Economy
US Stocks Open Higher on Trade Talk Optimism
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher opening on Friday, with stocks likely to extend the recovery from yesterday?s early weakness.
Renewed optimism about U.S.-China trade talks may generate some early buying interest after a report from CNBC said negotiations are set to resume October 10th in Washington.
A person close to the talks said Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will be representing the delegation from Beijing at the meetings.
The U.S. and China held deputy-level trade talks last week, although Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called off a trip by Chinese officials to U.S. farms.
Stocks regained ground after coming under pressure in morning trading on Thursday but still ended the day moderately lower. With the pullback on the day, the major averages partly offset the notable gains posted on Wednesday.
While the major averages climbed well off their worst levels, they still closed in negative territory. The Dow fell 79.59 points or 0.3 percent to 26,891.12, the Nasdaq slid 46.72 points or 0.6 percent to 8,030.66 and the S&P 500 dipped 7.25 points or 0.2 percent to 2,977.62.
The weakness on Wall Street came amid renewed political uncertainty following the release of the whistleblower complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
The document outlines concerns about Trump “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.”
“This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals,” the complaint reads.
The complaint relates to Trump’s calls on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to conduct an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.
On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released its final report on U.S. gross domestic product in the second quarter, showing the pace of GDP growth was unrevised from the previous estimate.
The report said real GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.0 in the second quarter, unchanged from the previous estimate and in line with economist estimates.
The unrevised 2.0 percent GDP growth in the second quarter still reflects a notable slowdown compared to the 3.1 percent jump in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, a separate report from the National Association of Realtors showed a much bigger than expected rebound in pending home sales in the month of August.
NAR said its pending home sales index surged up by 1.6 percent to 107.3 in August after plunging by 2.5 percent to 105.6 in July. Economists had expected pending home sales to climb by 0.9 percent.
A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.
Energy stocks turned in some of the market’s worst performances on the day even though the price of crude oil climbed well off its worst levels.
Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index tumbled by 2.7 percent, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index slumped by 1.4 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index fell by 1.1 percent.
Significant weakness also emerged among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. The index ended the session at an eight-month closing low.
Steel, gold, and brokerage stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, while most of the other major sectors showed more modest moves.
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.
