Economy
Futures Climb Off Worst Levels But Still Point to Lower Open
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures have climbed off their worst levels of the morning but currently continue to point to a modestly lower opening on Thursday following the strength seen on Wall Street over the two previous sessions.
A negative reaction to quarterly results from Morgan Stanley (MS) may generate early selling pressure, with the financial giant down by 3.7 percent in pre-market trading.
Morgan Stanley is likely to see initial weakness after reporting fourth quarter earnings and revenues that came in below analyst estimates.
Renewed trade concerns may also weigh on Wall Street after a report from the Wall Street Journal said federal prosecutors are pursuing a criminal investigation of China?s Huawei Technologies for allegedly stealing trade secrets from U.S. partners.
However, the futures regained ground following the release of a report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve showing a significant acceleration in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in the month of January.
Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, adding to the gains posted on Tuesday. With the continued upward move, the major averages reached their best closing levels in a month.
The major averages ended the day in positive territory but well off their highs of the session. The Dow climbed 141.57 points or 0.6 percent to 24,207.16, the Nasdaq rose 10.86 points or 0.2 percent to 7,034.69 and the S&P 500 edged up 5.80 points or 0.2 percent to 2,616.10.
The continued strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from financial giants Bank of America (BAC) and Goldman Sachs (GS).
Shares of Bank of America moved sharply higher trading after the company reported fourth quarter results that beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Goldman Sachs also saw substantial strength after reporting fourth quarter earnings and revenues that exceeded expectations.
Buying interest was somewhat subdued, however, as traders continued to express uncertainty about the ongoing government shutdown.
Stocks remained mostly positive after British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government survived a vote of no confidence in parliament.
The U.K.’s House of Commons defeated the motion raised by the leader of the main opposition Labour party Jeremy Corbyn by a vote of 325 to 306. The no-confidence vote came a day after May’s Brexit deal was voted down 432 to 202.
The Federal Reserve also released its Beige Book this afternoon, with the report saying economic activity has continued to increase in most of the U.S. but also hinting at a deterioration in optimism.
The Beige Book, a compilation of anecdotal evidence on economic conditions in the twelve Fed districts, said eight of the twelve districts reported modest to moderate growth.
Looking ahead, the Beige Book said outlooks generally remained positive, although many districts reported that contacts had become less optimistic.
The drop in optimism reflected increased financial market volatility, rising short-term interest rates, falling energy prices, and elevated trade and political uncertainty.
In other U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing another steep drop in import prices in the month of December, reflecting a continued nosedive in fuel prices
The Labor Department said import prices tumbled by 1.0 percent in December after plunging by a revised 1.9 percent in November.
Economists had expected import prices to plummet by 1.3 percent compared to the 1.6 percent slump originally reported for the previous month.
The report said export prices also fell by 0.6 percent in December after sliding by a revised 0.8 percent in November. The drop in export prices matched economist estimates.
A separate report from the National Association of Home Builders showed an unexpected improvement in homebuilder confidence in January.
The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose to 58 in January after slumping to 56 in December. Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged.
The notable decrease seen in the previous month dragged the housing market index down its lowest level since hitting 54 in May of 2015.
Financial stocks turned in some of the market’s best performances on the day following the results from industry giants Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.
Reflecting the strength in the financial sector, the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index and the KBW Bank Index surged up by 2.9 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.
Notable strength was also visible among steel stocks, resulting in a 1.1 percent advance by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.
On the other hand, computer hardware stocks came under considerable selling pressure, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 1.9 percent.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited returned to green territory on Friday, closing higher by 0.10 per cent after investor sentiment turned bullish.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive yesterday after the bourse ended with 29 appreciating equities and 21 depreciating equities.
Linkage Assurance gained 10.00 per cent to trade at N1.43, Livestock Feeds appreciated by 9.93 per cent to N8.41, Mutual Benefits jumped by 9.84 per cent to 67 Kobo, UBA soared by 5.75 per cent to N36.80, and Oando grew by 5.59 per cent to N51.00.
