Economy

Key Events Later This Week May Keep Traders on Sidelines

Published

7 years ago

29/04/2019

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat opening on Monday as traders look ahead to several key events later this week.

Traders may be reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the announcement of the Federal Reserve?s latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, although the accompanying statement and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell?s subsequent press conference are still likely to attract attention.

Traders are also likely to keep a close eye on the Labor Department?s monthly jobs report scheduled to be released on Friday.

Economists expect the report to show an increase of about 180,000 jobs in April compared to the addition of 196,000 jobs in March. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.8 percent.

Reports on consumer confidence, pending home sales, and manufacturing and service sector activity may also impact trading in the coming days.

Traders will also have another slew of earnings news to digest, with Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), General Electric (GE), General Motors (GM), McDonald?s (MCD), Pfizer (PFE), Apple (AAPL), Kraft Heinz (KHC), and DowDuPont (DWDP) among the companies due to report their results this week.

After recovering from an early move to the downside, stocks moved moderately higher over the course of the trading session on Friday. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 ended the session at new record closing highs.

The major averages saw further upside going into the close, ending the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow rose 81.25 points or 0.3 percent to 26,543.33, the Nasdaq climbed 27.72 points or 0.3 percent to 8,146.40 and the S&P 500 advanced 13.71 points or 0.5 percent to 2,939.88.

For the week, the Dow edged down by 0.1 percent, while the Nasdaq soared by 1.9 percent and the S&P 500 surged up by 1.2 percent.

The turnaround on Wall Street came as traders reacted to the Commerce Department’s preliminary reading on first quarter GDP.

The report showed an unexpected acceleration in GDP growth in the first quarter, although economists expressed some concerns about the underlying data.

The Commerce Department said real gross domestic product jumped by 3.2 percent in the first quarter after climbing by 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The acceleration in the pace of growth came as a surprise to economists, who had expected GDP to increase by 2.1 percent.

Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said the much stronger than expected GDP growth would seem to “make a mockery of claims that the U.S. economy is slowing as the fiscal stimulus fades.”

“After all, 3.2% is well above the economy’s 2% potential pace and the 2.2% gain in the final quarter of last year,” Ashworth said. “Looking beyond the headline number, however, there are plenty of causes for concern.”

Ashworth predicted positive contributions from net trade, inventories and highways investment will all be reversed in the coming quarters and continues to expect overall growth to slow this year.

Traders were also reacting to the latest batch of mixed earnings news from big-name companies, with auto giant Ford (F) moving sharply higher after reporting first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

Online retail giant Amazon (AMZN) also ended the day firmly in positive territory after reporting better than expected quarterly results.

On the other hand, shares of Intel (INTC) plunged by 9 percent after the semiconductor giant reported better than expected first quarter results but provided disappointing guidance.

Bargain hunting contributed to considerable strength among tobacco stocks, with the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index jumping by 2.6 percent after slumping to a two-month closing low on Thursday.

Gold stocks also showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 2.5 percent. The rally by the gold sector came amid a notable increase by the price of the precious metal.

Housing stocks also ended the day notably higher, while energy stocks moved to the downside amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil.

Economy

Customs Street Chalks up 1.08% on Renewed Buying Pressure

Published

5 hours ago

06/12/2025

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

A 1.08 per cent growth was further printed by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday on improved appetite for Nigerian stocks.

Data showed that the insurance sector lost 0.61 per cent yesterday due to profit-taking as the energy space gave up 0.08 per cent, while the commodity counter closed flat.

However, the industrial goods landscape appreciated by 2.06 per cent, the banking index improved by 1.31 per cent, and the consumer goods sector expanded by 0.83 per cent.

At the close of business on Customs Street, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,563.92 points to 147,040.07 points from 145,476.15 points and the market capitalisation went up by N996 billion to N93.722 trillion from N92.726 trillion.

UAC Nigeria led the advancers’ log yesterday after it grew by 10.00 per cent to N96.80, Transcorp Hotels jumped by 9.71 per cent to N172.80, Royal Exchange appreciated by 8.89 per cent to N1.96, Ikeja Hotel soared by 8.74 per cent to N31.10, and Veritas Kapital leapt by 8.07 per cent to N1.74.

