Economy
Interest Rate Worries May Weigh On US Shares
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Thursday, with stocks likely to move back to the downside following the modest rebound seen in the previous session.
The futures saw further downside following the release of a report from the Labor Department showing a sharp jump in labor costs in the fourth quarter.
The Labor Department said unit labor costs spiked by 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter after slipping by a revised 0.1 percent in the third quarter. Economists had expected costs to climb by 0.8 percent.
The data may raise concerns about the outlook for interest rates after the Federal Reserve predicted inflation would move up this year and stabilize around its 2 percent objective over the medium term.
Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Wednesday after failing to sustain an early move to the upside. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before closing modestly higher.
The major averages finished the session in positive territory after closing lower for two straight days. The Dow rose 72.50 points or 0.3 percent to 26,149.39, the Nasdaq inched up 9.00 points or 0.1 percent to 7,411.48 and the S&P 500 crept up 1.38 points or 0.1 percent to 2,823.81.
The modestly higher close on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged.
The Fed’s accompanying statement was seen as slightly more hawkish, reinforcing expectations the central bank will raise rates at its next meeting in March.
In the statement, the Fed said data received since its last meeting in December indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been rising at a solid rate.
The central bank reiterated that it expects economic conditions to evolve in a manner that will warrant further gradual increases in the federal funds rate.
“Janet Yellen’s final policy meeting as Fed Chair pretty much summed up her entire tenure; policy was left accommodative but there were hints it will be tightened gradually in the future,” said Michael Pearce, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics.
He added, “The slightly more hawkish language in the statement is enough to confirm expectations of a March hike and adds weight to our view that the Fed will raise rates four times this year.”
On the U.S. economic front, payroll processor ADP released a report showing stronger than expected private sector job growth in the month of January.
ADP said employment in the private sector spiked by 234,000 jobs in January after surging up by a revised 242,000 jobs in December.
Economists had expected an increase of about 185,000 jobs compared to the jump of 250,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
A separate report from the National Association of Realtors showed pending home sales increased for the third consecutive month in December.
NAR said its pending home sales index climbed by 0.5 percent to 110.1 in December after rising by 0.3 percent to an upwardly revised 109.6 in November. Economists had expected the index to increase by 0.4 percent.
Software stocks turned in some of the market’s best performances on the day, resulting in a 1.6 percent advance by the Dow Jones Software Index.
Video game publisher Electronic Arts (EA) posted a standout gain after reporting weaker than expected fiscal third quarter results but providing upbeat guidance for the current quarter.
Considerable strength was also visible among commercial real estate stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent gain posted by the Morgan Stanley REIT Index. The index rebounded after ending the previous session at its lowest closing level in over a year.
Gold and utilities stocks also moved notably higher on the day, while pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and trucking stocks showed significant moves to the downside.
Eli Lilly (LLY) helped to lead the pharmaceutical sector lower even though the drug maker reported better than expected fourth quarter results.
By Dipo Olowookere
The president of Dangote Industries Limited, Mr Aliko Dangote, has disclosed that Nigeria was now self-sufficient in cement and fertilizer, with the surplus being exported to earn foreign exchange (FX), which the country desperately needs to boost the Naira and the economy.
He said the target of his company is to make the nation self-sufficient in whatever it consumes, noting that his Lagos-based refinery is currently meeting domestic demand for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.
After a meeting with the governor of Ogun State, Mr Dapo Abiodun, the industrialist, said he would continue to invest in the country.
Mr Dangote was in Ogun State to finalise plans to build a multi-billion-dollar seaport and two new lines of cement plant with a capacity of 6.0 million metric tons per annum, (Mta) at Itori.
The richest man in Africa said he was attracted to Ogun State because of the investor-friendly climate in the state and the policies of Mr Abiodun.
