Economy
Upbeat Economic Data May Lead to Strength on Wall Street
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Thursday, with stocks likely to move back to the upside following the pullback seen late in the previous session.
Early buying interest may be generated in reaction to some upbeat economic data, including a report from the Commerce Department showing a much bigger than expected increase in retail sales in the month of May.
Meanwhile, traders are also digesting the European Central Bank?s highly anticipated monetary policy announcement.
Following its monetary policy meeting, the ECB announced plans to begin winding down its massive bond-buying program.
The ECB said it plans to reduce the monthly pace of its net asset purchases to 15 billion from 30 billion after September before completely ending the program at the end of December.
Meanwhile, the ECB left interest rates unchanged and said it expects rates to remain at their present levels at least through the summer of 2019.
?The ECB?s announcement that it will end its asset purchases in December is probably a little bolder than markets had expected, but this is tempered by the pledge to keep interest rates on hold for more than a year,? said Jennifer McKeown, Chief European Economist at Capital Economics.
Stocks saw modest strength for much of the trading session on Wednesday but came under pressure following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement. The Nasdaq reached a record intraday high but pulled back into negative territory along with the other major averages.
The major averages all closed in the red, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq edged down just 8.10 points or 0.1 percent to 7,695.70. The Dow slid 119.53 points or 0.5 percent to 25,201.20 and the S&P 500 fell 11.22 points or 0.4 percent to 2,775.63.
The pullback by stocks came after the Fed announced its decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points to a range of 1.75 percent to 2 percent.
While the rate hike was widely expected, the Fed seemed to surprise investors by forecasting two additional rate hikes this year after previously predicting one rate increase.
“With growth rebounding following the typical first quarter soft patch, and inflation continuing to accelerate, we have been penciling in a total of four hikes for this year,” said ING economist James Smith. “Looking at the latest ‘dot plot,’ it seems the Fed is increasingly heading in this direction too.”
The Fed reiterated that it expects further gradual rate increases but dropped language predicting rates are likely to remain below levels that are expected to prevail in the longer run.
The central bank said data received since its May meeting indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been rising at a solid rate.
Annual overall inflation and core inflation have moved close to 2 percent, the Fed said and noted indicators of longer-term inflation expectations are little changed.
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a bigger than expected increase in producer prices in the month of May.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand climbed by 0.5 percent in May after inching up by 0.1 percent in April. Economists had expected producer prices to rise by 0.3 percent.
Excluding food and energy prices, core producer prices rose by 0.3 percent in May after edging up by 0.2 percent in April. Core prices had been expected to show another 0.2 percent increase.
The report said the annual rate of producer price growth accelerated to 3.1 percent in May from 2.6 percent in April, reaching its highest level in over six years.
The annual rate of growth in core producer prices also ticked up to 2.6 percent in May from 2.5 percent in the previous month.
“The rebound in producer price inflation in May supports our view that core consumer price inflation will trend higher over the rest of this year,” said Michael Pearce, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics.
He added, “That will keep the pressure on the Fed to keep raising interest rates once a quarter over the next year or so.”
Housing stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index plunging by 2.9 percent. The steep drop by the index came after it ended the previous session at its best closing level in almost two months.
The pullback by housing stocks partly reflected concerns about the impact of higher interest rates following the Fed announcement.
Rate-sensitive commercial real estate stocks also came under pressure, dragging the Dow Jones Retail Index down by 2 percent. The index ended the previous session at a five-month closing high.
Telecom and chemical stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Wednesday, August 5, as the market witnessed weaker trading activity with only two deals executed.
In the midweek session, the volume of securities exchanged by investors dropped 99.9 per cent to 802 units from the 1.6 million units recorded on Tuesday. The value of securities further decreased by 99.6 per cent to N208,240 from the preceding session’s N47.6 million, and the number of deals significantly went down by 93.9 per cent to two deals from the 33 deals recorded a day earlier.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, 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 Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 76.9 million units transacted for N5.5 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for 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 valued at N415.7 million.
There were no price gainers or losers yesterday.
