Economy
Key Events Later This Week May Keep Traders on Sidelines
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat opening on Monday as traders look ahead to several key events later this week.
Traders may be reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the announcement of the Federal Reserve?s latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday.
The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, although the accompanying statement and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell?s subsequent press conference are still likely to attract attention.
Traders are also likely to keep a close eye on the Labor Department?s monthly jobs report scheduled to be released on Friday.
Economists expect the report to show an increase of about 180,000 jobs in April compared to the addition of 196,000 jobs in March. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.8 percent.
Reports on consumer confidence, pending home sales, and manufacturing and service sector activity may also impact trading in the coming days.
Traders will also have another slew of earnings news to digest, with Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), General Electric (GE), General Motors (GM), McDonald?s (MCD), Pfizer (PFE), Apple (AAPL), Kraft Heinz (KHC), and DowDuPont (DWDP) among the companies due to report their results this week.
After recovering from an early move to the downside, stocks moved moderately higher over the course of the trading session on Friday. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 ended the session at new record closing highs.
The major averages saw further upside going into the close, ending the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow rose 81.25 points or 0.3 percent to 26,543.33, the Nasdaq climbed 27.72 points or 0.3 percent to 8,146.40 and the S&P 500 advanced 13.71 points or 0.5 percent to 2,939.88.
For the week, the Dow edged down by 0.1 percent, while the Nasdaq soared by 1.9 percent and the S&P 500 surged up by 1.2 percent.
The turnaround on Wall Street came as traders reacted to the Commerce Department’s preliminary reading on first quarter GDP.
The report showed an unexpected acceleration in GDP growth in the first quarter, although economists expressed some concerns about the underlying data.
The Commerce Department said real gross domestic product jumped by 3.2 percent in the first quarter after climbing by 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018.
The acceleration in the pace of growth came as a surprise to economists, who had expected GDP to increase by 2.1 percent.
Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said the much stronger than expected GDP growth would seem to “make a mockery of claims that the U.S. economy is slowing as the fiscal stimulus fades.”
“After all, 3.2% is well above the economy’s 2% potential pace and the 2.2% gain in the final quarter of last year,” Ashworth said. “Looking beyond the headline number, however, there are plenty of causes for concern.”
Ashworth predicted positive contributions from net trade, inventories and highways investment will all be reversed in the coming quarters and continues to expect overall growth to slow this year.
Traders were also reacting to the latest batch of mixed earnings news from big-name companies, with auto giant Ford (F) moving sharply higher after reporting first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Online retail giant Amazon (AMZN) also ended the day firmly in positive territory after reporting better than expected quarterly results.
On the other hand, shares of Intel (INTC) plunged by 9 percent after the semiconductor giant reported better than expected first quarter results but provided disappointing guidance.
Bargain hunting contributed to considerable strength among tobacco stocks, with the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index jumping by 2.6 percent after slumping to a two-month closing low on Thursday.
Gold stocks also showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 2.5 percent. The rally by the gold sector came amid a notable increase by the price of the precious metal.
Housing stocks also ended the day notably higher, while energy stocks moved to the downside amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil.
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.
