Economy

US Shares Open Higher on ECB Stimulus, Tariff Delay

Published

6 years ago

12/09/2019

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Thursday, with stocks likely to extend the strong upward move seen over the course of the previous session.

A positive reaction to the European Central Bank?s monetary policy decision is likely to contribute to initial strength on Wall Street, with the ECB cutting rates and announcing a massive new bond-buying program.

The ECB lowered its main deposit rate by 10 basis points to 0.50 percent and announced plans to restart its quantitative easing program by purchasing assets at a pace of 20 billion euros per month beginning November 1st.

The central bank said it expects to keep interest rates at their present or lower levels until it has seen a sufficient increase in the inflation outlook.

The asset purchase program is expected to run for as long as necessary to reinforce the accommodative impact of the ECB?s policy rates.

Following the ECB announcement, President Donald Trump took another shot at the Federal Reserve, which is due to announce its latest monetary policy decision next week.

?European Central Bank, acting quickly, Cuts Rates 10 Basis Points. They are trying, and succeeding, in depreciating the Euro against the VERY strong Dollar, hurting U.S. exports,? Trump tweeted. ?And the Fed sits, and sits, and sits. They get paid to borrow money, while we are paying interest!?

Early buying interest is also likely to be generated in reaction to news that Trump is temporarily delaying raising tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports.

Calling the move a ?gesture of good will,? Trump delayed raising the tariffs rate from 25 percent to 30 percent from October 1st to October 15th.

After moving modestly higher early in the session, stocks saw further upside over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. With the advance on the day, the major averages ended the session at their best closing levels in over a month.

The major averages reached new highs going into the close, ending the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow advanced 227.61 points or 0.9 percent to 27,137.04, the Nasdaq jumped 85.52 points or 1.1 percent to 8,169.68 and the S&P 500 climbed 21.54 points or 0.7 percent to 3,000.93.

The strength on Wall Street came following news that China is granting tariff exemptions for 16 types of American-made products as a sign of goodwill ahead of the next round of trade talks.

The list included varieties of animal feed such as alfalfa and fish meal, cancer drugs gefitinib and capecitabine, base oil for lubricants and lubricating grease, and some farm chemicals.

The Chinese Customs Tariff Commission said the tariff suspension would take effect next Tuesday and remain in place for a year.

Stocks also benefited from optimism about new global stimulus ahead of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy decision as well as next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest uptick in producer prices in the month of August.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand inched up by 0.1 percent in August after rising by 0.2 percent in July. Economists had expected prices to come in unchanged.

Excluding food and energy prices, core producer prices rose by 0.3 percent in August after edging down by 0.1 percent in July. Core prices had been expected to increase by 0.2 percent.

Computer hardware stocks showed a substantial move to the upside over the course of the trading session, driving the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index up by 2.3 percent to its best closing level in a year.

Significant strength also emerged among networking stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Networking Index. The index ended the session at a one-month closing high.

Steel stocks also turned in a particularly strong performance on the day, resulting in a 2 percent advance by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.

Telecom, brokerage, and housing stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Economy

Overdue FX Contracts: Manufacturers Accuse Banks of Incessant Harassment

Published

1 hour ago

23/05/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN) has claimed that banks were harassing its members over outstanding forward foreign exchange (FX) contracts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to reports by Bloomberg, members have faced penalties, including frozen accounts over the impasse, while others are constantly being harassed.

The contracts were from the Nigeria’s previous controlled FX regime, which was liberalised in June 2023, when the CBN announced a set of reforms at the FX market.

The reforms were announced after President Bola Tinubu came to power two years ago, but the Dollar backlog has taken time to pay down, contributing to the volatility of the Naira which has lost about 70 per cent of its value against the American currency.

“Our members have reported significant unwarranted complexities and undue high-handedness by the banks,” the publication reported, citing a statement.

Nigerian companies bid for Dollars via forward contracts via these banks, who then received the US currency from the CBN in exchange for the Naira. Then when the contract ends, the process is reversed.

However, the CBN hasn’t supplied the Dollars and commercial lenders now want the companies to find the Dollars elsewhere.

This is causing strain as options to buy elsewhere will see them buy at higher rate and higher demand may weaken the value of the local currency, creating more problem for manufacturers already facing a hard time.

“We reiterate our call on the Central Bank of Nigeria to speed up the long overdue redemption of the unsettled forex forward, ” MAN said. “Our members should not be harassed.”

