South Africa’s biggest asset manager kisses R300 billion goodbye, and Anthropic CEO under siege

The rand was trading at R16.43 against the US dollar on the morning of Thursday, 1 October 2026, weakening slightly from the day before.

South African equities posted declines, with the JSE All Share Index dropping 0.85% and the Top 40 Index by 0.92%.

M3 money supply growth accelerated to 8.89% in August, while private-sector credit growth grew to 7.47%, exceeding the 6.9% forecast.

On Wall Street, the market closed mixed yesterday, with the Nasdaq up 0.25%, while the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones declined 0.24% and 0.86%, respectively.

US PCE inflation slowed to 3.4% year-on-year, below the 3.7% consensus, reducing expectations for a Federal Reserve rate increase in October to 37%.

European indices weakened on Wednesday, with the STOXX 600 falling 0.5% and recording its first monthly loss in six months of 2.5%.

This was due to accelerating inflation across major eurozone economies, reflecting higher energy costs linked to the Iran war as well as rising global bond yields.

In Asia, market movements were led by a 1.94% gain in the Nikkei 225, while the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite remained more subdued at 0.37% and 0.31%, respectively.

China’s official manufacturing PMI rose to 50.1 in September, ending two months of contraction, while manufacturing activity also increased across Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

In commodities, Brent crude oil dropped to around $96 per barrel as exports from the Gulf region steadily recovered, while gold traded higher at $4,183.92 per ounce.

On Thursday morning, the rand was trading at R16.43 to the US dollar, R18.60 to the euro, and R21.77 to the British pound.

Important finance and investing news

Anthropic CEO under siege: AI Industry leaders, such as Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, questioned Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei for sounding alarm bells on the capabilities and dangers of artificial intelligence. The questioning reportedly happened as these leaders attended a private lunch at the White House with US President Donald Trump. [Wall Street Journal]

PIC kisses R300 billion goodbye: Assets managed by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) approached the R4 trillion mark before the outbreak of the Iran war hit global markets, wiping over R300 billion in a month. [BusinessDay]

Trump sends $500 to 1 million Americans: US President Donald Trump has begun sending $500 checks to nearly 1 million Americans just a month before the country’s midterm elections. Enclosed with the checks are letters in which Trump touts his record in cutting healthcare costs. [Wall Street Journal]

Godongwana has his hands tied: Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has said he can only act on the request of state entities, such as Eskom and Transnet, when blacklisting companies. This comes after the Special Investigating Unit referred 509 South African companies to the National Treasury for blacklisting over a year ago. Only 18 of these companies have so far been added to the database. [EWN]

South Korea to invest $200 billion: South Korea plans to invest $200 billion into United States energy projects, including eight nuclear power plants, a power generation facility in Texas, and a natural gas export venture in Alaska. [Bloomberg]