Economy

Easing Treasury Concerns May Lead To Strength On Wall Street

Published

7 years ago

11/01/2018

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Thursday on the heels of the first losing session of the new year.

Stocks may benefit from easing concerns about treasuries after China dismissed a Bloomberg News report that officials have recommended slowing or halting purchases of U.S. debt.

?The news could quote the wrong source of information, or may be fake news,? China?s State Administration of Foreign Exchange said, according to Reuters.

The SAFE said China has been diversifying its foreign currency reserves investments to help ?safeguard the overall safety of foreign exchange assets and preserve and increase their value.?

After coming under pressure early in the session, stocks regained ground over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day but still closed in negative territory.

The major averages posted modest losses on the day, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closing lower for the first time in 2018. The Dow dipped 16.67 points or 0.1 percent to 25,369.13, the Nasdaq edged down 10.01 points or 0.1 percent to 7,153.57 and the S&P 500 slipped 3.06 points or 0.1 percent to 2,748.23.

Profit taking contributed to the early weakness on Wall Street after the major averages once again climbed to new record closing highs in the previous session.

The report from Bloomberg News indicating Chinese officials have recommended slowing or halting purchases of U.S. Treasuries also weighed on the markets.

People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg the officials believe the market for U.S. government bonds is becoming less attractive relative to other assets.

The officials also think trade tensions between the U.S. and China may provide a reason to slow or stop buying American debt, the people said.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders may have been concerned about missing out on any further upside.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing import prices rose by much less than expected in the month of December.

The Labor Department said import prices inched up by 0.1 percent in December after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.8 percent in November.

Economists had expected import prices to rise by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.7 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

The report also showed an unexpected decrease in export prices, which edged down by 0.1 percent in December after rising by 0.5 percent in November. Export prices had expected to rise by 0.3 percent.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed wholesale inventories increased by slightly more than anticipated in the month of November.

Natural gas stocks showed a significant move to the downside over the course of the trading session, dragging the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index down by 1.4 percent.

The weakness among natural gas stocks came amid a decrease by the price of the commodity, with natural gas for February delivery falling $0.017 to $2.906 per million BTUs.

Considerable weakness was also visible among electronic storage stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. The index pulled back further off the more than two-year closing high it set on Monday.

Semiconductor, railroad, housing, and commercial real estate stocks also saw notable weakness, contributing to the modestly lower close by the broader markets.

On the other hand, airline stocks moved substantially higher, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index climbing by 1.7 percent. The gain by the index came after it close lower for five consecutive sessions.

United Continental (UAL) led the sector higher after the airline reported increases in revenue passenger miles and available seat miles in December.

Gold and banking stocks also moved to the upside on the day, helping to offset the weakness seen in the aforementioned sectors.

Economy

FAAC Disburses 1.727trn to FG, States Local Councils in December 2024

Published

6 hours ago

14/12/2024

Modupe Gbadeyanka

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.

The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.

At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.

According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.

It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.

The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.

The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.

As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.

Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.

Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

Economy

Okitipupa Plc, Two Others Lift Unlisted Securities Market by 0.65%

Published

11 hours ago

14/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.

On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.

Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.

Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.

At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.

In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.

Economy

Naira Trades N1,533/$1 at Official Market, N1,650/$1 at Parallel Market

Published

12 hours ago

14/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1 on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.

The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.

The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.

The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.

Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.

In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.

At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.