Economy

Major US Index Futures Open Higher After Tuesday’s Sharp Pullback

Published

6 years ago

09/10/2019

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Wednesday following the sharp pullback seen late in the previous session.

Renewed optimism about upcoming U.S.-China trade talks may generate initial buying interest after a report from Bloomberg News said China is still open to reaching a partial trade deal with the U.S.

An official with direct knowledge of the talks told Bloomberg that negotiators aren?t optimistic about securing a broad agreement to end the U.S.-China war but said China would accept a limited deal as long as President Donald Trump does not impose any more tariffs.

In return, the official told Bloomberg, Beijing would offer non-core concessions like purchases of agricultural products without giving in on major sticking points.

The positive reaction to the report reflects the intense focus on the next round of high-level trade talks set to begin on Thursday.

Nonetheless, overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued as traders look ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve?s latest monetary policy meeting.

The minutes may shed additional light on the Fed?s decision to cut interest by 25 basis points in September and provide clues about the outlook for future rate cuts.

After coming under pressure early in the session, stocks regained some ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday before pulling back sharply going into the close. The major averages ended the day firmly in negative territory.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 fell to new lows in late-day trading, while the Dow remained off its worst levels. The Dow still slumped 313.98 points or 1.2 percent to 26,164.04, the Nasdaq plunged 132.52 points or 1.7 percent to 7,823.78 and the S&P 500 tumbled 45.73 points or 1.6 percent to 2,893.06.

Selling pressure re-emerged late in the session following news the Trump administration imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials over abuses of Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region.

The new visa restrictions come just two days before the U.S. and China are scheduled to resume high-level trade talks in Washington.

Optimism about the trade talks had already waned after a report from the South China Morning Post said China is subtly toning down expectations ahead of this week’s high-level negotiations.

The SCMP said Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is leading China’s delegation to Washington but will not carry the title of “special envoy” for President Xi Jinping, an early indication that Liu has not been given any particular instructions from China’s leader.

A source briefed on preparations for the trade talks also told the SCMP that the Chinese delegation may cut short their stay in Washington.

News the U.S. has expanded its trade blacklist to include some of China’s top artificial intelligence firms has also cast a shadow over the talks along with a Bloomberg report the White House is discussing blocking government pension funds from investing in China.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a Labor Department report showing an unexpected decrease in U.S. producer prices in the month of September.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand fell by 0.3 percent in September after inching up by 0.1 percent in August. The drop surprised economists, who had expected another 0.1 percent uptick.

Excluding food and energy prices, core producer prices also slid by 0.3 percent in September after climbing by 0.3 percent in August. Economists had expected core prices to rise by 0.2 percent.

The tame inflation data may clear the way for the Federal Reserve to continue cutting interest rates amid signs of slowing economic growth.

In remarks at the National Association for Business Economics annual meeting in Denver, Colorado, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated his pledge to “act as appropriate” to support continued growth, a strong job market, and inflation moving back to the Fed’s symmetric 2 percent objective.

Powell also indicated that the central bank intends to resume increasing the size of its balance sheet following recent, unexpectedly intense volatility in wholesale funding markets.

Semiconductor stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 3.1 percent to its lowest closing level in over a month.

Chipmaker Ambarella (AMBA) posted a particularly steep loss after one of its Chinese customers was blacklisted by the U.S. government.

Significant weakness was also visible among natural gas stocks, as reflected by the 3 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index. The index ended the session at a nearly fifteen-year closing low.

Biotechnology, computer hardware, and banking stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, reflecting broad based selling pressure on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, gold stocks were among the few groups to buck the downtrend, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surging up by 3 percent.

The rally by gold stocks came as the price of the precious metal moved to the upside in electronic trading after ending the regular session slightly lower.

Economy

Stock Market Nears N100trn Valuation After 0.37% Surge

Published

12 hours ago

01/01/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited inched closer to N100 trillion on Wednesday after it gained 0.37 per cent on the last trading day of 2025.

The growth recorded by the local stock market was driven by bargain-hunting in the financial services sector, according to data obtained by Business Post.

Yesterday, the insurance space grew by 2.17 per cent, the banking index improved by 1.40 per cent, and the consumer goods sector expanded by 0.20 per cent.

However, three other major sectors witnessed profit-taking, with the energy counter shedding 0.55 per cent, the commodity industry losing 0.31 per cent, and the industrial goods segment declining by 0.14 per cent.

The losses posted by the trio could not bring down Customs Street, as the All-Share Index (ASI) closed higher by 578.31 points to 155,613.03 points from 155,034.72 points and the market capitalisation increased by N533 billion to N99.376 trillion from N98.843 trillion.

Aluminium Extrusion was the biggest price gainer with an appreciation of 9.90 per cent to trade at N21.65, Austin Laz gained 9.82 per cent to close at N4.25, Meyer jumped by 9.75 per cent to N12.95, C&I Leasing soared by 9.60 per cent to N6.85, and Union Dicon advanced by 9.52 per cent to N6.90.

