Economy

Upward Momentum May Lead to Continued Strength on Wall Street

Published

7 years ago

03/07/2018

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Tuesday, with stocks likely to extend the upward trend seen in recent sessions.

The markets may benefit from recent upward momentum, which has helped the major averages close higher for three consecutive sessions.

The recent advance by stocks comes despite lingering concerns about a global trade war as tariffs on billions of dollars of U.S. and Chinese goods are set to take effect later this week.

Signs of continued strength in the U.S. economy despite the ongoing trade disputes may be inspiring traders to pick up stocks.

Trading activity is likely to remain relatively subdued, however, as the markets are due to close earlier than normal ahead of the July 4th holiday.

Following the holiday, traders are likely to keep a close eye on the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting as well as the Labor Department?s monthly jobs report.

After coming under pressure early in the session, stocks showed a significant turnaround over the course of the trading day on Monday. The major averages climbed well off their lows of the session and into positive territory.

The major averages all closed higher, with the Nasdaq outperforming its counterparts. While the Nasdaq advanced 57.38 points or 0.8 percent to 7,567.69, the Dow edged up 35.77 points or 0.2 percent to 24,307.18 and the S&P 500 rose 8.34 points or 0.3 percent to 2,726.71.

The rebound on Wall Street came following the release of a report from the Institute for Supply management showing growth in U.S. manufacturing activity unexpectedly accelerated in the month of June.

The ISM said its purchasing managers index climbed to 60.2 in June after rising to 58.7 in May, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in manufacturing activity. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 58.4.

“The increase in the ISM manufacturing index in June is a clear sign that, for now at least, the strength of the domestic economy is more than offsetting any increased uncertainty on trade policy,” said Michael Pearce, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics.

He added, “However, with the dollar appreciating by 6% since April, global growth slowing and retaliatory tariffs just beginning to bite, the sector looks unlikely to fare so well for long.”

Stocks initially moved lower on lingering trade concerns 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.

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.

Nonetheless, 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.

Additionally, the European Commission has warned the Trump administration that imposing tariffs on cars imported from Europe will harm trade, growth and jobs in the U.S. and abroad.

Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued, however, with the upcoming July 4th holiday keeping 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.

Computer hardware stocks showed a strong move to the upside on the day, contributing to the advance by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Reflecting the strength in the hardware sector, the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index climbed 1.3 percent.

Notable strength also emerged among transportation and biotechnology stocks, with the Dow Jones Transportation Average and the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index both rising by 1 percent.

On the other hand, substantial weakness remained visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 3 percent slump by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index.

Other energy stocks also moved to the downside, with the NYSE Arca Oil Index and the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index falling by 1.4 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Economy

Nipco, 11 Plc Crash OTC Securities Exchange by 4.76%

Published

55 minutes ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Energy stocks influenced the 4.76 per cent loss recorded by the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, December 5.

The culprits were the duo of 11 Plc and Nipco Plc,with the former shedding N32.17 to end at N291.83 per share compared with the previous day’s N324.00 per share, and the latter down by N21.00 to sell at N195.00 per unit versus the previous session’s N216.00 per unit.

Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slumped by 170.16 points to 3,401.37 points from 3,571.53 points and the market capitalisation lost N101.81 billion to close at N2.035 billion from the N2.136 trillion quoted in the preceding session.

The OTC securities exchange suffered the decline yesterday despite the share prices of three companies closing green.

Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc was up by N1.80 to close at N39.80 per share compared with Thursday’s price of N38.00 per share, Air Liquide Plc appreciated by N1.09 to N11.99 per unit from N10.90 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 78 Kobo to N56.57 per share from N55.79 per share.

During the session, the volume of transactions rose by 6,885.3 per cent to 18.2 million units from 4.3 million units, the value of transactions ballooned by 10,301.7 per cent to N389.7 million from N347.2 million, but the number of deals declined by 29.7 per cent to 26 deals from 37 deals.

Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units valued at N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units worth N4.2 billion.

InfraCredit Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units worth N524.9 million.

Economy

Naira Depreciates to N1,450/$1 at Official Forex Market

Published

1 hour ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated further against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, December 5, as FX demand pressure mounts.

The Nigerian currency lost N2.60 or 0.18 per cent against the greenback to close at N1,450.43/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.83/$1.

Equally, the domestic currency declined against the Pound Sterling in the official forex market during the session by N4.48 to trade at N1,935.45/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,930.97/£1 and shrank against the Euro by 43 Kobo to end at N1,689.17/€1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N1,688.74/€1.

Similarly, the local currency performed badly against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX counter by N2 to close at N1,455/$1 versus Thursday’s N1,453/$1 but traded flat at the parallel market at N14.65/$1.

As the country gets into the festive period, pressure mounted on the local currency reflecting higher foreign payments and lower FX inflows.

However, there are expectations that the Nigerian currency will be stable, supported by interventions by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the face of steady dollar Demand and inflows from Detty December festivities that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month.

Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450/$1 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.

As for the crypto market, it was down yesterday due to profit-taking associated with year-end trading. However, the December 1-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation by the University of Michigan fell to 4.1 per cent from 4.5 per cent previously and 4.5 per cent expected. The 5-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation fell to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 per cent previously and 3.4 per cent expected.

With the dearth of official economic data of late, these private surveys have taken on a new level of significance and the market banks of them to make decisions.

Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $0.4142, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 5.1 per cent to $0.1394, Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 3.9 per cent to $3,039.75, Solana (SOL) declined by 3.8 per cent to $133.24, and Litecoin (LTC) fell by 3.7 per cent to $80.59.

Further, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 2.6 per cent to sell at $89,683.72, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $883.59, and Ripple (XRP) shrank by 2.1 per cent to $2.04, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.

Economy

Oil Market Climbs on Federal Reserve Rate-Cut Signals, Supply Concerns

Published

1 hour ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The oil market was up on Friday on increasing expectations the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week, which could boost economic growth and energy demand.

Brent futures rose by 49 cents or 0.8 per cent to $63.75 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures expanded by 41 cents or 0.7 per cent to $60.08 per barrel.

Investors digested a US inflation report and recalibrated expectations for the Federal Reserve to reduce rates at its December 9-10 meeting.

US consumer spending increased moderately in September after three straight months of solid gains, suggesting a loss of momentum in the economy at the end of the third quarter as a lackluster labor market and the rising cost of living curbed demand.

Traders have been pricing in an 87 per cent chance that the US central bank will lower borrowing costs by 25 basis points next week, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

Investors also focused on news from Russia and Venezuela to determine whether oil supplies from the two sanctioned members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) will increase or decrease in the future.

The failure of US talks in Moscow to achieve any significant breakthrough over the war in Ukraine has helped to boost oil prices so far this week.

A loss of Venezuelan oil production in case of a US military intervention will materially impact global benchmark prices as the market will have to replace Venezuela’s heavy crude.

Venezuela is estimated to pump about 1.1 million barrels per day of crude oil at present, so if the US-Venezuela tension escalation into an invasion in the South American country, this volume of crude would be at risk.

Reuters reported that the Group of Seven countries and the European Union are in talks to replace a price cap on Russian oil exports with a full maritime services ban in a bid to reduce the oil revenue that helps finance Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Any deal that could lift sanctions on Russia, the world’s second-biggest crude producer after the US, could increase the amount of oil available to global markets, weakening prices.