Economy

Traders Remain Focused on Lingering Trade Concerns

Published

6 years ago

02/07/2018

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Monday, with stocks likely to move back to the downside after closing higher over the two previous sessions.

Lingering trade concerns are likely to weigh on the markets as tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports to the U.S. and a matching $34 billion worth of U.S. exports to China are due to take effect on July 6th.

Potentially adding to the concerns, news website Axios obtained a leaked draft of bill ordered by President Donald Trump that would declare America?s abandonment of fundamental World Trade Organization rules.

The bill, known as the United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act, essentially provides Trump a license to raise U.S. tariffs at will, without congressional consent, Axios said.

?It would be the equivalent of walking away from the WTO and our commitments there without us actually notifying our withdrawal,? a source familiar with the bill told Axios.

However, the source noted Congress would never give the president the authority, and a White House spokeswoman told Axios the administration does not have actual legislation it is preparing to rollout.

A previous report from Axios said Trump has repeatedly told top White House officials he wants to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization.

Overall trading activity is likely to be somewhat subdued, however, with the upcoming July 4th holiday likely to keep some traders on the sidelines.

Later this week, trading may be impacted by reaction to the Labor Department?s monthly jobs report and the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

After trading notably higher throughout much of the session, stocks pulled back sharply going into the close of trading on Friday. The major averages showed a notable decline but managed to end the day in positive territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq briefly dipped into negative territory but inched up 6.62 points or 0.1 percent to 7,510.30. The Dow edged up 55.36 points or 0.2 percent to 24,271.41, and the S&P 500 crept up 2.06 points or 0.1 percent to 2,718.37.

Despite moving higher over the past two days, the major averages all moved notably lower for the week. The Nasdaq tumbled by 2.4 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 both slumped by 1.3 percent.

The late-day pullback on Wall Street may have reflected lingering concerns about the global economic impact of recent trade disputes between the U.S. and other major economies.

Strength in the financial sector helped to drive the markets higher early in the day after most of the nation’s largest banks passed the Federal Reserve’s annual stress test.

Financial giants such as Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) have subsequently announced billions of dollars in stock buybacks and raised their quarterly dividends.

Strength in the overseas markets also generated early buying interest on Wall Street despite the lingering trade concerns.

Asian stocks reversed early losses to end mostly higher after China eased restrictions on foreign investment in sectors including banking, automotive, heavy industry and agriculture amid scrutiny from its top trading partners.

The U.S. and the European Union have been complaining that Beijing limits foreign firms’ ability to enter the world’s second-largest economy.

News EU leaders have reached an agreement on migration, averting a political crisis in Germany, also contributed to strength in the European markets.

On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed personal income increased in line with economist estimates in the month of May, although the report also showed weaker than expected growth in personal spending.

The report said personal income climbed by 0.4 percent in May after edging up by a downwardly revised 0.2 percent in April.

Economists had expected income to rise by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.3 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said personal spending rose by 0.2 percent in May after climbing by a downwardly revised 0.5 percent in April.

Personal spending had been expected to increase by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.6 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment improved by much less than initially estimated in the month of June.

The report said the consumer sentiment index for June was downwardly revised to 98.2 from the preliminary reading of 99.3.

The index for June is still slightly above the final May reading of 98.0, although economists had expected a much more modest downward revision to 99.2.

Surveys of Consumers chief economist Richard Curtin said the downward revision was largely due to concerns about the potential impact of tariffs on the domestic economy.

Despite the late-day pull back by the broader markets, gold stocks showed a significant move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 2.4 percent. The strength among gold stocks came amid an increase by the price of the precious metal.

Considerable strength also remained visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. The index continued to recover after hitting its lowest intraday level in well over a month on Thursday.

Housing and oil stocks also ended the session notably higher, while most of the other major sectors showed more modest moves on the day.

Economy

FAAC Disburses 1.727trn to FG, States Local Councils in December 2024

Published

22 hours ago

14/12/2024

Modupe Gbadeyanka

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.

The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.

At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.

According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.

It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.

The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.

The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.

As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.

Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.

Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

Economy

Okitipupa Plc, Two Others Lift Unlisted Securities Market by 0.65%

Published

1 day ago

14/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.

On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.

Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.

Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.

At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.

In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.

Economy

Naira Trades N1,533/$1 at Official Market, N1,650/$1 at Parallel Market

Published

1 day ago

14/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1 on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.

The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.

The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.

The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.

Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.

In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.

At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.