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
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.
By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock market crashed by 0.37 per cent on Thursday as a result of the decline in the price of shares of McNichols, Eterna, Aradel Holdings, and others.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained weak after the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended the session with 25 price gainers and 31 price losers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
McNichols lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N7.74, ABC Transport slipped by 9.88 per cent to N6.20, Eterna shrank by 9.85 per cent to N29.75, Aradel Holdings depreciated by 9.51 per cent to N1,749.90, and NPF Microfinance Bank contracted by 8.45 per cent to N5.20.
On the flip side, International Energy Insurance gained 10.00 per cent to close at N6.60, Omatek improved by 9.73 per cent to N2.03, Abbey Mortgage Bank surged by 9.68 per cent to N8.50, Cutix expanded by 9.66 per cent to N3.18, and John Holt grew by 7.79 per cent to N14.90.
As for the sectorial performance, the industrial goods and banking indices chalked up 0.54 per cent and 0.31 per cent, respectively. But the energy sector depleted by 4.90 per cent, the insurance counter tumbled by 0.58 per cent, and the consumer goods index slumped by 0.03 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) dipped by 905.30 points to 242,227.31 points from 243,132.61 points, and the market capitalisation stumbled by N581 billion to N155.359 trillion from N155.940 trillion.
During the session, investors traded 588.5 million equities valued at N27.9 billion in 57,352 deals compared with the 923.0 million equities worth N42.3 billion transacted in 69,332 deals on Wednesday, showing a drop in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 36.24 per cent, 34.04 per cent, and 17.28 per cent, respectively.
The most active equity yesterday was Access Holdings with 109.7 million units sold for N2.6 billion, FCMB traded 35.6 million units valued at N384.2 million, NGX Group transacted 28.1 million units worth N3.9 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 26.9 million units for N3.3 billion, and Sterling Holdings recorded a turnover of 22.5 million units worth N176.1 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
A 0.1 per cent or N1,49 loss was recorded by the Nigerian Naira against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Thursday, June 4, closing at N1,358.75/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,347.26/$1.
In the same vein, the Naira depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market during the session by N5.39 to trade at N1,828.06/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing rate of N1,822.67/£1, but gained N6.75 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.83/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,584.39/€1.
At the black market and GTBank FX desk, the local currency traded flat against the Dollar during the session at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that NFEM interbank FX turnover contracted to $128.117 million in 121 deals on Thursday from $133.731 million the previous day.
On the positive side, Nigeria’s external reserves moved closer to a 2009 high of $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about the local currency outlook in the second half of 2026.
This improvement has been helped by heightened global uncertainty, which has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices extended steep weekly losses as the broader artificial-intelligence trade that has driven global risk assets since 2026 faltered.
The sell-off was led by equity and currency markets, with semiconductor stocks, Asian indexes and several regional currencies sliding in a broad risk-off shift.
Persistent outflows from US spot Bitcoin ETFs and a rare BTC sale by Strategy have removed a key source of support, leaving markets focused on Friday’s US jobs report for clues on Federal Reserve policy and the fate of the AI trade. The most valued coin slipped 3.6 per cent to $61,914.58.
Cardano (ADA) plunged by 17.6 per cent to $0.1630, Solana (SOL) declined by 7.0 per cent to $65.69, Ethereum (ETH) slipped by 6.9 per cent to $1,666.13, Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 6.5 per cent to $0.8445, and Ripple (XRP) crashed by 6.5 per cent to $1.11.
Further, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 4.3 per cent to $581.45, and TRON (TRX) dropped 1.9 per cent to sell at $0.3261, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) gained 0.01 per cent each to sell at $0.9990 and $0.9998, respectively.
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