Economy

Downward Momentum Persists Amid Lingering Concerns About Economy, Trade

Published

7 years ago

17/12/2018

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Monday, with stocks likely to see further downside following the sell-off seen last Friday.

The downward momentum on Wall Street comes amid lingering concerns about global economic growth as well as continued uncertainty about trade between the U.S. and China.

Traders may also be on edge ahead of the Federal Reserve?s highly anticipated monetary policy announcement scheduled for Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another quarter point, although traders are likely to closely scrutinize the central bank?s accompanying statement and forecasts for clues about future rate hikes.

Negative sentiment may also be generated in reaction to a report from the New York Federal Reserve showing a substantial slowdown in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in the month of December.

Stocks have recently seen considerable volatility, however, suggesting an early move to the downside may not be the end of the day?s story for the markets.

Following the lackluster performance in the previous session, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Friday. The Dow and the S&P 500 tumbled to their lowest closing levels in seven and eight months, respectively.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but remained firmly negative. The Dow plunged 496.87 points or 2 percent to 24,100.51, the Nasdaq nosedived 159.67 points or 2.3 percent to 6,910.67 and the S&P 500 plummeted 50.59 points or 1.9 percent to 2,599.95.

With the steep losses on the day, the major averages also moved lower for the week. The Nasdaq slid by 0.8 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 slumped by 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid renewed concerns about the outlook for global economic growth following the release of data showing disappointing industrial output and retail sales growth in China.

The latest batch of economic data showed Chinese industrial output grew at its slowest pace in nearly three years, increasing by 5.4 percent in November after growing by 5.9 percent a month earlier.

Meanwhile, retail sales in China grew 8.1 percent in November, the weakest growth since 2003. In October, retail sales were up 8.6 percent.

The slower pace of industrial output and retail sales growth was partly due to the impact of the ongoing trade dispute with the U.S.

President Donald Trump appeared to take credit for China’s disappointing economic data in a post on Twitter on Friday.

“China just announced that their economy is growing much slower than anticipated because of our Trade War with them,” Trump tweeted. “U.S. is doing very well. China wants to make a big and very comprehensive deal. It could happen, and rather soon!”

Trump seemed to reference China’s recently confirmed decision to temporarily lower tariffs on vehicles made in the U.S. to 15 percent from 40 percent.

A report showing growth in the eurozone private sector has decelerated to its slowest pace in more than four years in December added to the negative sentiment.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing slightly weaker than expected retail sales growth in November due to a steep drop in sales by gas stations, although underlying retail sales growth remained strong.

The Commerce Department said retail sales edged up by 0.2 percent in November after spiking by an upwardly revised 1.1 percent in October.

Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.8 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said closely watched core retail sales, which exclude autos, gasoline, building materials and food services, increased by 0.9 percent in November after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.7 percent in October.

“Along with the continued strength of the labor market, the boost to real incomes from the recent plunge in gasoline prices appears to be providing a big support to spending growth, which could continue for a few more months,” said Andrew Hunter, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics.

He added, “Nonetheless, with the earlier boost from tax cuts now fading and rising interest rates likely to become an increasing drag, we still expect consumption growth to slow next year.”

A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed a much bigger than expected increase in industrial production in November, but manufacturing output was unchanged.

Oil service stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, extending a recent sell-off. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index plunged by 4.3 percent to its lowest closing level in fifteen years. The continued weakness among oil service stocks came amid a steep stop by the price of crude oil.

Significant weakness was also visible among pharmaceutical stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) posted a steep loss after a report from Reuters said the healthcare giant knew for decades that its talcum baby powder supply contained asbestos.

Natural gas, software, retail and gold stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day amid a broad based sell-off on Wall Street.

Economy

NASD Index Closes Flat Despite Three Price Gainers

Published

2 hours ago

15/01/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Wednesday, January 14, with the key performance indicators like the market capitalisation and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) remaining unchanged at N2.2 trillion and 3,678.13 points, respectively.

This happened despite the alternative stock market recording three price gainers led by Nipco Plc, which appreciated by N21.42 to sell at N235.90 per share compared with the N214.48 per share achieved a day earlier.

Further, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc improved its value by 84 Kobo to close at N40.97 per unit versus N40.13 per unit, and IPWA Plc expanded by 12 Kobo to finish at N1.35 per share, in contrast to Tuesday’s price of N1.23 per share.

During the trading session, the price of Food Concepts Plc went down by 31 Kobo to end at N3.06 per unit compare with the preceding day’s N3.37 per unit.

Yesterday, there was a 71.6 per cent drop in the value of transactions to N24.4 million from the N86.1 million recorded in the previous day, same as the volume of transactions, which shrank by 60.3 per cent to 645,002 units from the 1.6 million units posted in the previous day, as the number of deals depreciated by 71.6 per cent to 19 deals from 67 deals.

