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, with stocks likely to see further upside following the rebound seen over the course of the previous session.
The markets may benefit from easing concerns about a potential trade war between the U.S. and China, which have recently led to considerable volatility on Wall Street.
The U.S. and China have recently engaged in tit-for-tat tariff announcements, although traders seem optimistic that the threats are only a precursor to negotiations of a trade agreement between the two countries.
Nonetheless, overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued as traders look ahead to the release of the Labor Department?s more closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
Employment is expected to increase by 198,000 jobs in March after spiking by 313,000 jobs in February. The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 4.0 percent from 4.1 percent.
Stocks showed a substantial turnaround over the course of the trading session on Wednesday after moving sharply lower at the open. The major averages climbed well off their lows of the session and firmly into positive territory.
The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but still ended the day sharply higher. The Dow jumped 230.94 points or 1 percent to 24,264.30, the Nasdaq soared 100.83 points or 1.5 percent to 7,042.11 and the S&P 500 surged up 30.24 points or 1.2 percent to 2,644.69.
The rebound on Wall Street came as traders shrugged off trade war concerns that initially weighed on the markets following news China issued a list of 106 U.S. products that will be subject to additional tariffs.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said it plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of U.S. exports, including aircraft, cars, and soybeans.
The announcement by China came shortly after the U.S. Trade Representative published a proposed list of products imported from China that could be subject to additional tariffs.
The publication of the list came after President Donald Trump announced last month that he planned to impose about $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods over intellectual-property violations.
The USTR said the sectors subject to the proposed tariffs include industries such as aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics, and machinery.
While critics have complained the administration’s policies risk starting a trade war, Trump argued in a post on Twitter that the war had already been lost.
“We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S.,” Trump tweeted.
He added, “Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!”
On the U.S. economic front, payroll processor ADP released a report showing stronger than expected private sector job growth in the month of March.
ADP said employment surged up by 241,000 jobs in March after jumping by an upwardly revised 246,000 jobs in February. Economists had expected an increase of about 205,000 jobs.
A separate report from the Institute for Supply Management showed a modest slowdown in the pace of growth in the service sector in the month of March.
The ISM said its non-manufacturing index dipped to 58.8 in March from 59.5 in February, although a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the service sector. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 59.0.
Housing stocks showed a substantial move to the upside over the course of the session, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 3.4 percent.
Lennar (LEN) led the housing sector higher after the homebuilder reported first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Significant strength also emerged among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 2.8 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. The index climbed further off the nearly three-month closing low set on Monday.
Tobacco, telecom, retail and healthcare stocks also moved notably higher as the day progressed, contributing to the turnaround by the broader markets.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Despite signs that Nigeria’s headline inflation is easing, rising food prices continue to threaten the country’s inflation outlook, the chief executive of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Mr Muda Yusuf, has warned.
He noted that structural inflationary pressures in the real economy remain pronounced despite improving macroeconomic stability.
In a policy brief released following the inflation report, he noted that headline inflation eased marginally, while month-on-month change moderated from 1.75 per cent to 1.66 per cent, indicating that headline inflation has largely plateaued.
According to him, the dominant concern in the latest inflation report is the renewed acceleration in food inflation.
This growth, he said, suggested that food prices have resumed an upward trajectory after a brief period of moderation.
Warning that a renewed increase in food inflation has significant economic and social implications, he stressed that food inflation remained the biggest driver of Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis, stressing that rising food prices continue to erode household purchasing power, worsen poverty and food insecurity while weakening the inclusiveness of the current reform programme.
He maintained that sustained moderation in food prices is critical to improving citizens’ welfare and strengthening public confidence in the ongoing economic reforms.
Acknowledging the easing of core inflation as encouraging, he drew attention to the persistence of urban inflation.
At 16.08 per cent, urban inflation exceeded the national headline inflation rate of 15.91 per cent, while month-on-month urban inflation increased from 1.99 per cent to 2.13 per cent.
According to Mr Yusuf, the figures indicated that inflationary pressures remained particularly intense across urban centres.
He attributed the rising urban inflation partly to increasing population displacement from rural communities affected by insecurity, expressing worry that as more households migrate to urban areas, demand for housing, transportation, utilities and other essential services would increase, adding to inflationary pressures and creating additional urbanisation challenges.
