Economy

Futures Pointing to Initial Weakness on Wall Street

Published

8 years ago

19/03/2018

By Investors Hub

The major US index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Monday, with stocks poised to add to the losses posted last week.

The downward momentum on Wall Street comes as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve?s highly anticipated monetary policy announcement next Wednesday.

With the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, traders are likely to keep an eye on the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for future rate hikes.

New Fed Chairman Jerome Powell?s first press conference as head of the central bank is also likely to attract considerable attention.

Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Friday following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. The Dow and the S&P 500 spent most of the day in positive territory, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq bounced back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages all eventually closed higher, although the Nasdaq inched up just 0.25 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 7,481.99. The Dow rose 72.85 points or 0.3 percent to 24,946.51, and the S&P 500 edged up 4.68 points or 0.2 percent to 2,751.01.

Despite the upward move on the day, the major averages moved to the downside for the week. While the Dow slumped by 1.5 percent, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq slid by 1.2 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

The higher close on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to reports showing an unexpected improvement in consumer sentiment and a bigger than expected jump in industrial production.

The University of Michigan said the preliminary reading on its consumer sentiment index for March came in at 102.0, up from the final February reading of 99.7. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 99.3.

“Consumer sentiment rose in early March to its highest level since 2004 due to a new all-time record favorable assessment of current economic conditions,” said Richard Curtin, the survey’s chief economist.

A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed a substantial rebound in industrial production in the month of February.

The Fed said industrial production surged up by 1.1 percent in February after dipping by a revised 0.3 percent in January. Economists had expected production to rise by 0.3 percent.

On the other hand, the Commerce Department released a report showing a pullback in new residential construction in the month of February.

The report said housing starts plunged by 7.0 percent to an annual rate of 1.236 million in February after jumping by 10.1 percent to a revised 1.329 million in January.

Economists had expected housing starts to drop by 2.7 percent to a rate of 1.290 million from the 1.326 million originally reported for the previous month.

The Commerce Department said building permits also tumbled by 5.7 percent to a rate of 1.298 million in February after surging up by 5.9 percent to a revised 1.377 million in January.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, had been expected to slump by 5.4 percent to a rate of 1.32 million from the 1.396 million originally reported for the previous month.

Political uncertainty may have kept some traders on the sidelines amid reports President Donald Trump plans to remove national security adviser H.R. McMaster.

The White House has denied the reports, with press secretary Sarah Sanders saying there are “no changes” at the National Security Council.

After falling sharply in the previous session, energy stocks showed a strong move back to the upside on the day. The rebound by energy stocks came amid a significant increase by the price of crude oil.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index surged up by 1.9 percent and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index jumped by 1.5 percent.

Significant strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. With the advance, the index reached its best closing level in well over a month.

Utilities, brokerage, and transportation stocks also moved notably higher on the day, while tobacco stocks showed a substantial move to the downside.

Economy

OTC Securities Exchange Falls 1.31% as Key Stocks Decline

Published

1 hour ago

19/05/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Three bellwether stocks weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.31 per cent on Monday, May 18.

This brought the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 54.71 points to 4,133.70 points from 4,188.41 points, and shrank the market capitalisation by N32.73 billion to N2.473 trillion from N2.506 trillion.

Yesterday, FrieslandCampina Wamco Plc contracted by N12.45 to sell at N146.55 per share compared with last Friday’s closing price of N159.00 per share, Central Securities and Clearing System (CSCS) Plc declined by N2.34 to N70.00 per unit from N72.34 per unit, and NASD Plc lost 50 Kobo to trade at N34.50 per share versus N35.00 per share.

The trio overpowered the N5.56 gained Newrest Asl Plc. This stock ended the trading session at N61.15 per unit, in contrast to the previous session’s N55.59 per unit.

During the trading day, the volume of securities traded by investors slid by 56.1 per cent to 514,142 units from 1.2 million units, and the value of securities dropped 29.8 per cent to close at N17.4 million versus N29.8 million, while the number of deals jumped 12.5 per cent to 27 deals from 24 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 60.8 million units exchanged for N4.1 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.9 million units traded for N1.9 billion.

GNI Plc also ended the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units transacted for N1.2 billion.

