlet, Sansal questioned Algeria’s current borders, arguing that France had redrawn them during the colonial period to include lands that once belonged to Morocco. The 80-year-old dual citizen was arrested the following month and later critisized by the president in a speech to Algeria’s parliament.