He recounted how his predecessor, Mr Ibikunle Amosun, frustrated his efforts to invest in Ogun State, saying, “We had earlier abandoned our vision of investing in the Olokola Free Trade Zone (OKFTZ), but because of your policies and investor-friendly environment, I want to say we are back and will work with the state government to return to Olokola, and plans are underway to construct the largest port in the country.”
“Our factory at Itori was pulled down twice. When we started the second time, they not only demolished the factory but also the fence, so we left. But right now, because of His Excellency, our governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, we are back. When you visit the factory, you will be surprised at what we have done,” he stated.
In his remarks, Mr Abiodun described the day the Dangote Refinery groundbreaking was performed in Lagos as “the day of heartbreak for the sons and daughters of Ogun State as they watched helplessly on television.”
But he thanked Mr Dangote for “coming back to Ogun State” to invest after his earlier bad experience, saying, “We welcome your return to the state” to complete the cement factor at Itori.
The Governor emphasized that with the establishment of the Itori cement plant, proposed to produce six million metric tons of cement per annum, and the existing Ibeshe plant, producing 12 million metric tons, cement production in the state would total 18 million metric tons per annum, making it the largest cement producer in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
He lauded the company for not shirking its Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSRs) to the host communities, just as it is currently constructing the Inter-change-Papalato-Ilaro road, assuring that his administration is ready to work with the conglomerate for the good of the state and the nation as a whole.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos has announced the suspension of the sales of petroleum products in Naira.
This action came after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited halted its Naira-for-crude oil agreement with the company and other local refiners.
Last month, the state-owned oil agency said it would stop selling crude oil to Dangote Refinery in Naira from the end of this month, claiming its deals was for six months, from October 2024 to March 2025.
This came after the private refinery triggered a price war with the NNPC, crashing the price of premium motor spirit (PMS) to N825 per litre from its depots.
The NNPC operates in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry but the Dangote Refinery only has partners like MRS Oil, Ardova Plc, and Heyden, which sell its products to customers at retail prices.
In a statement signed by its management of Wednesday, Dangote Refinery it temporarily halted the sale of petroleum products in Naira “to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in U.S. dollars.”
“To date, our sales of petroleum products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude we have received.
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” it stated.
“We remain committed to serving the Nigerian market efficiently and sustainably. As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” the statement emphasised.
The company also debunked reports that it stopped loading from its facility “due to an incident of ticketing fraud.”
Dangote Refinery described these reports as “malicious falsehood,” noting that its systems “are robust and we have had no fraud issues.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
A new survey carried out by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) foresees a gradual drop in Nigeria’s inflation rate over the next six months.
This is contained in its newly released report on inflation expectations for February 2025.
According to the report, businesses and household respondents expect the level of inflation to gradually reduce over the next six months.
The respondents also anticipated lower spending as their expenditure gradually decreased over the next six months.
Further analysis by income distribution indicated that more households earning above N200,000 per month perceived inflation to be moderating.
The survey carried out by the apex bank showed that this is driven by factors such as energy costs, exchange rate, transportation costs, interest rate and insecurity influenced their perception of the inflation rate in the month under review.
The apex bank, however said 65.1 per cent of respondents want a reduction in interest rate by the financial institution.
At the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the policymakers had paused the interest rate at 27.50 per cent.
This may be on course as the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for March said the inflation rate for February dropped to 23.18 per cent year-on-year in February 2025, reflecting a second consecutive monthly decline from the 24.48 per cent recorded in January.
This figure marks a significant 8.52 percentage point decrease from the 31.70 per cent seen in February 2024, following the adoption of a new CPI rebasing methodology which changed the base year to 2024 compared to 2009.
Also, the CBN in its Business Expectations Survey Report for February 2025, listed high interest rates as recording the highest rate with 75 per cent of the respondents.
Insecurity followed with 73.9 per cent, insufficient power supply recorded 73.8 per cent, and high taxes with 73 per cent.
Respondents identified financial challenges as taking 68.5 per cent, with high bank charges recording 76.6 per cent.
-
Feature/OPED5 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism9 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz2 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking7 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