Addressing insecurity in farming communities, he said, was important not only for protecting lives and property and boosting agricultural output but also for easing cost pressures in urban centres, adding that the June CPI data reinforced the view that Nigeria’s inflation challenge is predominantly structural rather than monetary.
On the monetary policy outlook, he said the data do not justify further monetary tightening, arguing that headline inflation has largely stabilised.
The CPPE chief expected the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to retain the current monetary policy rate at its next meeting, adding that the priority is for monetary and fiscal authorities to work together to accelerate structural reforms to expand food supply, improve logistics, reduce energy and production costs, lower debt service costs, as well as strengthen domestic value chains.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Additional shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The new equities were added to the company’s existing stocks on Customs Street on Thursday, July 16, 2026, a notice from the bourse confirmed.
Business Post reports the total new ordinary shares of Sterling Holdings listed yesterday were 13,812,239,000 units.
They were from the offer for subscription of 12,581,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each sold for N7.00 per share, which was oversubscribed by investors.
The financial institution brought the new shares to the stock exchange to increase its total issued and fully paid-up shares to 65,929,251,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each from 52,117,012,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.
“Trading licence holders are hereby notified that an additional 13,812,239,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc were on Thursday, July 16, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
“The additional shares listed on NGX arose from the company’s offer for subscription of 12,581,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N7.00 per share.
“With the listing of the additional shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc have now increased from 52,117,012,414 to 65,929,251,414 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each,” the notice read.
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu has signed a Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, establishing a new framework to coordinate the regulation of virtual assets across government agencies as Nigeria seeks to curb fraud while supporting innovation in the digital economy.
The Executive Order, which takes immediate effect, creates a Virtual Asset Council chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to harmonise oversight of cryptocurrencies, tokenised assets, stablecoins, and other digital assets without creating a new regulator.
As part of the new framework, the CBN will establish a regulatory sandbox that will allow eligible firms to test virtual asset products, blockchain solutions, and related services under regulatory supervision before they are introduced to the wider market.
The development was disclosed in a statement issued on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga.
According to the presidency, the Executive Order responds to the growing complexity of virtual assets, which increasingly cut across the traditional boundaries of currencies, securities, commodities, and payment systems.
The fragmented regulatory environment has left gaps that have exposed Nigeria to money laundering, terrorism financing, cybersecurity and data privacy risks, fraud, and revenue losses.
The government said some unregistered operators have exploited these regulatory gaps to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians, resulting in significant financial losses.
“The Order is designed to close these gaps through supervisory coordination, without introducing new layers of regulation or displacing the mandates of existing agencies,” the statement read.
Under the new framework, the Virtual Asset Council will be chaired by the CBN, with the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) serving as vice chairs. Other members include the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The Council will provide policy direction, improve cooperation among participating agencies, and work with the Attorney General of the Federation to develop a harmonised legal and institutional framework for the sector.
The Executive Order also establishes a Virtual Asset Office, which will serve as the Council’s operational arm. The office will be domiciled at the CBN and will coordinate information sharing, applications, and reporting among the participating agencies through a shared supervisory technology platform.
The presidency stressed that the Executive Order does not create a new regulator or transfer statutory powers from existing agencies, clarifying that instead, each institution will continue to exercise its existing mandate while working within a coordinated framework.
Under the arrangement, registration of virtual asset businesses will depend on the nature of the service being offered.
Activities classified as securities will continue to be regulated by the SEC, while payment, settlement, custody, and other services involving non-security virtual assets will fall under the CBN.
Where there is uncertainty over regulatory jurisdiction, the Virtual Asset Council will determine the appropriate supervising agency.
“The sandbox will provide a controlled environment in which eligible operators can test and operate virtual asset products, services, and blockchain-based solutions under close supervision, enabling the participating agencies to assess the implications for monetary sovereignty, financial stability, market integrity, consumer protection, financial inclusion, and revenue administration before products reach the wider market,” the statement added.
According to the presidency, the sandbox will enable regulators to evaluate the implications of emerging products for financial stability, monetary sovereignty, consumer protection, financial inclusion, market integrity, and revenue administration.
The central bank is expected to announce further details of the sandbox.
