Economy
Brexit Deal Triggers Early Buying Interest on Wall Street
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a pointing to a higher opening on Thursday, with stocks likely to move back to the upside after ending the previous session modestly lower.
Early buying interest may be generated in reaction to news that the U.K. and EU negotiators have reached a last-minute Brexit deal.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker described the deal as ?fair and balanced? for the EU and the U.K. and urged member nations to back the agreement.
The deal could eliminate some of the Brexit uncertainty hanging over the global markets, although it remains to be seen if the agreement will be approved by U.K. lawmakers.
A positive reaction to the latest batch of earnings news may also contribute to some early strength on Wall Street.
Following the rally seen on Tuesday, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.
Eventually, the major averages finished the day modestly lower. The Dow edged down 22.82 points or 0.1 percent to 27,001.98, the Nasdaq dipped 24.52 points or 0.3 percent to 8,124.18 and the S&P 500 slipped 5.99 points or 0.2 percent to 2,989.69.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders digested mixed U.S. economic data as well as the latest batch of earnings news.
Before the start of trading, the Commerce Department released a report showing an unexpected decrease in U.S. retail sales in the month of September.
The Commerce Department said retail sales fell by 0.3 percent in September after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.6 percent in August.
The drop came as a surprise to economists, who had expected sales to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
Excluding a notable pullback in auto sales, retail sales still edged down by 0.1 percent in September after rising by a revised 0.2 percent in August.
Economists had expected ex-auto sales to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.
The drop in retail sales raised some concerns about the economic outlook but also added to optimism about further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Home Builders released a separate report showing homebuilder confidence unexpectedly climbed to its highest level in well over a year in the month of October.
The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index jumped to 71 in October after inching up to 68 in September. Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged from the previous month.
With the unexpected increase, the housing market index rose for the fourth straight month and reached its highest level since hitting a matching reading in February of 2018.
Later in the day, the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book, which said the U.S. economy expanded at only a slight to modest pace over the past month.
The Beige Book, a compilation of anecdotal evidence on economic conditions in the twelve Fed districts, noted business activity varied across the country.
Traders were also reacting to the latest batch of earnings news, with Bank of America (BAC) moving notably higher after reporting better than expected third quarter results.
Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.
Steel stocks showed a significant move to the downside, however, with the NYSE Arca Steel Index slumping by 2 percent amid renewed uncertainty about a U.S.-China trade deal.
Software and semiconductor stocks also saw considerable weakness, dragging the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.
On the other hand, gold stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, resulting in a 1.8 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The rally by gold stocks came amid a notable increase by the price of the precious metal.
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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