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Economy

US Stocks Generate Buying Interest on Renewed Trade Talks Optimism

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US Stocks report

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher opening on Friday following the volatility seen over the two previous sessions.

The upward momentum on Wall Street comes after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly said the U.S. and China are making ?a lot of progress? in trade talks.

A report from Reuters said Mnuchin is looking forward to a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He next week, which will also include discussions on currency issues.

Traders also seem to be expressing optimism about negotiations to end the government shutdown even though two separate proposals to re-open the government failed in the Senate yesterday.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as no major U.S. economic data will be released on the day due to the ongoing shutdown.

Extending the volatile performance seen on Wednesday, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The Dow and the S&P 500 spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to remain positive.

The major averages eventually ended the session mixed. While the Dow edged down 22.38 points or 0.1 percent to 24,553.24, the Nasdaq advanced 47.69 points or 0.7 percent to 7,073.46 and the S&P 500 inched up 3.63 points or 0.1 percent to 2,642.33.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC the U.S. is “miles and miles” from a trade deal with China.

“Frankly, that shouldn’t be too surprising,” Ross said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” noting the U.S. and China have “lots and lots of issues.”

The comments from Ross come ahead of Chinese Vice Premier Liu He’s trip to Washington next week for the next round of trade negotiations.

Concerns about a U.S.-China trade deal partly offset positive sentiment generated by a report from the Labor Department showing initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level in almost fifty years in the week ended January 19th.

The report said initial jobless claims slid to 199,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 212,000.

The drop surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to rise to 220,000 from the 213,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 197,000 in November of 1969.

Meanwhile, a separate report from the Conference Board showed a modest decrease by its index of leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of December.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index edged down by 0.1 percent in December after rising by 0.2 percent in November. The slight drop by the index matched economist estimates.

“The US LEI declined slightly in December and the recent moderation in the LEI suggests that the US economic growth rate may slow down this year,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Director of Economic Research at the Conference Board.

He added, “While the effects of the government shutdown are not yet reflected here, the LEI suggests that the economy could decelerate towards 2 percent growth by the end of 2019.”

Despite the lackluster performance by the broader markets, semiconductor stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index spiked by 5.7 percent to its best closing level in well over a month.

Shares of Xilinx (XLNX) moved sharply higher after the chipmaker reported better than expected fiscal third quarter results and provided upbeat guidance for the current quarter.

Significant strength was also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent jump by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The rally came amid an increase by the price of crude oil.

Computer hardware, housing, and natural gas stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, while tobacco and pharmaceutical stocks showed significant moves to the downside.

Modupe Gbadeyanka is a fast-rising journalist with Business Post Nigeria. Her passion for journalism is amazing. She is willing to learn more with a view to becoming one of the best pen-pushers in Nigeria. Her role models are the duo of CNN's Richard Quest and Christiane Amanpour.

Economy

Presco, GTCO List Additional Shares on Stock Exchange

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Nigeria's stock exchange

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The duo of Presco Plc and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc has listed additional shares on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.

The extra equities of these two publicly-listed organisations were admitted to the local stock exchange last Friday, increasing their respective total issued and fully paid-up shares.

For Presco, it listed fresh 166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each on the daily official list of the NGX on Friday, January 30, 2026, increasing its total issued and fully paid-up stocks from 1,000,000,000 units to 1,166,666,667 units.

The additional equities were from the rights issue of the firm allotted to shareholders on the basis of one new share for every existing six ordinary shares held as at close of business on Monday, October 13, 2025.

In a circular issued over the weekend, the NGX said, “Trading licence holders are hereby notified that additional 166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each of Presco Plc were on Friday, January 30, 2026, listed on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited (NGX).

“The additional shares arose from the company’s rights issue of 166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N1,420.00 per share on the basis of one new share for every existing six ordinary shares held as at close of business on Monday, October 13, 2025.

“With the listing of the additional 166,666,667 ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of Presco Plc has now increased from 1,000,000,000 to 1,166,666,667 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.”

