Economy
Futures Pointing to Initial Strength on Wall Street
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Thursday following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. The upward momentum on Wall Street comes as traders digest the latest batch of earnings news as well as several U.S. economic reports.
Traders are also likely to keep an eye on developments in Washington, as House Republicans prepare to vote on a revised bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Nonetheless, trading activity may be somewhat subdued ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
After spending much of the day in negative territory, the major averages ended Wednesday’s trading mixed following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement. While the Dow managed to creep into positive territory, the Nasdaq pulled back off yesterday’s record closing high.
The Dow inched up 8.01 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 20,957.90, while the Nasdaq fell 22.82 points or 0.4 percent to 6,072.55 and the S&P 500 edged down 3.04 points or 0.1 percent to 2,388.13.
The mixed close by the major averages came following the Federal Reserve’s widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged.
After a two-day meeting, the Fed said it decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at $0.75 to 1 percent.
The accompanying statement said recent data indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen even as growth in economic activity slowed.
The Fed said it views the slowing in economic growth during the first quarter as likely to be transitory and called the near-term risks to the economic outlook roughly balanced.
The central bank also reiterated that it expects economic conditions will evolve in a manner that will warrant gradual increases in interest rates.
Earlier in the day, some negative sentiment was generated in reaction to quarterly results from tech giant Apple (AAPL), which reported better than expected second quarter earnings but weaker than expected revenues and iPhone shipments.
Apple also announced a 10.5 percent increase to its quarterly dividend and a $35 billion addition to its stock buyback program.
On the economic front, payroll processor ADP released a report showing that private sector employment increased roughly in line with economist estimates in the month of April.
ADP said private sector employment climbed by 177,000 jobs in April after surging up by a revised 255,000 in March.
Economists had expected employment to increase by 175,000 jobs compared to the jump of 263,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
A separate report from the Institute for Supply Management showed that activity in the service sector grew at a faster than expected rate in the month of April.
The ISM said its non-manufacturing index rose to 57.5 in April from 55.2 in March, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the service sector. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 55.8.
Steel stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index down by 3.2 percent.
Allegheny Technologies (ATI), Ryerson (RYI), and Olympic Steel (ZEUS) turned in some of the steel sector’s worst performances.
Considerable weakness was also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 3.1 percent slump by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index. The index tumbled to its lowest closing level in a month.
Frontier Communications (FTR) fell sharply after reporting a wider than expected first quarter loss and cutting its quarterly dividend.
Commercial real estate and chemical stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, while some strength emerged among banking stocks.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Senate has passed a bill to repeal and re-enact the law establishing the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), paving the way for the regulatory agency to be renamed the Insurance Regulatory Commission (IRC).
The legislation, titled the Insurance Regulatory Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2026, was passed after the Senate considered and adopted the report of its committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru, the senator representing Lagos East, who presented the report, stated that the proposed legislation was necessary because the existing National Insurance Commission Act of 1997 had become outdated and no longer reflected the realities of Nigeria’s evolving insurance industry or global regulatory standards.
According to the Senate, the decision to change the Commission’s name was informed by the need to eliminate confusion associated with the existing designation and to better reflect the institution’s regulatory mandate within Nigeria’s insurance industry.
The bill also provides legal protection for the commission and its officers against adverse claims arising from the lawful execution of their statutory duties.
However, he noted that the commission’s enabling law had become obsolete, exposing significant regulatory gaps that required urgent legislative intervention.
‘The current National Insurance Commission Act 1997 is outdated and does not adequately address the emerging economic growth, needs and development of the insurance business,” the lawmaker said.
He explained that the new legislation seeks to strengthen the independence of the commission by empowering it to make regulatory decisions without undue influence in the country’s insurance sector.
According to him, the bill also enhances the commission’s authority to exchange information and collaborate with domestic and international regulatory bodies, issue regulations, guidelines, standards and directives on insurance-related matters, and intervene more effectively in financially distressed insurance companies to protect policyholders and preserve financial stability.
