Economy
Downward Momentum Persists Amid Lingering Concerns About Economy, Trade
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.
By Adedapo Adesanya
African business mogul, Mr Aliko Dangote, has offered some East African countries a combined 30 per cent equity stake in his proposed oil refinery in Kenya, potentially giving regional investors access to about $1.5 billion worth of the project.
Mr David Ndii, economic adviser to Kenyan President William Ruto, disclosed this on Thursday at a capital markets forum in Nairobi.
Mr Ndii said Kenya would take a 10 per cent stake in the proposed refinery, valued at about $500 million, while Ethiopia and Rwanda had also expressed interest in participating in the project.
“The total for the region is about $1.5 billion,” Mr Ndii said, adding that Mr Dangote was prepared to support the project if some participating countries were unable to commit as crude off-takers.
The proposed refinery is expected to be developed in Lamu, a coastal town in southeastern Kenya, after Dangote initially proposed building the facility in Tanga, Tanzania.
Business Post had reported that the decision to relocate the project to Kenya was based on commercial and technical considerations.
The planned refinery would mark an expansion of Dangote’s refining operations beyond Nigeria and provide East African countries with direct equity participation in a major energy infrastructure project, alongside potential access to refined petroleum products.
The project was initially announced for Tanzania, where Dangote had proposed building a refinery in Tanga similar to his 700,000-barrel-per-day facility in Lagos.
Mr Dangote announced the Tanzania plan during a panel session at the Africa Finance Corporation summit in Nairobi, where he appeared alongside President Ruto and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
The project was subsequently shifted from Tanga to Lamu, with Dangote citing commercial and technical considerations for the change. Also, the Tanzanian government said it wasn’t consulted before the decision was announced.
The anticipated refinery and associated infrastructure on Kenya’s coast could cost about $17 billion and take approximately five years to complete.
The proposed 30 per cent regional stake is expected to provide East African investors with significant participation in the development of the refinery while broadening Dangote’s refining footprint across the continent. It will also help shield against shocks like the disruptions in the Middle East.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Civic-tech organisation, BudgIT, has called on the federal government to urgently address persistent weaknesses in budget execution, public auditing and procurement disclosure ahead of the 2027 budget cycle.
BudgIT, in a reaction to the United States Department of State’s 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, said the assessment exposed significant gaps in Nigeria’s management and disclosure of public finances and should serve as a catalyst for comprehensive reforms ahead of the 2027 budget cycle.
The American report, which assessed Nigeria’s fiscal transparency practices between January 1 and December 31, 2025, placed the country among 67 of the 140 governments and entities reviewed that failed to meet minimum fiscal transparency requirements. Of the 67 governments that failed to meet the requirements, only 14 were assessed to have made significant progress in addressing identified deficiencies. Nigeria was not among those countries.
BudgIT said although the Fiscal Transparency Report focused specifically on fiscal disclosure and should not be regarded as a comprehensive assessment of all public financial management reforms being undertaken in Nigeria, its findings raised serious concerns about the credibility and accessibility of government financial information.
According to the organisation, the assessment reinforced longstanding concerns surrounding the quality of budget implementation reports, the independence and effectiveness of Nigeria’s audit institutions and the availability of public procurement information.
BudgIT said these shortcomings went beyond technical issues because they directly affected citizens’ ability to understand how government raises, allocates and spends public resources.
One of the major concerns identified in the US assessment was the inability of Nigeria’s budget documents to provide a substantially complete picture of government revenues and expenditures.
The report also found that actual government revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond with the enacted budget, raising questions about the credibility of the budget as a framework for fiscal planning and accountability.
BudgIT argued that a budget should not merely be an annual statement of government intentions but should provide a credible framework through which government communicates its fiscal priorities and commits public resources.
The organisation expressed particular concern that, despite the federal government’s continued publication of budget documents, actual budget implementation reporting remains inadequate.
BudgIT noted that publishing approved budget figures was not enough, stressing that the government must provide timely, consolidated and comprehensive information on actual revenue collection and expenditure.
It also pointed to Nigeria’s adoption of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) since 2016, arguing that the principles of transparency and accountability embedded in internationally accepted public-sector financial reporting should be reflected in the quality, timeliness and completeness of Nigeria’s fiscal reports.
The organisation also highlighted weaknesses in the country’s audit architecture. The US assessment found that the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation does not meet international standards of independence and has not published substantive audit reports as required.
BudgIT said an effective supreme audit institution is essential to ensuring accountability because it independently assesses how public resources have been utilised and whether government spending complies with approved appropriations and applicable laws.
It warned that without adequate institutional independence and the timely publication of audit findings, the National Assembly, civil society organisations and citizens would be deprived of an important mechanism for scrutinising public expenditure.
BudgIT therefore called for the completion of long-overdue reforms to Nigeria’s audit framework, stressing that the continued reliance on an outdated legal framework for public auditing constrains the Auditor-General’s ability to operate with the independence, authority and institutional capacity required in a modern public financial management system.
The US report also found that accessible information on public procurement contracts was not sufficiently available to the public.
BudgIT said citizens should be able to follow the procurement process from the publication of procurement opportunities through bidding, contract award, execution and completion.
Commenting on the report, BudgIT’s Head of Research and Policy Advisory, Mrs Adejoke Akinbode, said the federal government should use Nigeria’s second consecutive failure to meet the US minimum fiscal transparency requirements as an opportunity to undertake a comprehensive review of the country’s fiscal disclosure architecture ahead of the 2027 budget cycle.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc again pulled down the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Thursday, August 20, by 1.11 per cent.
The securities depository company further lost N5.93 during the trading session to close at N82.20 per share versus the midweek closing price of N88.12 per share.
As a result, the NASD Security Index (NSI) slid by 48.25 points to 4,284.84 points from 4,333.09 points, and trimmed the bourse’s market capitalisation by N28.96 billion to N2.571 trillion from N2.60 trillion.
During the trading day, the price of Afriland Properties Plc went up by 50 Kobo to N20.50 per unit from N20.00 per unit.
Yesterday, the volume of securities transacted by investors slumped by 85.1 per cent to 112,218 units from 747,429 units, the value of securities fell by 95.2 per cent to 4.6 million from 9.4 million, and the number of deals decreased by 40.5 per cent to 25 deals from 42 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 79.9 million units worth N5.8 billion.
GNI Plc also finished the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units transacted for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