As for GTCO, it listed additional125,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each at N80.00 per unit offered through private placement.

The fresh equities taken to Customs Street have raised the total issued and fully paid-up shares of GTCO from 36,425,229,514 to 36,550,229,514 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each.

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Economy

FG, States, Local Councils Share N1.969trn FAAC Allocation

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faac allocation

By Adedapo Adesanya

A total of N1.969 trillion was shared to the federal government, the 36 state governments and the 774 local government councils from the gross revenue of N2.585 trillion generated by the nation in December 2025.

The money was disbursed to the three tiers of government at the January 2026 Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting held in Abuja.

In a statement issued on Monday by the Director of Press and Public Relations in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), Mr Bawa Mokwa, it was stated that the FAAC allocation comprised statutory revenue of N1.084 trillion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N846.507 billion, and Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N38.110 billion.

“Total deduction for cost of collection was N104.697 billion, while total transfers, refunds, and savings were N511.585 billion,” the statement partly read.

It was also revealed that from the N1.969 trillion total distributable revenue, the federal Government received the sum of N653.500 billion, and the state governments received N706.469 billion, the local government councils received N513.272 billion, and the sum of N96.083 billion was shared with the benefiting state as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

He said of the N1.084 trillion distributable statutory revenue, the central government received N520.807 billion, the state governments got N264.160 billion, the local councils were given N203.656 billion, and N96.083 billion was shared to the benefiting states as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

FAAC noted that from the N846.507 billion distributable VAT earnings, the federal government got N126.976 billion, the state governments received N423.254 billion, and the local government councils got N296.277 billion.

From the revenue from EMTL, Mr Mokwa explained that the national government was given N5.717 billion, the state governments got N19.055 billion, and the councils collected N13.338 billion.

He added that the companies’ Income Tax (CIT)/CGT and STD, Import Duty and Value Added Tax (VAT) increased significantly in December, while oil and gas royalty, CET levies and fees increase marginally, with excise duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT)/Hydrocarbon Tax (HT), and EMTL considerably down.

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Economy

Oil Exports to Drop as Shell Commences Maintenance on Bonga FPSO

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Bonga FPSO

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria’s oil exports will drop in February following the shutdown of the Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel scheduled for turnaround maintenance.

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) Limited confirmed the development in a statement issued, adding that gas output will also decline during the maintenance period.

This comes as SNEPCo begun turnaround maintenance on the Bonga FPSO, the statement signed by its Communications Manager, Mrs Gladys Afam-Anadu, said, describing the exercise as a statutory integrity assurance programme designed to extend the facility’s operational lifespan.

SNEPCo Managing Director, Mr Ronald Adams, said the maintenance would ensure safe, efficient operations for another 15 years.

“The scheduled maintenance is designed to reduce unplanned deferments and strengthen the asset’s overall resilience.

“We expect to resume operations in March following completion of the turnaround,” he said.

Mr Adams said the scope included inspections, certification, regulatory checks, integrity upgrades, engineering modifications and subsea assurance activities.

“The FPSO, about 120 kilometres offshore in over 1,000 metres of water, can produce 225,000 barrels of oil daily.

“It also produces 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day,” he said.

He said maintaining the facility was critical to Nigeria’s production stability, energy security and revenue objectives.

Mr Adams noted that the 2024 Final Investment Decision on Bonga North increased the importance of the FPSO’s reliability. He said the turnaround would prepare the facility for additional volumes from the Bonga North subsea tie-back project.

According to him, the last turnaround maintenance was conducted in October 2022.

“On February 1, 2023, the asset produced its one billionth barrel since operations began in 2005,” Mr Adams said.

SNEPCo operates the Bonga field in partnership with Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited, under a Production Sharing Contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

The last turnaround maintenance activity on the FPSO took place in October 2022. On February 1, the following year, the asset delivered its 1 billionth barrel of oil since production commenced in 2005.

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