This marks yet another move to strengthen the country’s insurance sector following the enactment of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) of 2025 and the industry-wide recapitalisation exercise, which will wrap up by July 31.
By Adedapo Adesanya
About 143 companies that successfully passed the technical and prequalification stages of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s (NUPRC) 2025 Licensing Round will, today, compete for 50 oil and gas blocks at the commercial bid conference in Abuja, the final stage in the allocation process for the assets.
The commission said only the prequalified companies have been invited to attend the event, which will hold at the Conference Centre of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, stressing that participation is strictly by invitation.
The commercial bid conference will determine the successful bidders for oil and gas assets located across Nigeria’s producing and frontier basins.
The 50 blocks comprise 16 onshore blocks and 18 shallow water blocks in the Niger Delta, one deep offshore block, three onshore blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin, and four in the Benue Trough.
According to the commission, the winning bids will be determined through a transparent evaluation process based on clearly defined commercial parameters. These include the signature bonus offered by bidders, the proposed work programme commitment and the level of performance security provided. The final selection will be based on a weighted technical and commercial score.
The licensing round is being conducted under the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which requires a transparent and competitive process for the award of petroleum assets.
NUPRC had announced the commencement of the 2025 Licensing Round on November 11, 2025, before opening the online bid portal on December 1, 2025, to enable interested companies to register and participate in the exercise.
To ensure prospective investors fully understood the requirements, the commission organised a pre-bid conference on January 14, 2026, at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos. The event provided detailed explanations on the licensing guidelines and bidding procedures to registered participants and other stakeholders.
Registration and submission of prequalification documents closed on February 27, 2026, while the prequalification evaluation was completed on March 16, 2026.
NUPRC disclosed that 286 companies initially submitted applications for prequalification.
Following the evaluation process, 196 companies were cleared to participate in the technical and commercial bid stages.
The prequalified 143 companies eventually submitted a total of 200 bids for the available oil and gas blocks. These companies are now set to compete at the commercial bid conference, where the financial offers will be opened and evaluated to determine the eventual winners.
The licensing round is expected to attract fresh investment into Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector, boost exploration activities across both producing and frontier basins, increase crude oil and gas reserves, and support the country’s drive to grow production and government revenue.
It also underscores the regulator’s commitment to implementing a transparent, competitive and investor-friendly licensing regime under the Petroleum Industry Act.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has retained all key monetary policy parameters following the conclusion of its two-day meeting on July 21, 2026, on Tuesday, maintaining its tight monetary policy stance to curb inflation and support macroeconomic stability.
According to the Governor of the apex bank, Mr Yemi Cardoso, who chaired the committee, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which serves as the benchmark interest rate, remains at 26.50 per cent. The MPC also retained the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +50 basis points and -450 basis points.
In addition, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks was left unchanged at 45.00 per cent, while the CRR for merchant banks remains at 16.00 per cent. The committee also retained the CRR on non-Treasury Single Account (Non-TSA) public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent, with the liquidity ratio at 30.00 per cent.
The decision reflects the apex bank’s continued commitment to containing inflationary pressures through a restrictive monetary policy while safeguarding the resilience of Nigeria’s financial system amid ongoing macroeconomic adjustments.
By keeping all policy tools unchanged, the MPC signalled its intention to continue managing excess liquidity in the banking sector and maintain stability in financial markets.
The move is also expected to provide greater policy certainty for investors and businesses monitoring the country’s monetary policy direction.
The latest decision also means borrowing costs are likely to remain elevated in the near term as the central bank continues to prioritise price stability over monetary easing.
Analysts had expected the CBN committee to retain the rate after Nigeria’s headline inflation came in at 15.91 per cent as of June 2026, marking a slight decline from 15.93 per cent in May.
However, even as overall price growth has moderated significantly compared to previous periods, food inflation remains a persistent challenge, accelerating to 17.52 per cent in June.
