Economy
Major US Index Futures Open Higher After Tuesday’s Sharp Pullback
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.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange fell further by 0.14 per cent on Wednesday, January 21, remaining in the danger zone for the third straight day.
This reduced the market capitalisation of the platform by N3.13 billion to N2.184 trillion from the N2.187 trillion it finished a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) lost 5.23 points to 3,651.13 points from 3,656.36 points.
Yesterday, two securities depreciated, with FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc shrinking by N2.96 to sell at N69.04 per share compared with the previous day’s N72.00 per share, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc dropped 96 Kobo to close at N40.47 per unit versus Tuesday’s closing price of N41.43 per unit.
During the session, there were five price gainers led by Food Concepts Plc as it chalked up 25 Kobo to sell at N3.00 per share versus the preceding session’s N2.75 per share, IPWA Plc went up by 18 Kobo to end at N1.97 per unit versus N1.79 per unit, Ge0-Fluids Plc improved by 6 Kobo to trade at N7.06 per share compared with Tuesday’s closing price of N7.00 per share, First Trust Mortgage Bank Plc expanded by 6 Kobo to sell at 69 Kobo per unit versus 63 Kobo per unit, and Mass Telecom Innovation Plc added 4 Kobo it previous traded value of 40 Kobo per share to end at 44 Kobo per share.
Business Post reports that the total value of transactions jumped by 74.9 per cent in the midweek session to N75.7 million from N43.3 million, the volume of transactions went up by 71.9 per cent to 4.5 million units from 2.6 million units, and the total number of deals appreciated 40 per cent to 42 deals from 30 deals.
CSCS Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.4 million units traded for N217.2 million, followed by MRS Oil Plc with 278,971 units valued at N55.7 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc with 7.7 million units worth N52.2 million.
Geo-Fluids Plc ended the session as the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 7.7 million units sold for N52.2 million, followed by CSCS Plc with 5.4 million units transacted for N217.2 million, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 3.1 million units worth N1.9 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
An underwriting firm, Guinea Insurance Plc, has submitted application for approval and listing of its proposed N5.8 billion rights issue.
Business Post reports that the application was filed to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by the insurer through its stockbrokers, Forte Financial Limited, and Mega Equities Limited.
Guinea Insurance is offering in the exercise a total of 5,295,200,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N1.10 per share on the basis of two new ordinary shares for every three existing ordinary shares held as of the close of business on Wednesday, January 21, 2026.
In a statement yesterday, the Head of Issuer Regulation Department of the stock exchange, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, confirmed the development.
He said, “Guinea Insurance Plc has through its stockbrokers, Forte Financial Limited and Mega Equities Limited, submitted an application to Nigerian Exchange Limited for the approval and listing of a rights issue of 5,295,200,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N1.10 per share on the basis of two new ordinary shares for every three existing ordinary shares held as at the close of business on Wednesday, January 21, 2026.
“The qualification date for the rights issue is Wednesday, January 21, 2026.”
At the market at midweek, the shares of Guinea Insurance closed flat at N1.30 per unit, with a total of 2,313,400.00 units transacted by investors during the session.
Last month, the organisation held an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), where shareholders authorised the board to “raise additional equity capital of up to N15.0 billion by way of rights issue and private placement, on such terms, pricing, allotment structure, and timetable as the board of directors may determine in the best interest of the company.”
This was after they passed a resolution for the firm’s minimum issued share capital be increased “from N4.0 billion made up of 8.0 billion ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each to N19.0 billion made of 38.0 billion ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
A 0.09 per cent or N1.34 loss was suffered by the Naira against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, January 21, to close at N1,420.69/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,419.35/$1.
It was a similar scenario for the local currency in the official market, where is lost 53 Kobo against the Pound Sterling at midweek to sell for N1,908.84/£1 versus Tuesday’s closing price of N1,908.31/£1 and stumbled against the Euro by 83 Kobo to settle at N1,665.48/€1 compared with the previous session’s N1,666.31/€1.
But, in the black market and GTBank forex desk, the Nigerian currency traded flat against the greenback at N1,485/$1 and N1,429/$1, respectively.
Increased demand for Dollar was stemmed down by Naira demand by foreign portfolio investors that participated in the OMO bills yesterday.
In addition, the market has seen increased FX inflows from exporters, supported by sustained Dollar volume from non-bank corporate, individual and other sources.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices rebounded after President Donald Trump of the United States softened tariff threats tied to Greenland during his Davos appearance.
The move capped a volatile 24 hours for crypto markets, which were dragged lower earlier in the week by a global risk-off wave sparked by Trump’s threats toward Europe, a jump in bond yields, and renewed anxiety across equity markets.
Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.9 per cent to $1.95, Cardano (ADA) improved by 1.5 per cent to trade at $0.3652, Solana (SOL) climbed by 1.3 per cent to sell $129.97, and Ethereum (ETH) went up by 1.2 per cent to trade at $3,014.51.
In addition, Binance Coin (BNB) improved by 1.1 per cent to close at $889.83, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 1.0 per cent to $0.1266, and Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.5 per cent to end at $$90,031.72, while Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $68.40, with the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remaining unchanged at $1.00 each.
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