Economy
Upward Momentum May Lead to Continued Strength on Wall Street
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.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude production under the collective Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) fell in May to its lowest level in at least 37 years as the blockade of Iran by the United States and disruptions in the Persian Gulf, continued to limit output.
According to a Bloomberg survey released on Friday, output from the organisation’s 11 current members, including Nigeria, dropped by 1.22 million barrels per day to 16.33 million barrels per day last month.
Iran accounted for more than half of the decline. The data excludes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which departed the cartel last month after six decades of membership.
War between a US-Israeli alliance and Iran has reduced oil supplies from the Middle East, largely closing the Strait of Hormuz waterway. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait have been forced to cut crude production. Iranian shipments face additional pressure following a US blockade of its ports imposed in mid-April.
Iranian output fell by 710,000 barrels per day to a five-year low of 2.34 million barrels per day in May, the survey showed. Central Command reported that US forces have redirected 127 commercial vessels to enforce the blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports.
Kuwait recorded the second-largest decline last month, with production falling by 310,000 barrels per day to 490,000 barrels per day, less than one-fifth of pre-war levels. Saudi Arabia, the group’s leader, saw output decrease by 240,000 barrels per day to 6.57 million barrels per day.
The production reductions have not prevented OPEC and its allies from raising quotas over recent months, continuing a year-long process of restoring output halted several years ago.
This comes ahead of a meeting scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 7, where a sub-group of seven members is expected to increase targets by 188,000 barrels again in July. The session is one of four online meetings OPEC and its partners plan to hold that day.
Delegates indicated the alliance has plans for two additional monthly quota increases in August and September. UAE output rose by 300,000 barrels per day to 2.44 million barrels per day in May, according to the survey.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The 2025 third quarter Budget Implementation Report from the Budget Office of the Federation has shown that the federal government exceeded the funds allocation for repayment of debts for the first nine months of the fiscal year by about 18 per cent.
In a report by Punch, the sum of N10.74 trillion was budgeted for debt servicing between January and September 2025, but the government used N12.63 trillion for the purpose, N1.90 trillion or 17.65 per cent more than the allocation for the year.
The funds were spent on domestic debts, foreign debts and sinking fund by the central government in nine months.
Business Post reports that for the whole year, the amount approved by the National Assembly and signed by President Bola Tinubu for debt repayments was N14.31 trillion.
Looking at the nine-month figures, domestic debt service gulped N6.23 trillion, exceeding its N5.39 trillion provision, while foreign debt service was N6.30 trillion versus the budget provision of N5.06 trillion.
According to the report, the figures indicated that 67.2 per cent of the federal government’s retained revenue of N18.63 trillion was spent on debt service in the first nine months of 2025. When the sinking fund is included, debt-related payments consumed about 67.8 per cent of revenue.
It was also observed that aggregate federal government revenue underperformed the budget by N12.03 trillion or 39.24 per cent, as actual revenue of N18.63 trillion fell short of the N30.67 trillion projected for the first three quarters.
In the third quarter alone, the government generated N7.70 trillion versus the quarterly target of N10.22 trillion as a result of persistent oil revenue shortfalls, despite stronger non-oil collections.
The debt burden also crowded out capital spending, as total capital expenditure was N3.10 trillion in the first nine months compared with the N17.58 trillion budgeted for the period, indicating that actual debt-related payments were more than four times capital expenditure.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a loss of 1.13 per cent on Thursday, June 4, shrinking the market capitalisation by N30.03 billion to N2.630 trillion from N2.660 trillion on Wednesday.
Similarly, this brought down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 50.19 points to 4,396.08 points from the 4,446.27 points recorded a day earlier.
The loss was influenced by the overpowering of the bulls by the bears, after the bourse closed with two price gainers and three price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which slumped by N20.03 to sell at N190.38 per unit compared with midweek’s N210.41 per unit. Food Concepts Plc declined by 25 Kobo to trade at N2.50 per share versus the previous day’s N3.00 per share, and Acorn Petroleum Plc crumbled by 2 Kobo to end at N1.32 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1.34 per unit.
For the gainers, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc added N2.93 to close at N78.34 per share compared with the previous price of N75.41 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 80 Kobo to settle at N16.80 per unit versus N16.00 per unit.
There was a slip in the volume of transactions yesterday by 46.8 per cent to 280,714 units from 527,221 units, as the value of trades dropped 66.5 per cent to N21.8 million from the preceding session’s N64.2 million, and the number of deals fell by 8.7 per cent to 42 deals from 46 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended the session as 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 CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
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