Economy
Ongoing Trade Concerns Weigh on US Stocks
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a lower opening on Monday, with stocks likely to see some further downside following the pullback seen late in the previous session.
Ongoing concerns about the escalating U.S.-China trade dispute are likely to weigh on Wall Street after Google suspended some of its business with Chinese tech giant Huawei.
Google has cut Huawei off from business involving the transfer of hardware, software and technical services, complying with an order by President Donald Trump blocking the sale or transfer of U.S. technology to Huawei.
?We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications,? a Google spokesperson said, noting services such as Google Play and the security protections from Google Play Protect will continue to function on existing Huawei devices.
Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as a lack of major U.S. economic data may keep some traders on the sidelines.
Reports on new and existing home sales and durable goods orders are likely to attract attention in the coming days along with the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.
Stocks showed wild swings over the course of the trading session on Friday before ending the day mostly lower. The major averages recovered from an initial move to the downside only to pull back sharply late in the session.
At the end of the day, the major averages were all firmly in negative territory. The Dow fell 98.68 points or 0.4 percent to 25,764.00, the Nasdaq slumped 81.76 points or 1 percent to 7,816.28 and the S&P 500 dropped 16.79 points or 0.6 percent to 2,859.53.
The major averages also closed lower for the week. The Nasdaq tumbled by 1.3 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 slid by 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.
Reflecting recent market sensitivity to trade-related news, the late-day pullback came on the heels of a CNBC report indicating negotiations between the U.S. and China appear to have stalled.
Citing two sources briefed on the status of trade talks, CNBC said scheduling for the next round of negotiations is “in flux” because it is unclear what the two sides would discuss.
Sources told CNBC discussions regarding scheduling the next round of talks have not taken place since President Donald Trump signed an executive order ramping up scrutiny of Chinese telecom companies.
Lingering concerns about the escalating trade dispute between the U.S. and China also contributed to the initial weakness on Wall Street.
While Trump has sought to blame China for backing out of a nearly completed trade deal, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce claims the U.S. is responsible for serious setbacks in the trade talks.
Commerce Ministry spokesperson Gao Feng accused the Trump administration of “bullying behavior” with a recent increase in tariffs, according to state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua.
“It is regrettable that the U.S. side unilaterally escalated trade disputes, which resulted in severe negotiating setbacks,” Gao said.
He added, “We urge the U.S. side to correct wrongdoings as soon as possible to avoid causing heavier damages to businesses and consumers in both countries and dragging down the global economy.?
However, concerns about trade waned after the Trump administration officially delayed imposing tariffs on imported automobiles and parts for up to six months, confirming media reports from earlier this week.
A White House statement noted Trump has directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to negotiate agreements to address the national security threat posed by auto imports.
On the U.S. economic front, the University of Michigan released a report showing a substantial improvement in consumer sentiment in May, although the data was recorded mostly before trade negotiations with China collapsed.
The preliminary report showed the consumer sentiment index surged up to 102.4 in May from 97.2 in April, reaching its highest level in fifteen years. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 97.5.
Oil service stocks showed a substantial move to the downside over the course of the trading session, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index down by 3.2 percent. The sell-off by oil service stocks came amid a modest decrease by the price of crude oil.
Significant weakness also emerged among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2 percent slump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Natural gas, oil producer, and networking stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, notable strength was visible among computer hardware stocks.
Shares of Cray Inc. (CRAY) soared 22.5 percent after she supercomputer maker agreed to be acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) for $1.3 billion in cash.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude production under the collective Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) fell in May to its lowest level in at least 37 years as the blockade of Iran by the United States and disruptions in the Persian Gulf, continued to limit output.
According to a Bloomberg survey released on Friday, output from the organisation’s 11 current members, including Nigeria, dropped by 1.22 million barrels per day to 16.33 million barrels per day last month.
Iran accounted for more than half of the decline. The data excludes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which departed the cartel last month after six decades of membership.
