Economy

S&P 500 Nears New Record Intraday High

Published

6 years ago

28/10/2019

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher opening on Monday, with the S&P 500 poised to reach a new record intraday high.

The markets may continue to benefit from optimism about U.S.-China trade talks as well as news that the European Union has granted the U.K.?s request for a Brexit deadline extension.

The move by the EU, which delays Brexit until January 31st, was widely expected but still removes the risk of a damaging no-deal split on Thursday.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve?s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

CME Group?s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 94.1 percent chance that the Fed will cut interest rates by another 25 basis points.

Some closely watched economic data is also scheduled to be released later this week, including the Labor Department?s monthly jobs report on Friday.

Traders are also likely to keep an eye on reports on third quarter GDP, personal income and spending and manufacturing activity.

Stocks recovered from an initial move to the downside and moved mostly higher over the course of the trading session on Friday. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in three months.

The major averages pulled back off their highs of the session but remained firmly positive. The Dow climbed 152.53 points or 0.6 percent to 26,958.06, the Nasdaq advanced 57.32 points or 0.7 percent to 8,243.12 and the S&P 500 rose 12.26 points or 0.4 percent to 3,022.55.

For the week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq surged up by 1.9 percent, the S&P 500 jumped by 1.2 percent and the Dow climbed by 0.7 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came after a statement from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said the U.S. and China have made progress toward finalizing a phase one trade deal.

The statement was released by the USTR following a phone call between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.

“They made headway on specific issues and the two sides are close to finalizing some sections of the agreement,” the USTR said. “Discussions will go on continuously at the deputy level, and the principals will have another call in the near future.”

The upbeat comments about the trade talks added to the positive sentiment seen in reaction to the latest batch of earnings.

Shares of Intel (INTC) moved sharply higher after the semiconductor giant released its third quarter results, spiking by 8.1 percent to a six-month high.

Intel reported better than expected quarterly results, raised its full-year revenue guidance, and added $20 billion to its stock repurchase program.

Credit card giant Visa (V) also posted a notable gain after reporting third quarter results that beat estimates and increasing its quarterly dividend by 20 percent.

Meanwhile, shares of Amazon (AMZN) climbed well off their lows of the session but still ended the session in the red.

The drop by Amazon came after the online retail giant reported weaker than expected third quarter earnings and provided a disappointing forecast for holiday sales.

On the U.S. economic front, revised data released by the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment improved by slightly less than initially estimated in the month of October.

The report said the consumer sentiment index for October was downwardly revised to 95.5 from the preliminary reading of 96.0. Economists had expected the index to be unrevised.

Despite the downward revision, the consumer sentiment index for October was still up from the final September reading of 93.2.

“Sentiment was insignificantly below the mid month level, with the small loss spread over most components of the Index,” said Surveys of Consumers chief economist Richard Curtin.

He added, “The overall level of consumer confidence has remained quite favorable and largely unchanged during the past few years.”

Reflecting the positive reaction to Intel’s earnings, semiconductor stocks turned in some of the market’s best performances on the day.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index subsequently surged up by 2.1 percent, ending the session at a new record closing high.

Significant strength was also visible among transportation stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones Transportation Average.

Steel stocks also moved notably higher amid optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal, with the NYSE Arca Steel Index climbing by 1.6 percent to its best closing level in a month.

Energy, computer hardware and banking stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, while interest rate-sensitive utilities and commercial real estate stocks bucked the uptrend.

Economy

Customs Street Chalks up 1.08% on Renewed Buying Pressure

Published

6 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

7 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.