Economy

Renewed Trade Worries in Focus on Wall Street

Published

7 years ago

20/11/2019

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Wednesday following the lackluster performance seen in the previous session.

Renewed uncertainty about a U.S.-China trade deal may weigh on the markets after a report from the Wall Street Journal said trade talks are in danger of hitting an impasse.

Citing former administration officials and others following the talks, the WSJ said the potential impasse threatens to derail the Trump administration?s plan for a limited phase one deal this year.

The Journal said both sides remain divided over core issues, including China?s demand for removing tariffs and the U.S.?s insistence on China buying farm products.

The report from the WSJ comes after President Donald Trump threatening higher tariffs on Chinese goods if an agreement is not reached.

?If we don?t make a deal with China, I?ll just raise the tariffs even higher,? Trump said during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday.

Trump said he was happy with the current trade situation, citing the billions of dollars brought in by tariffs, and declared, ?China is going to have to make a deal that I like.?

Despite the downward momentum being shown by the futures, traders have recently shown a knack for shrugging off negative news on the trade front amid unshakable optimism a deal will eventually get done.

Later in the trading day, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to release the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting.

The minutes are likely to reinforce the view that the Fed will leave interest rates on hold for the foreseeable future after three straight rate cuts.

After moving modestly higher over the course of Monday?s session, stocks showed a lack of direction during trading on Tuesday. The major averages spent most of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the session mixed. While the Nasdaq rose 20.72 points or 0.2 percent to a new record closing high of 8,570.66, the Dow fell 102.20 points or 0.4 percent to 27,934.02 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.85 points or 0.1 percent to 3,120.18.

Stocks initially moved to the upside amid recent upward momentum, which has helped propel stocks to record highs amid unshakable optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, with disappointing results from Home Depot (HD) offsetting the positive sentiment.

Shares of Home Depot moved sharply lower after the home improvement retailer reported weaker than expected third quarter revenues and lowered its full-year sales forecast.

Department store chain Kohl’s (KSS) also posted a steep loss after reporting weaker than expected third quarter results and cutting its annual guidance.

Meanwhile, in a continuation of the market’ recent trend of shrugging off negative news on the trade front, traders seemed unfazed by Trump threatening higher tariffs on Chinese goods if an agreement is not reached.

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing a substantial rebound in new residential construction in the month of October.

The Commerce Department said housing starts surged up by 3.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.314 million in October after plunging by 7.9 percent to a revised rate of 1.266 million in September.

Economists had expected housing starts to jump by 5.1 percent to a rate of 1.320 million from the 1.256 million originally reported for the previous month.

The report also said building permits spiked by 5.0 percent to an annual rate of 1.461 million in October after tumbling by 2.4 percent to a revised rate of 1.391 million in September.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, had been expected to edge down by 0.1 percent to a rate of 1.385 million from the 1.387 million originally reported for the previous month.

Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, although natural gas stocks showed another substantial move to the downside.

Extending the steep drop seen in the previous session, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index plunged by 2.9 percent to its lowest closing level in well over fourteen years.

The continued sell-off by natural gas stocks came as the price of natural gas for December delivery slid $0.056 or 2.2 percent to $2.510 per million BTUs.

A sharp decline by the price of crude oil also contributed to weakness throughout the energy sector. Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the NYSE Arca Oil Index and the NYSE Arca Oil Service Index slumped by 1.6 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, biotechnology stocks showed a strong move to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index up by 1.5 percent to a four-month closing high.

Economy

OTC Securities Exchange Falls 2.48%

Published

2 days ago

20/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange was down by 2.48 per cent on Friday, June 19, with the Unlisted Security Index shedding 108.36 points to close at 4,252.73 points compared with the previous day’s 4,361.09 points.

During the trading day, the market capitalisation of the OTC securities exchange dropped 2.18 per cent or N67.29 billion to settle at N2.552 trillion, in contrast to Thursday’s N2.609 trillion.

The alternative stock market was in the red yesterday after finishing with three price losers led by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gave up N8.57 to trade at N77.77 per share versus the preceding day’s N86.34. FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N8.19 to quote at N170.00 per unit compared with the previous session’s N178.19 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc crashed by 26 Kobo to end at N2.51 per share versus N2.77 per share.

Business Post reports that there were also three price gainers during the session, led by Golden Capital Plc, which chalked up 67 Kobo to sell at N13.67 per unit versus N13.00 per unit. Afriland Properties Plc gained 65 Kobo to trade at N16.85 per share compared with the previous price of N16.20 per share, and MRS Oil added 3 Kobo to close at N142.23 per unit versus N142.00 per unit.

