Economy
Looming Earnings Deluge May Keep Traders on Sidelines
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat opening on Wednesday following the modest pullback seen in the previous session.
Traders may stick to the sidelines as they wait for the earnings season to pick up steam being making more significant bets.
Shares of Bank of America (BAC) are moving modestly lower in pre-market trading even though the financial giant reported second quarter results that beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
On the other hand, shares of United Airlines (UAL) may move to the upside after the airline reported better than expected second quarter results.
Traders may be looking to the release of results from companies like IBM Corp. (IBM), eBay (EBAY), and Netflix (NFLX) after the close of trading.
Honeywell (HON), Morgan Stanley (MS), UnitedHealth (UNH), Microsoft (MSFT), Capital One (COF), and American Express (AXP) are also among the companies due to report their quarterly results in the coming days.
After inching up to new record closing highs on Monday, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Tuesday before closing modestly lower.
The Dow hit a new record intraday high in morning trading but eventually ended the day down 23.53 points or 0.1 percent at 27,335.63.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq also slid 35.39 points or 0.4 percent to 8,222.80, while the S&P 500 fell 10.26 points or 0.3 percent to 3,004.04.
Selling pressure emerged in afternoon trading after President Donald Trump told reporters U.S.-China trade talks still have a “long way to go” and once again threatened to impose tariffs on another $325 billion worth of Chinese goods.
The lower close on Wall Street also came as a mixed batch of U.S. economic data led to uncertainty about the near-term outlook for interest rates.
Raising concerns the Federal Reserve could refrain from cutting rates later this month, the Commerce Department released a report showing much stronger than expected U.S. retail sales growth.
The Commerce Department said retail sales rose by 0.4 percent in June, matching the downwardly revised increase in May. Economists had expected retail sales to inch up by 0.1 percent.
Closely watched core retail sales, which exclude autos, gasoline, building materials and food services, jumped by 0.7 percent in June after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.6 percent in May.
ING Chief International Economist James Knightley said the report suggests consumer spending rose robustly in the second quarter, which he expects to help keep GDP growth above 2 percent.
“Despite this, financial markets continue to price in four 25 basis point interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve over the next 18 months,” Knightley said.
He added, “Yet, in an environment where growth is solid, core inflation is close to target, unemployment is near 50-year lows and stock markets are at all-time highs, there seems little justification for anything more than precautionary rate cuts.”
Meanwhile, a separate report from the Fed showed U.S. industrial production was unexpectedly flat June, as a steep drop in utilities output offset increases in manufacturing and mining output.
The Fed said industrial production was unchanged in June after climbing by 0.4 percent in May. Economists had expected production to edge up by 0.2 percent.
Traders were also digesting earnings news from big-name companies such as Goldman Sachs (GS), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), JPMorgan (JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC).
Energy stocks came under pressure over the course of the trading session, as the price of crude oil fell sharply after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Iran is prepared to negotiate about its missile program.
Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index plunged by 2.1 percent, while the Philadelphia Oil Service Index slumped by 1.4 percent.
Significant weakness was also visible among software stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent loss posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index.
Computer hardware and semiconductor stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, while strength in the transportation sector drove the Dow Jones Transportation Average up by 1.8 percent to a two-month closing high.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) led the transportation sector higher after the trucking company reported better than expected adjusted second quarter earnings on revenues that exceeded estimates.
**Tinubu Says Economy on Steady Growth
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
President Bola Tinubu has been praised for the ongoing financial and fiscal reforms in the country and encouraged to pursue a stronger partnership that supports investments, youth training, and employment.
The chief executive of Deloitte Africa, Ms Ruwayda Redfearn, who led a delegation to visit Mr Tinubu in Abuja on Wednesday, said the global organisation is primarily focused on digital and business transformation, with over 500,000 employees worldwide working across various roles and locations, including over 6,000 in Africa, adding that her accountancy firm’s revenue was $74 billion in 2025.
“We are here before you to say that we want to serve. We have a local team on the ground that is ready, as well as the global firm, to support you and support your administration as you lead the country,” she said.
Also, the chief executive of Deloitte West Africa, Mr Yomi Olugbenro, assured President Tinubu of the firm’s support for the reforms.
“We do what we do because of the philosophy that our African CEOs talk about – making an impact that matters. Where we are at the moment, we believe that the ground has been solidly laid. There is a need to truly extract more value and deliver the dividends of democracy to ordinary Nigerians on the street. The bigger work is really about how to cascade some of those big reforms further down.
“We do believe that with the capabilities that the firm has all over the world, with the half a million people that our CEO spoke about, we have use cases, examples, and experiences of how we supported nations all around the world, so Nigeria will definitely benefit from those experiences.
“So, that is why we are here, and we welcome the invitation that you may grant us as to where exactly you want us to support you,” he stated.
In his remarks, Mr Tinubu informed his guests that his administration’s reforms have steadily stabilised the economy over three years, with growing plaudits for positive development and growth indicators.
“We are following the example of Deloitte’s greatness to change things from the foundation, building the necessary future for our people.
