Economy

Upbeat Earnings News May Help Stocks Extend Winning Streak

Published

8 years ago

25/05/2017

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Thursday, with stocks looking to extend the upward trend seen over the past several sessions.

Upbeat earnings news from some big-name retailers may generate early buying interest on Wall Street, as the major averages seek to extend their five-session winning streak.

Traders also continue to respond to the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting, which included an outline of a plan to trim its $4.5 trillion balance sheet.

Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading session on Wednesday, extending their recent winning streak to five sessions. With the continued advance on the day, the S&P 500 reached a new record closing high.

The major averages ended the day just off their highs of the session. The Dow climbed 74.51 points or 0.4 percent to 21,012.42, the Nasdaq advanced 24.31 points or 0.4 percent to 6,163.02 and the S&P 500 rose 5.97 points or 0.3 percent to 2,404.39.

The continued strength on Wall Street came following the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting.

The minutes of the meeting noted that growth in economic activity had slowed, although the Fed members agreed that the slower growth during the first quarter was likely to be transitory.

Most participants subsequently said it would soon be appropriate for the Fed to take another step in removing some policy accommodation.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates at its next meeting in mid-June, with CME Group’s FedWatch tool indicating an 83.1 percent chance of a quarter-point rate hike.

However, the minutes said members generally judged it would be prudent to await additional evidence indicating that the recent slowing in the pace of economic activity had been transitory before raising rates.

The comment may increase the focus on the economic data due to be released in the weeks leading up to the June meeting.

The Fed minutes also said staff offered a briefing on a possible approach to winding down the central bank’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet.

Nearly all policymakers expressed a favorable view of the approach, which was seen as consistent with the intention to reduce the Fed’s securities holdings in a gradual and predictable manner.

Under the proposed approach, the Fed would announce a set of gradually increasing caps on the dollar amounts of Treasury and agency securities that would be allowed to run off each month.

Only the amounts of securities repayments that exceeded the caps would be reinvested each month, the minutes said.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the National Association of Realtors showing a bigger than expected pullback in existing home sales in the month of April.

NAR said existing home sales fell by 2.3 percent to an annual rate of 5.57 million in April after jumping by 4.2 percent to a ten-year high of 5.70 million in March. Economists had expected sales to drop to a rate of 5.65 million.

Gold stocks showed a significant turnaround over the course of the session after coming under pressure in morning trading. Reflecting the strength that emerged in the sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index climbed by 1.1 percent.

The rebound by gold stocks came as the price of the precious metal moved higher in electronic trading after ending the regular session lower.

Electronic storage, commercial real estate, and chemical stocks also saw some strength on the day, although buying interest was relatively subdued.

On the other hand, steel stocks saw significant weakness on the day, giving back ground after moving notably higher in the previous session. After surging up by 2.1 percent on Tuesday, the NYSE Arca Steel Index dropped by 1.5 percent

Considerable weakness was also visible among energy stocks, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index sliding by 1.3 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

Economy

NGX All-Share Index Jumps 0.17%

Published

12 hours ago

18/01/2025

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

A 0.17 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, extending the stay of the local bourse in the positive territory.

This uptrend was maintained despite profit-taking in the banking sector, which left its index down by 0.23 per cent at the close of trading activities.

Business Post reports that the insurance industry expanded by 4.04 per cent during the session, the energy counter improved by 1.05 per cent, and the consumer goods space gained 0.58 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 170.62 points to 102,353.68 points from 102,183.06 points and the market capitalisation grew by N541 billion to N62.851 trillion from N62.310 trillion.

There were 34 price gainers and 22 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.

The trio of Caverton, Livestock Feeds and Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 10.00 per cent each during the session to quote at N2.20, N5.94, and N1.10, respectively, as Neimeth jumped by 994 per cent to N3.43, and Royal Exchange increased by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo.

On its part, Academy Press lost 9.74 per cent to close at N3.15, PZ Cussons declined by 9.09 per cent to N25.00, DAAR Communications weakened by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, Transcorp Power shed 5.91 per cent to settle at N46.95, and Dangote Sugar fell by 4.94 per cent to N38.50.

A total of 327.8 million shares valued at N11.8 billion were traded in 11,905 deals on Friday versus the 472.2 million shares worth N16.7 billion transacted in 12,336 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 30.58 per cent, 29.34 per cent and 3.49 per cent apiece.

Access Holdings recorded the highest sales with 49.1 million stocks sold for N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.4 million shares valued at N359.0 million, UBA traded 20.1 million equities worth N681.0 million, Oando transacted 14.8 million shares for N998.1 million, and Universal Insurance traded 13.8 million stocks worth N8.7 million.

Economy

NASD OTC Exchange Gains 0.26%

Published

12 hours ago

18/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its upward movement with a 0.26 per cent gain on Friday, January 17 amid renewed interest in unlisted stocks.

This raised the market capitalisation of the trading platform by N2.79 billion at the close of business to N1.075 trillion from the N1.072 trillion it closed in the preceding session.

In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 8.08 points at the close of transactions to 3,111.91 points from the 3,103.83 points recorded at the previous session.

Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 606 per cent to 486,215 units from 1.2 million units, the value of shares shrank by 84.7 per cent to N2.8 million from N18.0 million, and the number of deals decreased by 65 per cent to 14 deals from the 33 deals carried out a day earlier.

In the final trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluids Plc, which lost 9 Kobo to finish at N4.70 per unit versus the preceding session’s price of N4.79 per unit.

On the flip side, Okitipupa Plc gained N3.60 to settle at N39.59 per share compared with the previous day’s N35.99 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to wrap at 36 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding session’s 33 Kobo per share, as FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 49 Kobo to N39.65 per unit from N39.16 per unit.

At the close of business, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.

The most active stock by volume (year-to-date) remained IGI Plc with 23.5 million units worth N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units sold for N134.9 million.

Economy

Naira Rallies by 0.06% to N,1547/$1 at NAFEM

Published

13 hours ago

18/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira extended its appreciation against the US Dollar by 0.06 per cent or N89 Kobo on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 17, trading at N1,547.58/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,548.47/$1.

Market analysts expect that the Naira will appreciate in the first quarter of the year, backed by continued policy support by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Vestance Nigeria, an agribusiness advisory firm, projects that the exchange rate will trade between N1,650/$1 and N1,750/$1 this year in its Resilience and Recovery for Agribusiness in 2025 outlook report.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue implementing reforms to enhance exchange rate market transparency while maintaining higher interest rates to curb inflationary pressures and attract foreign portfolio management,” it said.

Also, the Nigerian currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N20.84 to wrap the session at N1,883.59/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,904.43/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency gained N10.45 to settle at N1,590.34/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,600.79/€1.

In the parallel market, the domestic currency appreciated against the greenback by N5 yesterday to sell for N1,675/$1 compared with the N1,675/$1 it was traded a day earlier.

As for the cryptocurrency market, there was profit-taking amid excitement for a new era of crypto-friendly US government mounts ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.

Crypto investors expect a change from Mr Trump who promised on the campaign trail to position the US as a leader in the crypto space including creating a national stockpile of Bitcoin, in stark contrast to past years’ regulatory crackdowns and enforcements.

Litecoin (LTC) fell by 9.9 per cent to trade at $124.56, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 6.2 per cent to $3.10, Cardano (ADA) dipped by 4.9 per cent to $1.06, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 3.1 per cent to finish at $3,270.61, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 2.3 per cent to $698.57 and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 2.2 per cent to $0.3927.

However, Solana (SOL) rose by 8.8 per cent to end at $235.12, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $102,494.03, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.