Economy
Traders May Cash in on Wednesday’s Gains
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a modestly lower opening on Thursday, with stocks likely to give back ground following the rally seen in the previous session.
Traders may look to cash in on yesterday?s substantial gains, which came on the heels of ?dovish? comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Lingering uncertainty about trade between the U.S. and China may weigh on the markets ahead of this weekend?s meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump and Xi are due to hold a dinner meeting on Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, although a substantive breakthrough is seen as unlikely.
After moving moderately higher early in the session, stocks saw further upside over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages climbed firmly into positive territory, further offsetting the weakness seen last week.
The major averages ended the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow surged up 617.70 points or 2.5 percent to 25,366.43, the Nasdaq spiked 208.89 points or 3 percent to 7,291.59 and the S&P 500 soared 61.61 points or 2.3 percent to 2,743.78.
The rally on Wall Street came on the heels of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks in a speech to the Economic Club of New York that were interpreted as dovish for interest rates.
Powell noted interest rates are still low by historical standards and said rates are currently “just below the broad range of estimates of the level that would be neutral for the economy.”
The latest remarks seem to conflict with comments Powell made early last month, when he described rates as a “long way from neutral.”
Powell also said the economy is close to achieving both of the Fed’s objectives of promoting maximum employment and price stability.
The Fed Chief stressed rates are not on a “preset” path and said the central bank will pay very close attention to incoming data.
“As always, our decisions on monetary policy will be designed to keep the economy on track in light of the changing outlook for jobs and inflation,” Powell said.
Ahead of Powell’s remarks, Trump attacked the Fed Chairman in an interview with the Washington Post published late Tuesday.
Trump told the Washington Post he is “not even a little bit happy” with Powell, blaming the Fed for recent stock market weakness and General Motors’ (GM) announcement of plant closures and layoffs.
“I’m doing deals, and I’m not being accommodated by the Fed,” Trump said. “They’re making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.”
“So far, I’m not even a little bit happy with my selection of Jay. Not even a little bit,” he added. “I think that the Fed is way off-base with what they’re doing.”
CME Group’s FedWatch tool currently indicates an 82.7 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by another quarter point to a range of 2.25 to 2.50 percent at its monetary policy meeting next month.
Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the Commerce Department showing a substantial decrease in new home sales in the month of November.
The Commerce Department said new home sales plummeted by 8.9 percent to an annual rate of 533,000 in October from an upwardly revised rate of 597,000 in September.
Economists had expected new home sales to rise to a rate of 575,000 from the 553,000 originally reported for the previous month.
With the steep drop, new home sales tumbled to their lowest level since hitting an annual rate of 538,000 in March of 2016.
Software stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, driving the Dow Jones Software Index up by 4.3 percent. The index continued to recover after hitting its lowest closing level in nearly five months last Tuesday.
Within the software sector, salesforce.com (CRM) posted a standout gain after the customer-management software developer reported better than expected fiscal third quarter results and raised its full-year revenue guidance.
Substantial strength also emerged among retail stocks, which have recently benefited from reports of strong Black Friday sales. Reflecting the strength in the retail sector, the Dow Jones Retail Index soared by 3.8 percent.
Gold stocks also turned in a particularly strong performance, resulting in a 2.9 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The strength among gold stocks came amid a notable increase by the price of the precious metal.
Biotechnology, steel, computer hardware, and transportation stocks also moved notably higher on the day amid broad based buying interest on Wall Street.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Nigeria slightly surpassed its quota set by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in July 2026.
In the month under review, the country produced about 1.57 million barrels of crude oil per day.
It was the third consecutive month Africa’s largest oil-producing nation was meeting its monthly quota, set to stabilise the price of the commodity on the global market by the oil cartel.
Data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on Wednesday showed that the 1.5 million barrels per day ceiling for Nigeria was surpassed last month.
The agency disclosed in a statement today that the country produced 1.505mbpd of crude oil and 0.17mbpd of condensate, bringing the combined daily production to 1.67mbpd.
In the month under review, the daily peak production of crude oil and condensate was 1.78mbpd, while the lowest daily production was 1.57mbpd.
Although Nigeria met its OPEC quota in the month of July, the statistics show that on a month-on-month basis, production fell by 4 per cent.
This was attributed to the decline in production due to operational challenges experienced at the Erha and Akpo fields, which impacted crude oil output during the period under review.
These disruptions constrained production volumes and contributed significantly to the overall reduction in national crude oil output.
Despite the challenges, production operations across most other producing assets remained relatively stable, with operators implementing measures aimed at maintaining production efficiency and minimising the impact of operational constraints, NUPRC stated.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The over 9 billion shares of Lasaco Assurance Plc issued to shareholders of the company via a rights issue have been listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The equities were brought to Customs Street on Wednesday by the organisation, increasing its total issued and fully paid-up share capital.
Lasaco Assurance, which scaled the recapitalisation hurdle of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) in July 2026, raised fresh capital from the capital market to shore up its capital base.
The underwriting firm got about N18.5 billion from the rights issue, which involved the issuance of 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares at a unit price of N2.00.
The exercise was on the basis of five new ordinary shares for every existing six ordinary shares held as of the close of business on Friday, February 20, 2026.
Confirming the listing of the additional stocks of Lasaco Assurance today, the Head of Issuer Regulation Department of NGX RegCo, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, announced in a circular that, “Trading licence holders are hereby notified that an additional 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of Lasaco Assurance Plc were today, Wednesday, August 12, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited.
“The additional shares arose from the company’s rights issue of 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N2.00 per share on the basis of five new ordinary shares for every existing six ordinary shares held as of the close of business on Friday, February 20, 2026.
“With the listing of the additional 9,236,321,546 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid-up share capital of Lasaco Assurance Plc has now increased from 11,083,585,855 to 20,319,907,401 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has said the successful recapitalisation of the insurance industry will strengthen the sector’s ability to support financial stability and economic growth.
NIA Chairman, Mrs Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, said a well-capitalised insurance industry would be better positioned to meet its obligations promptly, underwrite complex and large-scale risks and serve as a dependable pillar of the Nigerian economy.
She made the remarks while commending the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for its structured implementation of the new minimum capital requirements under the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025.
Mrs Nwachukwu said NAICOM’s clear guidelines, systematic verification process, defined timelines and rigorous supervision had provided operators with a credible framework for navigating the recapitalisation exercise.
She described the outcome as a major milestone for the industry and congratulated the 43 insurance and reinsurance companies that have successfully met the prescribed minimum capital requirements.
According to her, the exercise represents “a major win not just for regulators and operators, but for policyholders, investors and the wider Nigerian economy.”
Mrs Nwachukwu said the association would continue to work with NAICOM and other stakeholders to consolidate the gains of the exercise, with emphasis on sustainable industry growth, stronger market conduct and improved consumer confidence.
The official also expressed solidarity with the eight companies still undergoing final verification and regulatory review, urging them to remain confident as NAICOM completes the process within the 14-day review period.
The NIA chairman assured policyholders and the wider business community that the insurance industry would emerge from the recapitalisation exercise stronger, more resilient and better positioned to contribute to Nigeria’s economic development.