Conversely, Red Star Express lost 9.91 per cent to finish at N4.82, Learn Africa depreciated by 9.85 per cent to N3.02, FTN Cocoa declined by 9.43 per cent to N4.80, Coronation Insurance slumped by 9.39 per cent to N2.22, and Ikeja Hotel slipped by 9.35 per cent to N9.70.
Customs Street grew yesterday as a result of buying interest in banking equities, which dominated the activity chart, according to data from the bourse.
Fidelity Bank transacted 62.3 million shares for N1.1 billion, Access Holdings traded 38.3 million equities worth N843.7 million, Tantalizers sold 32.0 million stocks valued at N99.2 million, Veritas Kapital exchanged 31.4 million shares worth N38.4 million, and Zenith Bank traded 22.7 million equities valued at N1.1 billion.
At the close of trades, a total of 397.2 million stocks worth N14.2 billion exchanged hands in 10,099 deals compared with the 310.5 million stocks valued at N6.3 billion traded in 10,182 deals a day earlier, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 0.82 per cent, and the growth in the trading volume and value by 27.92 per cent and 125.40 per cent, respectively.
The industrial goods and commodity sectors remained unchanged during the session, the insurance and consumer goods indices tumbled by 0.49 per cent and 0.02 per cent apiece, while the energy and banking counters went up by 0.50 per cent and 0.12 per cent, respectively.
The bargain-hunting activities of the market participants lifted the All-Share Index (ASI) on Friday by 104.19 points to 104,962.96 points from 104,858.77 points and the market capitalisation increased by N66 billion to N65.820 trillion from N65.754 trillion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The last trading session this week at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange ended on a negative note with a 0.44 per cent decline on Friday, March 21.
The market capitalisation of the OTC securities exchange went down by N8.67 billion to N1.939 trillion from N1.948 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) ended the session at 3,358.61 points after dropping 15.01 points from the preceding day’s 3,373.62 points.
Trading data showed an increase of 50.7 per cent in the volume of securities transacted to 304,188 units from the 201,873 units transacted in the previous trading day, the value of transactions surged by 1,214.8 per cent to N10.2 million from N776,509.51, and the number of deals rose by 88.2 per cent to 32 deals from 17 deals.
Yesterday, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N1.84 to trade at N37.17 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N39.01 per share, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc depreciated by N1.01 to sell at N22.84 per unit compared with the preceding day’s N213.85 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc declined by 2 Kobo to close the day at N19.50 per share versus the previous session’s N19.52 per share.
At the close of trading activities, Impresit Bakolori Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with a turnover of 69.9 million units valued at N23.7 million, and Geo Fluids Plc with 44.1 million units sold for N88.9 million.
Similarly, Impresit Bakolori Plc was the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with the sale of 13.2 million units valued at N511.8 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 17.6 million units sold for N360.1 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, March 21 by N2.72 or 0.18 per cent to settle at N1,537.05/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,534.33/1$.
In the same official FX market, the exchange rate of the Nigerian Naira and the Pound Sterling and the Euro remained unchanged at N1,972.89/£1 and N1,657.81/€1, respectively.
At the parallel market segment, the local currency tumbled against the Dollar during the trading session by N5 to trade at N1,590/$1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,585/$1.
The pressure on the market continued as the Dollar strengthened in the international market, making currencies like the Naira weaker.
The continuous downward trend of the Naira has raised concerns about the effectiveness of recent injections into the market even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) channeled more than $55 million into the banks during the week.
In the cryptocurrency market, most tokens as prices inversed with the wider financial markets, which are down on tariff worries and decreased corporate earnings.
On the regulatory front, the US government is moving towards a market structure bill that has been touted as historic.
Solana (SOL) appreciated by 1.2 per cent to sell at $129.31, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 0.9 per cent to $0.1692, Ethereum (ETH) went up by 0.9 per cent to $1,988.34, and Ripple (XRP) added 0.8 per cent to close at $2.40.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.6 per cent to $84,293.76, Binance Coin (BNB) increased by 0.4 per cent to $631.94, and Cardano jumped by 0.3 per cent to end at $0.7134.
On the flip side, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 1.8 per cent to $91.25, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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