As a result, the market capitalisation stood unmoving at N2.739 trillion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) remained unchanged at 4,563.96 points.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira slid against the US Dollar by N2.28 or 0.17 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, August 5, to N1,363.85/$1 from N1,362.55/$1.
The local currency also declined against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N5.97 to close at N1,837.38/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,831.41/£1, and against the Euro, it crashed by N6.54 to quote at N1,575.25/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,568.71/€1.
But at the black market, the Nigerian Naira traded flat against the greenback yesterday at N1,400/$1, and also remained unchanged at the GTBank FX desk at N1,373/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says rates have narrowed to below two per cent, while the country’s external reserves have risen above $52.5 billion, reflecting the impact of its ongoing monetary and foreign exchange reforms.
CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, represented by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed this on Tuesday during the CBN Fair in Gombe. He noted that reforms introduced since 2023 had significantly reduced the disparity between the official FX market and the parallel market.
“The Naira continues to strengthen, with the spread between official and Bureau de Change rates now below two per cent,” he said, adding that reserves at $52.5 billion were supported by sustained inflows and renewed investor confidence in the economy.
Interbank FX transactions slid as weaker market activities dropped total Dollar volume exchanged to $75.35 million, a 51.8 per cent decline from $156.23 million in turnover quoted at the previous close.
The deals at the NFEM window also fell as data from the central bank put Wednesday’s quote at 82 from 139.
In the cryptocurrency market, major were down as global risk sentiment softened as a key world equity index slipped and chipmakers fell.
The MSCI All Country World Index snapped a five-day run to fall 0.2 per cent as chipmakers retreated on both sides of the Pacific. South Korea’s Kospi, a bellwether for the AI trade, dropped 4.4 per cent.
Ripple (XRP) depleted by 1.7 per cent to $1.05, Binance Coin (BNB) decreased by 1.0 per cent to $594.87, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $0.1884, TRON (TRX) shrank by 0.2 per cent to $0.3261, Solana (SOL) crumbled by 0.1 per cent to $74.00, and Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 0.1 per cent to $0.0697.
On the flip side, Ethereum (ETH) gained 2.3 per cent to trade at $1,911.41, and Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.8 per cent to $64,759.28, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock exchange rebounded by 0.05 per cent on Wednesday on the back of renewed bargain-hunting by investors, though the level of activity waned.
After bleeding for a few days, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited heaved a sigh of relief yesterday, as the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 109.41 points to close at 244,912.24 points compared with the previous day’s 244,802.83 points, and the market capitalisation garnered N71 billion to settle at N158.087 trillion versus Tuesday’s N158.016 trillion.
Business Post reports that despite the rebound recorded by Customs Street at midweek, the market breadth index remained negative, as there were 20 price advancers and 29 price decliners, implying bearish investor sentiment.
Linkage Assurance appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N1.77, AVA Capital rose by 9.55 per cent to N10.90, Fortis Global Insurance advanced by 7.69 per cent to N2.80, McNichols gained 7.34 per cent to finish at N5.85, and Coronation Insurance surged by 5.51 per cent to N2.49.
Conversely, Honeywell Flour depreciated by 9.94 per cent to N16.30, PZ Cussons gave up 9.94 per cent to trade at N74.75, Zichis crashed by 9.74 per cent to N20.76, Learn Africa slipped by 9.62 per cent to N9.40, and Neimeth tumbled by 8.33 per cent to N8.25.
The busiest equity was FCMB, with a turnover of 369.2 million units valued at N4.1 billion. Chams transacted 46.7 million units worth N201.8 million, First Holdco transacted 43.5 million units for N5.7 billion, Access Holdings sold 29.8 million units worth N778.0 million, and Linkage Assurance exchanged 19.6 million units valued at N33.5 million.
At the close of transactions, market participants bought and sold 824.1 million units worth N25.5 billion in 48,114 deals, in contrast to the 1.6 billion units sold for N28.7 billion in 54,160 deals a day earlier, showing a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 48.49 per cent, 11.15 per cent, and 11.16 per cent, respectively.
