Economy

Federal Reserve Decision in Focus on Wall Street

Published

6 years ago

01/08/2018

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a mixed opening on Wednesday as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve?s monetary policy announcement.

Traders may be reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the Fed?s announcement of its latest monetary policy decision, which is due at 2 pm ET.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but the accompany statement could provide clues about the outlook for rates.

At its June meeting, the Fed raised interest rates by 25 basis points to a range of 1.75 percent to 2 percent and forecast two additional rate hikes this year.

Traders are also digesting the latest news regarding the escalating trade dispute between the U.S. and China, the world?s two largest economies.

Reports said President Donald Trump?s administration is considering raising the proposed tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 percent from the 10 percent announced last month.

A spokesman for China?s Foreign Ministry responded by accusing the U.S. of ?blackmail? and warning of inevitable countermeasures if the U.S. takes further escalatory steps.

Stocks showed a strong move to the upside in morning trading on Tuesday and managed to hold on to most of their gains throughout the afternoon. The upward move on the day came on the heels of the notable weakness seen in the previous session.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels of the day but still closed firmly in positive territory. The Dow rose 108.36 points or 0.4 percent to 25,415.19, the Nasdaq advanced 41.78 points or 0.6 percent to 7,671.79 and the S&P 500 climbed 13.69 points or 0.5 percent to 2,816.29.

The strength on Wall Street came following a report from Bloomberg indicating the U.S. and China are trying to restart talks aimed at averting a full-blown trade war.

Citing two people familiar with the effort, Bloomberg said representatives for U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He are having private conversations.

The two people cautioned that a specific timetable, the issues to be discussed and the format for talks aren’t finalized, Bloomberg said.

Traders were also digesting the latest batch of U.S. economic data, including a report from the Commerce Department showing personal income and spending both increased in line with economist estimates in the month of June.

The report said personal income climbed by 0.4 percent in June, matching the increase seen in May as well as expectations.

The Commerce Department said personal spending also rose by 0.4 percent in June after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.5 percent in May.

Economists had expected spending to increase by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.2 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report from the Conference Board showed a modest rebound in consumer confidence in the month of July.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index inched up to 127.4 in July from an upwardly revised 127.1 in June. Economists had expected the index to rise to 127.0 from the 126.4 originally reported for the previous month.

Telecom stocks saw considerable strength on the day, resulting in a 1.6 percent advance by the NYSE Arca Telecom Index. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in well over four months.

Significant strength was also visible among transportation stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones Transportation Average.

Matson (MATX), FedEx (FDX), and Landstar Systems (LSTR) turned in some of the transportation sector’s best performances.

Tobacco, real estate, and biotechnology stocks also saw notable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Economy

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

Published

21 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

1 day 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

1 day 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.