Business News Today
Tech Stocks See Major Market Reevaluation
Global technology stocks, and particularly the Magnificent 7 (Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet/Google, Meta, Tesla) and broader AI-linked names, experienced a significant selloff over the past week and many have seen sharp declines in market value this year after years of outsized gains, as investors question if extended spending forecasts on AI will generate sufficient returns to justify the lofty valuations. Amazon (AMZN): Down between 5–6%, the heaviest hit among some reports, due to their $200B+ capex guidance surprising investors negatively. Apple (AAPL): Down 2–3.5%.Nvidia (NVDA): Down ~1–2% (slight dip, despite AI infrastructure beneficiary role; some days mixed).
Microsoft’s shares have plunged about 17% year-to-date on concerns over potential risks to its AI business and growing competition from Google’s latest Gemini model and Anthropic’s Claude Cowork AI agent, wiping roughly $613 billion off its market value to about $2.98 trillion as of Friday last week. yesterday saw Nvidia (NVDA): Down ~2.2% (one of the bigger drags, despite its AI infrastructure role).Apple (AAPL): Down ~2.3%.Microsoft (MSFT): Down modestly (~0.1–0.2%).
Prime Lending Rate in South Africa to be Dropped
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) released a consultation paper yesterday, proposing to discontinue the prime lending rate (PLR) as the main reference rate for loans and other financial contracts in South Africa. Instead, it would designate the SARB policy rate (commonly called the repo rate, currently 6.75%) as the direct replacement reference rate—referred to in the paper as the SPR (SARB Policy Rate). The prime rate (currently 10.25%) has been fixed at a rate of repo + 3.5% (350 basis points) since 2001, making its role largely administrative rather than a true market-driven base rate.
This has led to misconceptions among consumers about how loan pricing works and according to SARB, creates an unnecessary “middleman” layer between monetary policy changes and actual lending rates. SARB is floating a major modernisation step that should simplify lending rates for banks and consumers. If it goes ahead, South Africa would move to a more straightforward “repo-plus” pricing world, ditching the decades-old prime label.
FirstRand’s UK Auto Industry Liability Could Hit R13 Billion
The International ratings agency Moody’s has reported that they now expect FirstRand’s potential liability from the ongoing UK probe into historical motor vehicle finance commissions to rise to as much as R13 billion. This relates to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) investigation and proposed redress scheme for mis-sold car loans, where lenders (including FirstRand’s UK operations, like MotoNovo Finance) paid undisclosed or discretionary commissions to car dealers without full transparency to customers. The issue has been litigated for years, with mixed court rulings (e.g., partial Supreme Court decision in 2025 upholding some unfair relationship claims in specific cases but overturning broader bribery findings).The FCA’s compensation plan could cost the UK industry £9-18 billion overall (or higher per some estimates), with FirstRand’s share potentially scaling up due to its exposure in the ongoing investigation.
Inflation in Nigeria Down Again
Nigeria’s annual inflation rate eased slightly to 15.10% in January 2026 from 15.15% in the prior month, marking the tenth consecutive monthly decline. This is the lowest inflation level in over five-years, partly due to a stronger currency reducing the cost of imports. Food inflation, the largest component of the inflation basket, continued to fall for the sixth consecutive month, reaching 8.89%, mainly on account of staples like cooking oil, grains and vegetables amid ample supply.
Prices also slowed for other CPI items such as recreation & culture (1.52% vs 12.12%); clothing & footwear (10.91% vs 13.16%) and alcoholic beverages & tobacco (13.62% vs 14.98%), but climbed for education (22.48% vs 16.36%). The core inflation rate, which strips out the volatile prices of agricultural produce and energy, remained elevated but moderated for the seventh month to 17.72% in January 2026, the lowest since October 2022. On a monthly basis, the CPI fell by 2.88% in January, after a 0.54% rise in the prior month.
Breaking News Shorts:
- India has 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, making the country one of OpenAI’s largest markets globally, CEO Sam Altman said ahead of the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. India is according to Altman, ChatGPT’s second-largest user base after the United States, highlighting the South Asian nation’s growing weight in OpenAI’s global strategy.
- US stock futures fell sharply this morning as investors remained risk-averse, extending last week’s selloff fuelled by concerns over AI disruption across certain industries. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.5% and 0.9%, respectively, while Dow futures lost 0.3%.
- Gold dropped below $4,960 per ounce this morning, marking a second consecutive session of losses, with thin trading volumes due to local public holidays in key markets. Markets in China and several countries in Asia remain closed for the Lunar New Year, following a holiday in the US on yesterday.
- Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is set to release their Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) results for Q4 2025 (October–December 2025) this morning. Economists and analysts generally expect the rate to remain broadly stable or minor changes due to structural challenges, with tight fiscal conditions limiting government hiring, and slow overall growth.
Markets by Numbers
Currency markets indicate the US dollar gaining momentum against major currencies today, with the Greenback trading against the Euro at 1.18400 while trading against the Pound at 1.36060 to the US dollar. The Yen is currently trading at 152.97 to the dollar. The rand (ZAR) is currently trading softer at around R16.04 against the US dollar.
Commodities:
- Gold futures have dropped sharply below the $5000 mark today, down by around -2.2%, and currently trading at around $4884.00 per ounce.
- Copper prices are trending -1.1% lower today, with prices currently around $56.983 per pound
- Silver futures are down by around -1.9% today, and currently trading around $73.940. per ounce.
- Platinum futures are around -2.2% lower this morning, and currently trading at $2001.00, While Palladium prices are around -2,6% down this morning, and currently trading around $1722.00 per ounce.
- Brent crude oil prices are trending lower today, and currently at $68.23 with WTI trading lower at $63.38
- Cocoa futures are trading flat today, and currently trading around $3682 per ton.
- Coffee futures are currently trending even today, and trading at around $2.9627 per pound
Crypto Currencies:
- Bitcoin prices are trending -0.9% lower today, and trading at around $68176 per coin currently
- Ether prices are down around -1.1% today, and are currently trading around $1974.00
- $Trumpcoin are currently trading around $3.36
(All prices quoted at approximately 07H50 Central African Time)
Africa News Briefs:
- A strike delayed flights at Kenya’s main airport on Monday as workers demanded better pay and improved work conditions. Kenya Airways, the East African country’s main airline, issued a travel advisory, urging customers to check their flight status before heading to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.The statement also said that air traffic control operational delays were affecting departures and arrivals, and that flight schedules would have to be adjusted.
- As a reaction to the evidence presented at the Mdlanga Commission of enquiry into police corruption in South Africa, the City of Ekurhuleni has placed Legal Services head Kemi Behari and HR head Linda Gxasheka on full suspension yesterday, following allegations that they protected Metro Police deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi and received hefty salary hikes in return. Both deny wrongdoing and will face a disciplinary committee. In parallel, the city launched vetting for over 3,500 police officers, including biometric scans and criminal checks, to address unvetted staff and past audit findings of officers with records.
- About 100 U.S. military personnel have arrived in Nigeria as the US scales up an operation to target Islamist insurgents, a Nigerian defence spokesperson said. U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Nigeria of failing to protect Christians from Islamist militants in the northwest. The U.S. carried out strikes targeting Islamic State-linked militants in December, and a small U.S. military team has been operating on the ground to boost Nigeria’s intelligence capabilities.In recent days, several planes carrying U.S. troops and equipment have headed to Nigeria’s northern states, according to flight tracking data reviewed by Reuters.
