Economy
Inflation Data May Impact Early Trading 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 some further upside following the strong gains posted in the previous session.
The futures remained positive following the release of a Labor Department report showing a slightly smaller than expected increase in consumer prices in the month of April.
After ending Tuesday?s trading roughly flat, stocks showed a notable move to the upside during the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages all climbed firmly into positive territory after closing on opposite sides of the unchanged line on Tuesday.
The major averages closed significantly higher but off their best levels of the day. The Dow advanced 182.19 points or 0.8 percent to 24,542.40, the Nasdaq jumped 73.00 points or 1 percent to 7,339.90 and the S&P 500 surged up 25.87 points or 1 percent to 2,697.79.
The strength on Wall Street was partly due to a sharp increase by the price of crude oil following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump harshly criticized the nuclear agreement with Iran in remarks from the White House and signed a memorandum re-imposing sanctions on Iran.
“I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal,” Trump said. “We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanctions.”
“The United States no longer makes empty threats,” added Trump, who criticized the deal throughout his presidential campaign. “When I make promises, I keep them.”
Energy stocks moved significantly higher along with the price of crude oil. Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index surged up by 2.4 percent, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index jumped by 2.2 percent and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index advanced by 1.4 percent.
Significant strength was also visible among chemical stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent gain posted by the S&P Chemical Sector Index. The index reached its best closing level in well over a month.
Financial, biotechnology and semiconductor stocks also saw notable strength on the day, while housing and utilities stocks moved to the downside.
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest uptick in producer prices in the month of April.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand inched up by 0.1 percent in April after rising by 0.3 percent in March. Economists had expected prices to edge up by 0.2 percent.
Excluding food and energy prices, core producer prices rose by 0.2 percent in April after climbing by 0.3 percent in the previous month. The increase in core prices matched economist estimates.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