War between a US-Israeli alliance and Iran has reduced oil supplies from the Middle East, largely closing the Strait of Hormuz waterway. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait have been forced to cut crude production. Iranian shipments face additional pressure following a US blockade of its ports imposed in mid-April.
Iranian output fell by 710,000 barrels per day to a five-year low of 2.34 million barrels per day in May, the survey showed. Central Command reported that US forces have redirected 127 commercial vessels to enforce the blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports.
Kuwait recorded the second-largest decline last month, with production falling by 310,000 barrels per day to 490,000 barrels per day, less than one-fifth of pre-war levels. Saudi Arabia, the group’s leader, saw output decrease by 240,000 barrels per day to 6.57 million barrels per day.
The production reductions have not prevented OPEC and its allies from raising quotas over recent months, continuing a year-long process of restoring output halted several years ago.
This comes ahead of a meeting scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 7, where a sub-group of seven members is expected to increase targets by 188,000 barrels again in July. The session is one of four online meetings OPEC and its partners plan to hold that day.
Delegates indicated the alliance has plans for two additional monthly quota increases in August and September. UAE output rose by 300,000 barrels per day to 2.44 million barrels per day in May, according to the survey.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The 2025 third quarter Budget Implementation Report from the Budget Office of the Federation has shown that the federal government exceeded the funds allocation for repayment of debts for the first nine months of the fiscal year by about 18 per cent.
In a report by Punch, the sum of N10.74 trillion was budgeted for debt servicing between January and September 2025, but the government used N12.63 trillion for the purpose, N1.90 trillion or 17.65 per cent more than the allocation for the year.
The funds were spent on domestic debts, foreign debts and sinking fund by the central government in nine months.
Business Post reports that for the whole year, the amount approved by the National Assembly and signed by President Bola Tinubu for debt repayments was N14.31 trillion.
Looking at the nine-month figures, domestic debt service gulped N6.23 trillion, exceeding its N5.39 trillion provision, while foreign debt service was N6.30 trillion versus the budget provision of N5.06 trillion.
According to the report, the figures indicated that 67.2 per cent of the federal government’s retained revenue of N18.63 trillion was spent on debt service in the first nine months of 2025. When the sinking fund is included, debt-related payments consumed about 67.8 per cent of revenue.
It was also observed that aggregate federal government revenue underperformed the budget by N12.03 trillion or 39.24 per cent, as actual revenue of N18.63 trillion fell short of the N30.67 trillion projected for the first three quarters.
In the third quarter alone, the government generated N7.70 trillion versus the quarterly target of N10.22 trillion as a result of persistent oil revenue shortfalls, despite stronger non-oil collections.
The debt burden also crowded out capital spending, as total capital expenditure was N3.10 trillion in the first nine months compared with the N17.58 trillion budgeted for the period, indicating that actual debt-related payments were more than four times capital expenditure.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a loss of 1.13 per cent on Thursday, June 4, shrinking the market capitalisation by N30.03 billion to N2.630 trillion from N2.660 trillion on Wednesday.
Similarly, this brought down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 50.19 points to 4,396.08 points from the 4,446.27 points recorded a day earlier.
The loss was influenced by the overpowering of the bulls by the bears, after the bourse closed with two price gainers and three price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which slumped by N20.03 to sell at N190.38 per unit compared with midweek’s N210.41 per unit. Food Concepts Plc declined by 25 Kobo to trade at N2.50 per share versus the previous day’s N3.00 per share, and Acorn Petroleum Plc crumbled by 2 Kobo to end at N1.32 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1.34 per unit.
For the gainers, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc added N2.93 to close at N78.34 per share compared with the previous price of N75.41 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 80 Kobo to settle at N16.80 per unit versus N16.00 per unit.
There was a slip in the volume of transactions yesterday by 46.8 per cent to 280,714 units from 527,221 units, as the value of trades dropped 66.5 per cent to N21.8 million from the preceding session’s N64.2 million, and the number of deals fell by 8.7 per cent to 42 deals from 46 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended the session as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
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