Economy

FX Pressure Pushes Naira Lower to N1,373/$1 at Official Market

Published

1 hour ago

19/05/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

It was a horrible day for the Nigerian Naira in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday, May 15, as its value further weakened against the United States Dollar.

In the black market window, the Naira lost N5 against the Dollar yesterday to sell for N1,390/$1 compared with the previous value of N1,385/$1, but at the GTBank forex counter, it remained unchanged at N1,383/$1.

In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), the Nigerian currency depreciated against the greenback by N2.66 or 0.19 per cent to sell for N1,373.70/$1 compared to last Friday’s rate of N1,371.04/$1.

Equally, it fell against the Pound Sterling in the same market segment by N9.05 to trade at N1,839.66/£1 versus N1,830.61/£1, and lost N5.42 on the Euro to close at N1,600.49/€1 versus N1,595.07/€1.

The performance of the local currency during the session indicates early worries despite all signals pointing to stability, amid improved Dollar sales by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with steady, higher oil receipts to bolster the nation’s reserves.

Activity at the market showed that turnover rose 57.3 per cent to $76.29 million on Monday from $48.49 million posted on Friday.

Over the weekend, S&P raised Nigeria’s credit ratings for the first time since 2012 and highlighted improved FX market liquidity and $10 billion turnover recorded in April 2026 as one of the major gains of the CBN-led FX reforms.

The agency said the liberalisation of the exchange rate has bolstered access to foreign currency and enabled a market-driven exchange-rate environment while supporting investor and consumer confidence.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was bullish on Monday as investors monitored developments in the Iran conflict and weighed the impact of surging oil prices on inflation and US interest-rate expectations.

Ethereum (ETH) gained 0.7 per cent to trade at $2,134.10, Cardano (ADA) rose by 0.6 per cent to $0.2515, Solana (SOL) expanded by 0.3 per cent to $85.11, Binance Coin (BNB) jumped 0.2 per cent to $643.29, TRON (TRX) increased by 0.03 per cent to $0.3565, and Bitcoin (BTC) advanced by 0.02 per cent to $76,912.12.

On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 1.5 per cent to $0.1044, and Ripple (XRP) decreased by 0.5 per cent to $1.38, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.

Economy

Customs Street Opens Week Bearish With 0.05% Loss

Published

1 hour ago

19/05/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

A marginal 0.05 per cent loss was recorded by Customs Street on Monday, as sell-offs by market participants remained.

This was driven by the desire of investors to book profits, having witnessed a significant price appreciation on the stocks in their portfolios.

Yesterday, bargain-hunting in the banking space, which resulted in the sector closing 0.17 per cent higher, could not prevent the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited from going down.

Data showed that the consumer goods segment lost 0.26 per cent, the insurance counter depreciated by 0.20 per cent, the industrial goods index shed 0.09 per cent, and the energy industry retreated by 0.03 per cent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) eased by 126.09 points to 250,204.83 points from 250,330.92 points, and the market capitalisation contracted by N81 billion to N160.363 trillion from N160.444 trillion.

NCR Nigeria and Zichis declined by 9.99 per cent each to sell for N161.20 and N26.49, respectively, Industrial and Medical Gases shrank by 9.93 per cent to N38.10, Sovereign Trust Insurance depreciated by 9.86 per cent to N2.65, and DAAR Communications slipped by 9.78 per cent to N2.03.

On the flip side, Oando gained 10.00 per cent to finish at N51.70, University Press also rose by 10.00 per cent to N5.50, Deap Capital soared by 9.96 per cent to N5.96, May and Baker expanded by 9.94 per cent to N52.00, and Trans-Nationwide Express grew by 9.92 per cent to N7.76.

Yesterday, 800.5 million equities worth N37.1 billion exchanged hands in 87,096 deals compared with the 1.1 billion equities valued at N44.3 billion traded in 65,744 deals last Friday. This showed that the number of deals went up by 32.48 per cent, while the trading volume and value went down by 27.23 per cent and 16.25 per cent, respectively.

The most active stock on the first trading session of this week was UBA with a turnover of 65.0 million units worth N2.8 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 57.3 million units for N1.3 billion, Access Holdings sold 42.3 million units valued at N1.1 billion, DAAR Communications exchanged 36.7 million units for N81.8 million, and Secure Electronic Technology transacted 36.6 million units worth N33.0 million.