The volume of trades was up by 20.3 per cent on Friday to 954,106 units from 792,835 units, and the number of deals increased by 75 per cent to 35 deals from 20 deals, while the value of transactions went down by 12.9 per cent to N42.7 million from N49.0 million.

The most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis was Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 67.8 million units exchanged for N4.7 billion.

The most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was also GNI Plc, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.

Economy

Sell-Offs in GTCO, First Holdco Crash NGX All-Share Index by 0.62%

Published

2 days ago

20/06/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The local stock exchange remained in the red on Friday after it further depreciated by 0.62 per cent due to panic sell-offs in some bellwether equities.

NAHCO lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N148.50, Royal Exchange depreciated by 10.00 per cent to N1.53, GTCO slumped by 9.97 per cent to N115.55, First Holdco dropped 9.84 per cent to quote at N55.00, and Neimeth slipped by 9.60 per cent to N28.12.

On the flip side, Deap Capital increased by 9.89 per cent to N4.89, RT Briscoe expanded by 9.62 per cent to N13.10, International Energy Insurance advanced by 7.43 per cent to N5.06, Jaiz Bank gained 7.14 per cent to sell for N9.00, and Living Trust Mortgage Bank rose by 5.26 per cent to N4.00.

During the session, the energy index chalked up 2.35 per cent, but this was not enough to lift the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited when the closing gong was struck by 4 pm to signify the close of trading activities.

This was because the banking sector lost 4.41 per cent, the insurance counter shed 1.52 per cent, the industrial goods space declined by 0.71 per cent, and the consumer goods segment tumbled by 0.13 per cent.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) contracted by 1,463.45 points to 235,941.27 points from 237,404.92 points, and the market capitalisation retreated by M939 billion to N151.327 trillion from N152.266 trillion.

The activity chart was topped by Access Holdings, which posted a turnover of 65.0 million shares valued at N1.5 billion. Zenith Bank sold 35.2 million stocks worth N3.9 billion, Sterling Holdings exchanged 28.4 million equities for N217.8 million, UBA transacted 16.3 million shares valued at N650.7 million, and GTCO traded 14.0 million stocks worth N1.8 billion.

In all, investors transacted 440.4 million equities for N24.7 billion in 50,273 deals, in contrast to the 691.6 million equities valued at N116.9 billion traded in 50,025 deals on Thursday, implying an uptick in the number of deals by 0.50 per cent, and a decrease in the trading volume and value by 36.32 per cent and 78.87 per cent, respectively.

Economy

Naira Crashes to N1,370/$ at Official Market, N1,390/$1 at Black Market

Published

2 days ago

20/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira again depreciated against the United States Dollar by N7.16 or 0.53 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 19, to N1,370.46/$1 from the previous day’s N1,363.30/$1.

In the same vein, the Nigerian currency lost N9.07 against the Pound Sterling at the official market yesterday to trade at N1,814.76/£1 compared with Thursday’s closing price of N1,805.69/£1, and crashed against the Euro by N6.43 to settle at N1,571.50/€1 versus N1,565.07/€1.

Also, the Naira weakened against the greenback in the black market during the session by N5 to sell for N1,390/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1,385/$1, and at the GTBank FX desk, it shed N3 to close at N1,376/$1 versus N1,373/$1.

The official market’s FX liquidity has been facing pressure over the last three trading sessions, contributing to a decline in the official exchange rate due to rising demand for foreign payments.

FX reserves rose to $51.03 billion, the highest level since January 20, 2009, according to data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The figure also represents the highest since the beginning of the year and under the administration of the current Governor of CBN, Mr Yemi Cardoso.

The latest figure underscores the steady strengthening of Nigeria’s external buffers, which continues to reinforce investor confidence in the Nigerian economy and support exchange rate stability.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was mixed, with Bitcoin (BTC) up by 0.8 per cent to $63,225.80 after trading activity was relatively subdued due to a US federal holiday, as the absence of stock and bond market activity led to quieter conditions across crypto markets, even though digital assets continue to trade around the clock.

Further, TRON (TRX) also gained 0.8 per cent to sell at $0.3230, Binance Coin (BNB) jumped 0.5 per cent to $579.84, and Ethereum (ETH) appreciated by 0.1 per cent to $1,704.23.

On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) declined by 0.9 per cent to $1.13, Cardano (ADA) shed 0.8 per cent to trade at $0.1611, Solana (SOL) fell by 0.1 per cent to $69.23, and Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 0.1 per cent to $0.0831, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.