The CBN claimed it had settled the necessary backlogs which was around $2.4 billion, claiming that an independent audit saw a lot of unfounded and unverifiable claims.

Bloomberg added that the apex bank initially disputed the claims, but later said it would investigate and settle on merit.

This development comes as manufacturers face a series of headwinds in their operations including transport and logistics, infrastructure, particularly around major ports and industrial corridors, which make the operating environment unconducive for manufacturing.

According to the Director-General of the association, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, the manufacturing sector’s growth was as low as 1.40 per cent in 2023 and declined further to 1.38 per cent in 2024.

He also these challenges are evident in the sector’s capacity utilisation and its contribution to the nation’s economy, which have hovered around 5.5 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, over the past 12 months.

Economy

Renaissance Targets $15bn Investment in Nigerian Oil Fields by 2029

Published

5 hours ago

23/05/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited is looking to inject $15 billion in its oil fields located onshore and shallow waters of the Niger Delta region in the next five years.

Renaissance Africa, a consortium of indigenous oil firms, recently acquired oil assets earlier held by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), following divestment by Shell UK from onshore operations in Niger Delta.

Mr Tony Attah, the Managing Director, Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited said at the 2025 Nigeria Oil and Gas Opportunities Fair (NOGOF) on Thursday in Yenagoa, that the investment would be targeted predominantly to improve the participation of indigenous oil firms in the onshore and shallow waters oil blocks operation.

Represented by Mr Greg Akhibi, General Manager, Supply Chain he said the money would be spent on 32 projects in development of domestic gas, export gas and more crude oil production to balance the predominantly gas portfolio template hitherto operated by SPDC.

“We acquired a total of 112,000 square kilometers acreage of assets and we intend to pursue projects that will balance the assets which were tilted more to gas.

“We are focusing on four project areas to increase oil production and there are upcoming activities in drilling, rigs, pipelines and fabrication businesses.

“We are also looking at 22 projects to increase export in gas production.

“Currently our gas production is at 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMSCF/D) and we project to hit 300 MMSCF/D with the anticipated increased off-take from the AKK gas pipeline expected to further increase domestic gas utilisation,” Akhibi said.

He noted that the Renaissance Africa remains committed to partnerships with the NCDMB and Nigerian companies in the oil and gas sector to produce energy for Nigeria and the rest of African continent.

This comes as the company exceeded crude oil production targets by 40 per cent in its first month of operating the former Shell assets.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited hailed the performance in April 2025 as a strong signal of renewed momentum in Nigeria’s upstream sector and a promising step toward boosting national oil output and economic growth.

“This is to commend Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, your esteemed leadership team and staff for exceeding the production target in your JV assets for April 2025,” said NNPC in an official letter signed by its Executive Vice President, Upstream, Mr Udobong Ntia.

The state oil company expressed hope that the April milestone would inspire Renaissance “towards accelerating the realisation of the initiatives for incremental production volumes while protecting the base.”

Economy

OTC Exchange Increases Value by N2.38bn

Published

9 hours ago

23/05/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.13 per cent on Thursday, May 22, pushing the market capitalisation of the bourse higher by N2.38 billion to N1.849 trillion from N1.847 trillion quoted at the preceding session, with the Unlisted Security Index (NSI) jumping by 4.08 points to 3,158.24 points from the previous session’s 3,154.16 points.

The expansion was influenced by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc despite the loss posted by Food Concepts Plc.

FrieslandCampina gained N1.49 to close at N41.50 per share compared with the previous closing value of N40.01 per share and CSCS increased by 16 Kobo to to end at N24.03 per unit, in contrast to Wednesday’s closing price of N23.87 per unit.

However, Food Concepts Plc went down by 5 Kobo during the trading session to close at N1.50 per share compared with midweek’s price of N1.55 per unit.

The volume of securities bought and sold yesterday went up by 13.7 per cent to 452,466 units from the 398,093 units traded in the previous trading day, the value of shares transacted by the market participants declined by 63.7 per cent to N1.5 million from N4.1 million, and the number of deals carried out by investors went down by 10.5 per cent to 17 deals from 19 deals.

When trading activities ended for the day, Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 536.9 million units worth N524.7 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 267.1 million units valued at N472.3 million, and Okitipupa Plc with 153.6 million units sold for N4.9 billion.

In the same vein, Okitipupa Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date with a turnover of 153.6 million units valued at N4.9 billion, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 21.9 million units worth N844.3 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units sold for N524.7 million.