On The Deals Shaping Our Economy
South Africa is enjoying a rare fiscal win as government bond yields hit decade lows, signaling a surge in investor confidence.
Driving the news: Yields on 10-year bonds have dropped to near 7.5%, driven by a stronger rand, an S&P credit upgrade, and the Reserve Bank’s move toward a lower 3% inflation target.
Why it matters: This creates "wiggle room" for the Treasury to slash borrowing costs - which currently eat up 5.2% of GDP—and potentially fund essential services instead of just paying interest.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Budapest with a clear message: The Trump administration is all-in on Viktor Orbán.
Why it matters: With crucial Hungarian elections looming in April, Washington is intervening directly to bolster its closest ideological ally in Europe, while Brussels is nervously holding its fire.
The scene: Standing beside the Hungarian premier, Rubio declared Orbán's leadership "essential" to U.S. interests, hailing a "golden era" of relations.
The promise: Rubio offered a stark security guarantee:
"If you face things that threaten the stability of your country, I know that President Trump would be very interested".
The other side: The EU is taking the opposite approach - silence.
Brussels is deliberately toning down criticism and may even release €2.4bn in frozen funds to avoid handing Orbán ammunition for his anti-EU campaign.
The stakes: Orbán faces his toughest race in years against Péter Magyar’s opposition Tisza Party, which polls show leading by roughly 10 points.
Despite the polite applause for Rubio in Munich, European leaders aren't buying the "renewed partnership". They are quietly readying defences against the Trump administration in preparation for the crises to come.
The bottom line: Europe is realizing that appeasing Trump is a mistake.
No Technical Debt 🤖
The AI revolution isn't coming - it's already rewriting the org chart.
Axios’ CTO Dan Cox reveals that the shift in software engineering is happening faster than humans can absorb.
By the numbers:
Days, not months: Cox’s team now ships features in days using tools like Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex.
Zero debt: The concept of "technical debt" has vanished. "Not because we solved it, but because AI just made it irrelevant," Cox says.
Shrinking teams, growing output: Axios cut its product team from 63 to 43 people but "doubled its output".
The big picture: The "bespoke" era might be ending.
Anthropic just launched Claude Cowork, a suite of industry-specific tools (legal, finance, sales) that threatens to crush startups building niche AI wrappers.
Investors are worried: The launch sparked fears that "generic" agents are now capable enough to replace specialized subscriptions, sending software stocks tumbling.
Talent war: OpenAI isn't sitting still. They just hired Peter Steinberger, founder of the viral open-source project OpenClaw (formerly "Moltbot"), to lead their agents team.
"The future is going to be extremely multi-agent... the lobster is taking over the world".
Germany’s drone pivot 🇩🇪
Berlin is finally rethinking its defense spending.
After years of pouring billions into "legacy" systems like tanks, Germany is pivoting toward innovation and AI.
What’s happening: Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, stung by criticism that 95 or 98 per cent of spending went to traditional procurement, promised to channel more funds to startups and drone tech.
The reality check:
"If anybody had told us five years ago that drones would play such a relevant and crucial role, nobody would have believed...it"
The friction: Critics argue the current budget is a handout to established giants like Rheinmetall, leaving the country unprepared for modern, autonomous warfare.
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