Conversely, Neimeth lost 9.37 per cent to sell for N5.80, Tantalizers declined by 6.72 per cent to N2.50, International Breweries crumbled by 4.44 per cent to N14.00, NPF Microfinance Bank depreciated by 3.13 per cent to N3.71, and Vitafoam slumped by 3.06 per cent to N92.00.

Investor sentiment remained bullish after the bourse finished with 47 price gainers and 16 price losers, representing a positive market breadth index.

Market participants transacted 1.2 billion equities worth N35.1 billion in 27,884 deals yesterday compared with the 4.7 billion equities valued at N38.9 billion traded in 34,852 deals on Tuesday, showing a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 74.47 per cent, 9.77 per cent, and 19.99 per cent apiece.

Chams led the activity chart with 710.3 million units sold for N2.6 billion, Zenith Bank traded 58.8 million units worth N3.7 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 57.6 million units valued at N1.2 billion, FCMB transacted 44.1 million units for N516.3 million, and Tantalizers traded 39.9 million units worth N100.1 million.

Economy

Naira Closes 2025 at N1,435/$1 at Official Market

Published

13 hours ago

01/01/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The last trading day of 2025 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) segment of the forex market favoured the Naira as its value improved against the United States Dollar on Wednesday by 0.69 per cent or N9.92 to trade at N1,435.76/$1 compared with the N1,445.68/$1 it was traded on Tuesday.

Equally, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the same market window yesterday by N17.42 to settle at N1,934.25/£1, in contrast to the N1,951.67/£1 it ended a day earlier, and gained N12.39 on the Euro to close at N1,687.88/€1 versus the previous session’s closing price of N1,700.27/€1.

The Nigerian currency, however, maintained stability against the US Dollar in the parallel market and the GTBank FX counter during the session at N1,480/$1 and N1,452/$1, respectively.

The appreciation at the market came as demand eased in a year that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) strengthened aggregate supply as well as ensure that Nigeria’s economy remained stable.

The apex last week stepped up FX intervention with $150 million and this week, sold $50 million to banks again in an unending intervention to stabilise the exchange rate.

In its latest outlook, the central bank expects external reserves to hit $51.04 billion in 2026, up from $45 billion in 2025. The reserves are expected to be boosted by reduced pressure in the FX market based on the anticipated rise in oil earnings, sovereign bond issuance, and diaspora remittance inflows.

Come 2026, the CBN said monetary conditions are expected to be relatively loose in view of the macroeconomic stability observed in 2025, as inflation and exchange rate risks continue to subside.

As for the cryptocurrency market, low liquidity and decline in risk appetites weakened price levels among benchmarked tokens, with Cardano (ADA) shedding 4.5 per cent to trade at $0.3358, and Dogecoin (DOGE) declining by 3.8 per cent to $0.1182.

Further, Ripple (XRP) went south by 1.5 per cent to $1.84, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $77.11, Bitcoin (BTC) shrank by 1.0 per cent to $87,504.02, Solana (SOL) dropped 0.8 per cent to end at $124.70, and Binance Coin (BNB) lost 0.5 per cent to sell for $860.67.

However, Ethereum (ETH) appreciated by 0.1 per cent to $2,972.66, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.

Economy

Brent, WTI End 2025 in Red

Published

13 hours ago

01/01/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The prices of the two major crude oil grades depreciated on Wednesday, the final trading session of 2025, as expectations of oversupply increased in a year marked by wars, higher tariffs, increased output by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) and sanctions on Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

Brent futures settled at $60.85 a barrel after it went down by 48 cents or 0.8 per cent and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell by 53 cents or 0.9 per cent to $57.42 a barrel.

Brent crude futures shed about 19 per cent in 2025 while the US crude benchmark logged an annual decline of almost 20 per cent.

Market analysts noted that prices will remain down before recovering to $60 a barrel for the rest of 2026 as supply growth normalises and demand stays flat.

It is expected that the supply from shale producers will be more consistent and insensitive to price movements in the new year.

Already, oil production in the US hit a record in October, according to the latest data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Crude inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels to 422.9 million barrels in the week ended December 26, the EIA said. US gasoline (petrol) stocks rose by 5.8 million barrels in the week to 234.3 million barrels while distillate stockpiles, including diesel and heating oil, rose by 5 million barrels to 123.7 million barrels.

In recent weeks, OPEC’s biggest producers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have become locked in a crisis over Yemen. However, the latest public spat between the two OPEC players over Yemen created just a temporary blip in crude prices.

In the end, the UAE said it would pull out its remaining forces out of Yemen.

The market was also watching US President Donald Trump ordering a blockade on Venezuelan oil exports and his threat of another strike on Iran.

OPEC+ is due to meet on January 4 to look at the next decision after the alliance paused oil output hikes for the first quarter of 2026 after releasing some 2.9 million barrels per day into the market since April.