On the flip side, Union Dicon declined by 10.00 per cent to N6.30, ABC Transport slipped by 9.88 per cent to N3.10, AXA Mansard depreciated by 7.19 per cent to N12.90, FTN Cocoa lost 4.62 per cent to trade at N4.75, and Guinea Insurance dropped 3.36 per cent to finish at N1.15.

A total of 38 stocks ended on the gainers’ table and 17 stocks finished on the losers’ table, representing a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.

Traders transacted 361.6 million equities for N14.8 billion in 21,051 deals yesterday versus the 1.9 billion equities worth N19.2 billion traded in 23,369 deals a day earlier, showing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 80.97 per cent, 22.92 per cent, and 14.20 per cent, respectively.

The busiest stock for the session was Zenith Bank with 59.5 million units worth N3.6 billion, Access Holdings traded 46.1 million units valued at N973.0 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 29.4 million units for N560.4 million, FCMB transacted 27.9 million units worth N293.9 million, and Tantalizers sold 13.0 million units valued at N29.8 million.

Economy

Nipco, 11 Plc Crash OTC Securities Exchange by 4.76%

Published

6 hours ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Energy stocks influenced the 4.76 per cent loss recorded by the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, December 5.

The culprits were the duo of 11 Plc and Nipco Plc,with the former shedding N32.17 to end at N291.83 per share compared with the previous day’s N324.00 per share, and the latter down by N21.00 to sell at N195.00 per unit versus the previous session’s N216.00 per unit.

Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slumped by 170.16 points to 3,401.37 points from 3,571.53 points and the market capitalisation lost N101.81 billion to close at N2.035 billion from the N2.136 trillion quoted in the preceding session.

The OTC securities exchange suffered the decline yesterday despite the share prices of three companies closing green.

Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc was up by N1.80 to close at N39.80 per share compared with Thursday’s price of N38.00 per share, Air Liquide Plc appreciated by N1.09 to N11.99 per unit from N10.90 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 78 Kobo to N56.57 per share from N55.79 per share.

During the session, the volume of transactions rose by 6,885.3 per cent to 18.2 million units from 4.3 million units, the value of transactions ballooned by 10,301.7 per cent to N389.7 million from N347.2 million, but the number of deals declined by 29.7 per cent to 26 deals from 37 deals.

Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units valued at N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units worth N4.2 billion.

InfraCredit Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units worth N524.9 million.

Economy

Naira Depreciates to N1,450/$1 at Official Forex Market

Published

7 hours ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated further against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, December 5, as FX demand pressure mounts.

The Nigerian currency lost N2.60 or 0.18 per cent against the greenback to close at N1,450.43/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.83/$1.

Equally, the domestic currency declined against the Pound Sterling in the official forex market during the session by N4.48 to trade at N1,935.45/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,930.97/£1 and shrank against the Euro by 43 Kobo to end at N1,689.17/€1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N1,688.74/€1.

Similarly, the local currency performed badly against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX counter by N2 to close at N1,455/$1 versus Thursday’s N1,453/$1 but traded flat at the parallel market at N14.65/$1.

As the country gets into the festive period, pressure mounted on the local currency reflecting higher foreign payments and lower FX inflows.

However, there are expectations that the Nigerian currency will be stable, supported by interventions by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the face of steady dollar Demand and inflows from Detty December festivities that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month.

Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450/$1 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.

As for the crypto market, it was down yesterday due to profit-taking associated with year-end trading. However, the December 1-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation by the University of Michigan fell to 4.1 per cent from 4.5 per cent previously and 4.5 per cent expected. The 5-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation fell to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 per cent previously and 3.4 per cent expected.

With the dearth of official economic data of late, these private surveys have taken on a new level of significance and the market banks of them to make decisions.

Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $0.4142, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 5.1 per cent to $0.1394, Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 3.9 per cent to $3,039.75, Solana (SOL) declined by 3.8 per cent to $133.24, and Litecoin (LTC) fell by 3.7 per cent to $80.59.

Further, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 2.6 per cent to sell at $89,683.72, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $883.59, and Ripple (XRP) shrank by 2.1 per cent to $2.04, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.