Economy
US Stocks May Move Upside in Early Trading
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Monday, with stocks poised to add to the gains posted last week.
While buying interest was somewhat subdued, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading session on Friday. The upward move on the day lifted the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to new record closing highs.
The major averages all closed in positive territory, although the Dow inched up just 23.89 points or 0.1 percent to 22,405.09. The Nasdaq advanced 42.51 points or 0.7 percent to 6,495.96 and the S&P 500 climbed 9.30 points or 0.4 percent to 2,519.36.
For the week, the Nasdaq jumped by 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 rose by 0.7 percent and the Dow edged up by 0.2 percent.
The higher close on Wall Street came as traders continued to digest the Republican tax reform plan and attempt to assess the path forward for the proposal.
A report from Bloomberg News said the vast majority of economists surveyed predicted that the tax reform plan would widen the budget deficit.
The Trump administration has argued that the stronger economic growth spurred by the tax cuts would offset the cost.
In other news, President Donald Trump reportedly met with former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh to discuss his potential nomination as the next chair of the central bank.
The meeting, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was also attended by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Warsh is seen as more hawkish than current Fed Chair Janet Yellen and has been a vocal critic of the Fed’s monetary stimulus policies since the financial crisis.
On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing personal income and spending both rose in line with economist estimates in the month of August.
The Commerce Department said personal income edged up by 0.2 percent in August after rising by a downwardly revised 0.3 percent in July.
Economists had expected income to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
The report said personal spending also inched up by 0.1 percent in August after climbing by an unrevised 0.3 percent in July. The uptick in spending matched expectations.
A separate report from MNI Indicators unexpectedly showed a significant acceleration in the pace of growth in Chicago-area business activity in the month of September.
MNI Indicators said its Chicago business barometer jumped to 65.2 in September from 58.9 in August, with a reading above 50 indicating growth.
The substantial increase by the business barometer came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to edge down to 58.5.
Many of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day, although considerable strength emerged among steel stocks. Reflecting the strength in the steel sector, the NYSE Arca Steel Index advanced by 1.1 percent.
Ryerson (RYI) posted a standout gain, jumping by 14.2 percent after providing upbeat third quarter revenue guidance.
Notable strength was also visible among trucking stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones Trucking Index. The gain extended a recent upward move by the index, which reached a record closing high.
Biotechnology, housing, and semiconductor stocks also moved to the upside on the day, while gold stocks moved lower along with the price of the precious metal.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) says the rollout of electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) will strengthen tax compliance, curb revenue leakages and improve transparency in tax administration as it moves to fully digitise the country’s tax system.
The Project Lead for the NRS e-Invoicing Project, Mr Mohammed Bawa, stated this at the DigiTax E-Invoicing Compliance Breakfast Session held in Lagos on Wednesday.
The event, organised by DigiTax, an NRS-accredited e-invoicing platform, formed part of efforts to support the agency’s ongoing education and sensitisation campaign on the e-invoicing mandate.
Mr Bawa said the initiative aligns with global trends in tax digitisation and is expected to help improve Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio, which remains one of the lowest in Africa.
According to him, the system will provide the NRS with greater visibility into transactions across sectors, formalise activities within the informal economy and standardise invoice formats nationwide using globally recognised invoice schemas.
He added that e-invoicing would improve operational efficiency for both businesses and tax authorities while supporting the NRS’ transition from manual and electronic tax administration processes to a fully automated system-to-system interaction model.
Mr Bawa noted that the legal framework for implementation is backed by the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, which prescribes penalties for non-compliance.
He disclosed that the NRS has completed onboarding large taxpayers and is preparing to enforce compliance with defaulting entities.
According to him, medium taxpayers are expected to begin compliance in the third quarter of 2026, while onboarding of emerging taxpayers will commence in 2027, with full adoption targeted for all taxpayers by the end of 2028.
Mr Bawa urged taxpayers yet to be onboarded onto the platform to begin the process and work with accredited service providers to ensure compliance.
On his part, Country Director of DigiTax Nigeria, Mr Olumide Akinsola, urged businesses to look beyond their internal systems and assess the compliance status of suppliers and counterparties.
He warned that businesses whose suppliers fail to transmit invoices through the MBS platform risk losing eligibility to claim Value Added Tax (VAT) input credits on such transactions, describing the resulting supply chain exposure as a significant commercial risk that many organisations have yet to quantify.
Mr Akinsola also announced the launch of DigiTax’s white paper, The State of E-Invoicing Readiness in Nigeria, which examines compliance adoption trends and the readiness gap across different taxpayer segments.
He added that DigiTax operates in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), noting that experience from those markets shows businesses that integrate early are better positioned to avoid disruptions when enforcement begins.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The names of about 100,000 companies registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) are about to be deleted for inactivity, especially for failing to file their annual tax returns, Business Post reports.
This information was disclosed by the CAC via a notice signed by its management on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
The list contains organisations like the Nigeria-Poland Chamber of Trade Invest Ltd, Alariwo of Afrika Ltd, Ovation Sports International, First Union Pension Fund Administrators, Investopedia Limited, Baptist High School Abuja Ltd, and Yobe Aluminium Manufacturing Industries Ltd, amongst others.
In the statement, the commission said its decision to strike off the names of the affected firms from the register aligns with the provisions of Section 692(3) (3) and (4) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020.
However, the affected companies can still salvage the situation by filing all outstanding annual returns and regularising their records within 90 days.
“Please note that companies that fail to comply within the stipulated timeline shall be struck off the register without further notice,” it declared, expressing its continued commitment to providing prompt and efficient registration and regulatory services to the satisfaction of its valued customers.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange gained 1.75 per cent on Wednesday, July 15, pushing the NASD Security Index (NSI) up by 74.20 points to 4,316.51 points from 4,242.31 points, as the market capitalisation added N44.54 billion to finish at N2.590 trillion compared with the preceding session’s N2.546 trillion.
During the session, there was an 11.5 per cent rise in the value of transactions at midweek to N72.7 million from the preceding session’s N65.2 million, as there was a 3.7 per cent growth in the number of deals to 28 deals from the previous session’s 27 deals, while the volume of securities slumped by 64.5 per cent to 4.9 million units from 13.7 million units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended as the most active security by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, with the second spot occupied by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc after selling 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and the third position was taken by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which exchanged 74.3 million units for N5.3 billion.
GNI Plc also finished the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was negative yesterday, as there were two price gainers and three price losers.
11 Plc added N22.36 to its value to close at N250.00 per share versus N227.64 per share, and CSCS Plc improved by N7.95 to N90.35 per unit from N82.40 per unit.
On the flip side, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N1.37 to end at N150.00 per share versus N151.37 per share, UBN Property Plc depreciated by 6 Kobo to N1.75 per unit from N1.81 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc dropped 1 Kobo to close at N2.49 per share versus N2.50 per share.
