Business & Tech News
Auto Industry Warns Over Critical Mineral Supply:
There is growing concern in the Auto industry regarding the current global monopoly China holds on critical minerals the industry relies on for vehicle production. Global automakers, in Germany, joined their U.S. counterparts to complain that restrictions by China on exports of rare earth alloys, mixtures and magnets could cause production delays and outages without a quick solution. China’s export restrictions, enacted last month, threaten to shut down production which would cause major economic fallout and vehicle supply disruptions. China’s decision to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets has disrupted critical supply chains to global automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors.
Is DeepSeek Using Rival AI’s to Train its new Model?
An Australian developer, Sam Paech, who creates evaluations for AI, has published what he claims is evidence that DeepSeek’s latest model was trained on outputs from Gemini. DeepSeek’s model, called R1-0528, prefers words and expressions like those that Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro favours, said Paech in an X post. DeepSeek has been accused of training on data from rival AI models before. In December last year, other developers had noted that DeepSeek’s V3 model often identified itself as ChatGPT, OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot platform, suggesting that it may’ve been trained on ChatGPT chat logs.
South African Economy Growth Grim:
The South African economy barely kept its head above water in the first quarter of 2025 (January–March), expanding by a marginal 0,1% compared with the fourth quarter of 2024. Four of the ten industries on the production sector saw positive gains, with agriculture driving most of the upward momentum. Household spending, stronger exports also helped to keep the expenditure side of the economy in positive territory. Agriculture production was the sector that produced the most and saw an increase of 15,8%, adding 0,4 of a percentage point to gross domestic product (GDP) growth. The mining sector weakened by -4,1%, with platinum group metals the most significant negative contributor. The country faces a real risk of falling into contraction in the second quarter and projections of growth for the year are now in question. Additional fuel levies introduced by the government are likely to cause further impact on the economy.
US Numbers see Market Sentiment Improve:
US stocks rose yesterday, driven predominantly by tech stocks as well as positive labour data, and hopes for progress on trade tariff negotiations. The S&P 500 rose 0.6%, the Dow gained 214 points, and the Nasdaq saw a 0.8% rise, led by a 2.8% rally in Nvidia that briefly made it the most valuable publicly traded company. Other chipmakers like Broadcom (3.3%) and Micron (4.1%) also rose sharply, adding to the chip-driven momentum. A stronger-than-expected JOLTS report showed job openings in the `US grew by 191,000 to 7.391 million in April, signalling a better-than-expected labour market.
Business, Tech & Market News Shorts:
- SpaceX is set to record revenue of about $15.5 billion this year, according to a statement given by Elon Musk yesterday, underscoring the rocket maker’s growing dominance in the commercial space sector.
- Social media platform Reddit, saw a massive platform outage yesterday, that affected nearly 31,000 users, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. Reddit said on its status page that the incident had been resolved following an investigation into elevated errors.
- A New Theory of the origin of our universe, suggests the Big Bang was not the start of everything, but rather the outcome of a gravitational crunch or collapse that formed a very massive black hole – followed by a bounce inside it.
Markets by Numbers
Currencies:
Currency markets indicate the US Dollar is currently trading against the Euro at 1.13831 and against the Pound at 1.35276. The Yen is currently at 143.84 to the dollar, with the rand currently at R17.83 to the US dollar.
Commodities:
- Gold futures prices are trending fairly this morning, and are currently at $3362per ounce.
- Copper prices are also trending slightly upwards this morning and are currently at $4.8490.
- Silver futures prices are trading lower this morning and are currently at $34.437
- Platinum futures are trading upwards this morning, and are currently trading at $1074.70, while Palladium prices are currently at $1005
- Brent crude oil prices are currently at $65.43, with WTI trading at $63.14.
- Cocoa futures are trading upwards, and up by more than 2% this morning and are currently at $9754 per ton.
- Coffee futures prices are down almost –1% today, and are currently at $3439.85
Crypto Currencies:
- Bitcoin prices are currently trading level and currently at $105386
- Ether prices are up over 1,2% this morning and currently at $2628
- $Trumpcoin is trading at $11.21
(All prices quoted at approximately 09H15 – Central African Time)
Other Breaking News in Africa Today
Drone Attack Leaves UN Aid Workers Dead in Sudan:
Reports from the United Nations indicate that five members of its humanitarian aid convoy, who were transporting emergency aid to the war-torn Sudanese city of el-Fasher have been killed in an attack with others reported injured.
Several trucks were destroyed by a drone rocket attack which took place near el-Koma in the state of North Darfur, they added. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army – have accused each other of striking the UN convoy with drones. The UN did not say how the attack happened but called for an urgent investigation and for the perpetrators to be held to account.
Ugandan Suicide Bombers Stopped
Two suspected terrorists including a female suicide bomber, have been killed in the capital, Kampala yesterday, as the country observed Martyrs Day – a Christian celebration which commemorates the faithful who died in the 19th Century. A counter-terrorism unit “intercepted and neutralized” the two, one of whom was a female suicide bomber, in the suburb of Munyonyo, army spokesperson Chris Magezi said. The incident took place close to the Roman Catholic Munyonyo Martyrs’ Shrine, where a group of Christians had gathered to pray, according to a report in the local media The Monitor. Reports also cited an explosion, with an eyewitness saying that the blast occurred as the two approached the church on a motorcycle.
Zuma Trial to Continue:
A high court judge in South Africa has dismissed an application by former South African President Jacob Zuma to end his corruption trial. Zuma together with French arms company, Thales, are facing charges, including corruption, money-laundering, and racketeering, that date back to a 1999-multibillion-rand arms deal. Together, they had applied to have all charges dropped, claiming that repeated delays and the death of two witnesses had irreparably prejudiced their right to a fair trial. However, the judge indicated that Zuma himself was largely to blame for multiple delays in the trial over the last decade. The case has seen numerous postponements, legal challenges, and procedural disputes. The state declared it trial-ready four years ago, but the case has since been delayed by repeated failed efforts by Zuma to force the removal of a key prosecutor, Billy Downer.
