Economy
Futures Climb Well Off Lows After Consumer Price Data
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures have climbed well off their worst levels of the morning and are currently pointing to a roughly flat opening on Thursday.
The futures were pointing to a sharply lower open earlier in the day but rebounded as treasury yields tumbled following the release of the Labor Department?s report on consumer prices in the month of September.
The Labor Department report showed consumer prices inched up by less than expected in September, while the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 2.3 percent in September from 2.7 percent in August.
Treasury yields have moved notably lower following the release of the data, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note sliding by 5.6 basis points to 3.169 percent.
The pullback by treasury yields may offset some of the recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates that contributed to the sell-off on Wednesday.
Stocks saw substantial weakness during trading on Wednesday following the mixed performances seen in the two previous sessions. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a particularly steep drop, falling to its lowest closing level in over three months.
The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the day just off their lows of the session. The Dow plunged 831.83 points or 3.2 percent to 25,598.74, the Nasdaq plummeted 315.97 points or 4.1 percent to 7,422.05 and the S&P 500 tumbled 94.66 points or 3.3 percent to 2,785.68.
Technology stocks helped to lead the way lower on Wall Street, with Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and Facebook (FB) all posting significant losses on the day.
The sell-off came amid lingering concerns about the outlook for interest rates following a recent increase in treasury yields.
Treasury yields moved higher on the day following the release of a Labor Department report showing a rebound in producer prices in the month of September.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand increased by 0.2 percent in September after edging down by 0.1 percent in August. Economists had expected prices to rise by 0.2 percent.
Excluding decreases in prices for food and energy, core producer prices still rose by 0.2 percent in September after slipping by 0.1 percent in August. The uptick in core prices also matched economist estimates.
The report also said the annual rate of producer price growth slowed to 2.6 percent in September from 2.8 percent in August, although the annual rate of core producer price growth accelerated to 2.5 percent from 2.3 percent.
In comments to reporters on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said he does not like the pace at which the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates.
“I like to see low interest rates,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to depart for a campaign rally in Iowa. “The Fed is doing what they think is necessary, but I don’t like what they’re doing.”
“I will say this: We’re normalizing money, and that’s good,” he added. “But I think we don’t have to go as fast.”
The comments from Trump come after the Fed raised interest rates by a quarter point to 2 to 2.25 percent last month, marking the third rate hike this year.
The Fed’s projections for future rates also pointed to one more increase in rates this year and three rate hikes next year.
Arguing that inflation has been held in check, Trump said he does not want to see Fed policy lead to a slowdown in recent economic growth.
CME Group’s FedWatch tool currently indicates an 81.4 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by another quarter point to 2.25 to 2.5 percent at its December meeting.
Energy stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, with a steep drop by the price of crude oil weighing on the sector.
Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index plummeted by 5.6 percent, while the NYSE Arca Oil Index and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index both slumped by 3.8 percent.
Substantial weakness was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 4.5 percent plunge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index fell to its lowest closing level in over five months.
Transportation stocks also saw significant weakness, dragging the Dow Jones Transportation Average down by 4.1 percent to a nearly three-month closing low.
Networking, retail, computer hardware, and biotechnology stocks also moved notably lower, reflecting broad based weakness on Wall Street.
Meanwhile, gold stocks were among the few groups to buck the downtrend amid an increase by the price of the precious metal.
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.
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.
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.
-
Feature/OPED5 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism8 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz2 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking6 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy2 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking2 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports2 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn
-
Technology4 years agoHow To Link Your MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile Lines to NIN