When the market closed for the day, CSCS Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 2.6 million units for N102.5 million, followed by MRS Oil Plc with a turnover of 265,748 units valued at N53.1 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc with 6.4 million units worth N43.4 million.

Geo-Fluids Plc ended the day as the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 6.4 million units traded for N43.4 million, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with a turnover of 3.1 million units valued at N1.9 million, and CSCS Plc with 2.6 million units sold for N102.5 million.

Economy

Naira Crashes to N1,420/$1 at Official FX Market

Published

2 hours ago

15/01/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira crashed against the United States Dollar on Wednesday, January 14 by 38 Kobo or 0.03 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) to N1,420.04/$1, in contrast to the N1,419.66/$1 it was traded a day earlier.

Despite the decline in the daily value of the Naira against the greenback in the official FX market, the near-term projection indicate that with continued support by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), stronger external inflows from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), and improving current account dynamics, the local currency will remain within projected range.

The country’s external reserves continued to swell as it added $40.26 million to the previous day’s balance, bringing total reserves to $45.78 billion.

Data showed that the domestic currency firmed up against the Pound Sterling in the spot market by N2.89 to trade at N1,911.09/£1 versus Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,913.98/£1 and gained N1.11 against the Euro to finish at N1,655.48/€1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,656.59/€1.

At the GTBank forex desk, the Nigerian currency gained N4 on the US Dollar to sell for N1,427/$1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,431/$1 but closed flat at the black market at N1,490/$1.

A look at the cryptocurrency market showed that most of the tracked tokens were under pressure as broader financial markets turned cautious of the US-Iran rhetoric, which affect risk assets like crypto.

US President Donald Trump signaled he may delay military action against Iran, easing immediate geopolitical tensions.

With upcoming U.S. economic data unlikely to shift expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut before midyear, traders are watching whether crypto can hold positive positions despite softer equity markets.

During the trading day, Litecoin (LTC) declined by 4.9 per cent to $74.70, Cardano (ADA) slumped by 4.3 per cent to $0.4024, Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 2.6 per cent to $0.1433, Ripple (XRP) slipped by 2.0 per cent to $2.09, Ethereum (ETH) shrank by 0.13 per cent to $3,319.40, and Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 0.05 per cent to $936.13.

On the gainers’ angle, Bitcoin (BTC) led with an appreciation of 2.9 per cent to sell at $96,474.70, and Solana (SOL) grew by 0.3 per cent to $144.49, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.

Economy

Energy Stocks, Others Buoy Customs Street by 0.56%

Published

3 hours ago

15/01/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

It was another trading session in the green territory for Customs Street on Wednesday as it closed higher by 0.56 per cent as investors doubled down on their confidence in the market.

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited rallied despite the consumer goods sector going down by 0.20 per cent due to profit-taking by traders.

According to data, the 6.26 per cent gain recorded by the energy space and the others contributed to the growth achieved by bourse at midweek.

Business Post reports that the commodity index was up by 3.35 per cent, the insurance counter expanded by 0.78 per cent, the banking index grew by 0.05 per cent, and the industrial goods sector advanced by 0.01 per cent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the platform was swollen by 934.63 points to 166,771.95 points from 165,837.32 points as the market capitalisation inflated by N599 billion to N106.781 trillion from N106.182 trillion.

During the session, there were 47 price gainers and 28 price losers, implying a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment.

Academy Press gained 10.00 per cent to close at N8.25, NCR Nigeria improved by 9.98 per cent to N106.30, Tripple G surged by 9.95 per cent to N4.86, Tantalizers rose by 9.93 per cent to N2.99, and McNichols leapt by 9.92 per cent to N7.31.

On the flip side, May and Baker lost 9.79 per cent to trade at N28.55, Coronation Insurance shed 6.76 per cent to settle at N3.31, Livestock Feeds declined by 6.67 per cent to N7.00, PZ Cussons moderated by 6.52 per cent to N54.50, and Eterna gave up 6.30 per cent to quote at N34.20.

It was a quiet market day on Wednesday as the level of activity dropped, as Access Holdings, which led the chart by volume, only transacted 53.4 million shares valued at N1.2 billion, Lasaco Assurance traded 39.0 million stocks worth N100.2 million, Veritas Kapital sold 32.8 million equities for N69.6 million, Tantalizers exchanged 30.1 million shares worth N89.6 million, and Deap Capital traded 28.6 million stocks valued at N114.1 million.

At the close of business, a total of 761.9 million equities worth N29.9 billion exchanged hands in 55,751 deals compared with the 1.1 billion equities valued at N33.6 billion transacted in 49,216 deals on Tuesday, indicating a shortfall in the trading volume and value by 30.74 per cent and 11.01 per cent apiece, and a leap in the number of deals by 13.28 per cent.