“Yes, reforms are difficult. It has not been a McDonald’s customer relationship but a harvester of good things, if implemented well, and that is what we are about.
“Thank you for your partnership in paying attention to what we are doing here, as we have heard from the Minister of Finance about the fiscal, revenue and tax reforms that have taken place and are moving the nation forward.
“The reforms on revenue will continue to stimulate growth. And the effect of the reform? Yes, some issues are difficult to take the bitter medicine, but it is working well. For the economy, Nigeria is making serious foundational progress,” he stated.
The President said the reforms had stimulated the economy, strengthened the fiscal and revenue sectors, repositioned financial institutions, and prepared the country to be more globally relevant and competitive, urging Deloitte Africa to improve its impact on the Nigerian economy by training and recruiting the dynamic youth population.
“The family of Deloitte; you just reminded me of my cradle years in accountancy and where I cut my childhood accounting teeth in Chicago. Deloitte has a good training programme, and I believe you will continue to reflect that,” he added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices fell on Wednesday after the United States’ attacks against Iranian military installations that aimed to limit its ability to strike shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent futures declined by $1.11 or 1.31 per cent to $83.62 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures lost 81 cents or 1.02 per cent to close at $78.53 a barrel.
Attacks worsened a supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed prior to the war’s outbreak.
The US military said it had hit dozens of military targets near the strategic waterway and Iranian coastal areas in strikes lasting seven hours. In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday it had struck American military targets in the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
The US military said its fresh strikes on Wednesday against Iran’s coastal defence systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites were “designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The US alleged that said Iran had “intentionally” targeted civilians and attacked seven commercial vessels over the previous week, leaving roughly a dozen crew members dead, missing or injured.
The hostilities between Iran and the US reignited last week, breaking an already fragile truce reached in June after several months of fighting. The collapsed ceasefire precipitated a new crisis in the waterway, and Iran threatened to close all other export corridors that benefit the US and its allies.
The US Energy Information Administration reported a 1.7 million-barrel drop in US crude inventory last week. The American Petroleum Institute (API) had estimated that crude oil inventories in the US fell by 564,000 barrels in the week ending July 10.
Goldman Sachs estimated in a note that Gulf exports recovered to more than 80 per cent of pre-war levels after the US-Iran memorandum of understanding in June but slipped back below 50 per cent, or about 11 million barrels per day, over the last week.
The bank said Brent could exceed $110 in the fourth quarter this year if the Gulf export recovery continues to stall.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) will, at the Commercial Bid Conference, announce the successful bidders for 50 oil and gas blocks in the 2025 Licensing Round on July 21, 2026.
The regulator said the conference would conclude an eight-month licence round that began on December 1, 2025, after President Bola Tinubu approved the exercise under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
The commission said the 50 blocks include 15 onshore, 19 shallow-water, 15 frontier and one deep-offshore block, covering basins such as the Niger Delta, Chad Basin, Benue Trough, Anambra and Bida.
It said the round aims to attract about $10 billion in fresh investment and to unlock discovered but undeveloped fields, fallow assets and gas resources. NUPRC described the 2025 round as the third licensing exercise under the PIA framework and stressed it is designed to prioritise natural gas development.
NUPRC outlined a five-stage process for the round — registration and pre-qualification, data acquisition, technical bid submission and evaluation, and the commercial bid conference — followed by ministerial approval and contracting. The Commission said it notified pre-qualified applicants on March 16, 2026, and closed technical and commercial bids on June 12, 2026.
NUPRC chief executive, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, had said the selection would be merit-based and would exclude weaker applicants.
She said only candidates with strong technical and financial credentials, professionalism and credible development plans would advance, and that winners would be chosen on a weighted combination of technical and commercial scores.
To widen participation, the federal government fixed signature bonuses for the round in a prescribed range of $3 million to $7 million per block, the Commission said, adding that bids outside that range would be non-compliant and excluded.
NUPRC said it would resolve the tied highest bids within the range by conducting a sealed rebid for the signature bonus, adding that successful bidders will receive Petroleum Prospecting Licences (PPLs) and may elect either a Concession or a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) framework, noting that the choice of framework will determine fiscal terms for up to two decades.
The agency noted that bidders were required to present host community development plans and to commit to remit 3 per cent of operating expenditure to Host Community Development Trusts. It said decarbonisation objectives and broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements were mandatory parts of submissions.
It warned that applicants with government debts, those that had previously failed to develop licences “vigorously and in a business-like manner,” or those found non-compliant with applicable laws could be disqualified at any stage.
The regulator said it expects ministerial approval and formal contracting between July and October 2026, after which awardees must execute concession contracts before licences take legal effect.
Recall that during the 25th Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week in Abuja, the NUPRC issued PPLs to 12 companies across 19 blocks from the 2024 round. The Commission named recipients, including Boron Energy Limited, Energy Marketing and Supply Limited, Sahara Deepwater Resources Limited, Tulkan Energy E&P Company Limited and said that the exercise showed the licensing pipeline was functioning.
