Economy
US Stocks Open Lower on Renewed Trade War Concerns
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a lower opening on Friday, with stocks likely to give back ground after moving sharply higher over the course of the previous session.
Renewed concerns about the U.S.-China trade war may weigh on the markets after a report from Bloomberg said President Donald Trump?s administration is holding off on decisions about licenses for U.S. companies to restart business with Chinese tech giant Huawei.
Trump previously said his administration would make ?timely licensing decisions? but has reportedly decided to delay the decisions in response to China halting its purchases of U.S. agricultural products.
China decided to stop buying U.S. agricultural products in retaliation against Trump?s announcement last week that he plans to impose a 10 percent tariff on the remaining $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.
The report may weigh on U.S. chipmakers, which require a special license to sell goods to Huawei after the company was added to a U.S. trade blacklist in May over national security concerns.
Following the recovery from an early sell-off on Wednesday, stocks extended the upward move with a substantial rally during trading on Thursday. With the jump on the day, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 more than offset Monday’s steep losses.
The major averages saw further upside in late-day trading, closing just off their highs of the session. The Dow surged up 371.12 points or 1.4 percent to 26,378.19, the Nasdaq soared 176.33 points or 2.2 percent to 8,039.16 and the S&P 500 spiked 54.11 points or 1.9 percent to 2,938.09.
The rally on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to a report from the Chinese customs office showing unexpected annual growth in Chinese exports.
The report said Chinese exports in July were up by 3.3 percent compared to the same month a year ago, while economists had expected a 2 percent decrease.
While the report also showed a 5.6 percent year-over-year drop in Chinese imports, that was smaller than the 8.3 percent slump expected by economists.
The data eased concerns about the impact of the U.S.-China trade dispute even though it reflects a period before the latest escalation in the trade war.
Meanwhile, China’s central bank set the midpoint for the yuan above 7.00 per dollar the first time in a decade, but it was not as weak as many had expected.
The news out of China contributed to a rebound by U.S. treasury yields, as some traders moved money out of the safe haven of bonds.
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report unexpectedly showing a modest decrease in first-time claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended August 3rd.
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 209,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 217,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 215,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Software stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading session, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index up by 2.9 percent. The index continued to recover after ending Monday’s trading at a two-month closing low.
Significant strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.7 percent jump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) posted a standout gain after launching its second generation server chip with Google and Twitter as customers.
Energy, biotechnology, and chemical stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Economy
BNB Price Reflects Changing Dynamics in the Digital Asset Market
Economy
NASD Unlisted Security Index Crosses 4,000-point Benchmark Again
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange achieved a milestone on Friday, April 24, 2026, after five securities on the platform helped with a 1.85 per cent growth.
Data showed that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) again crossed the 4,000-point benchmark yesterday.
The index chalked up 73.64 points during the trading day to close at 4,052.59 points compared with the preceding session’s 3,978.95 points, while the market capitalisation added N5.38 billion to finish at N2.424 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N2.380 trillion.
The price gainers were led by Okitipupa Plc, which grew by N25.00 to sell at N305.00 per share compared with the previous price of N280.00 per share. Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc gained N6.92 to close at N76.26 per unit versus N69.34 per unit, Afriland Properties Plc appreciated by N1.00 to N17.00 per share from N18.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved by 55 Kobo to N99.55 per unit from N99.00 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc increased by 5 Kobo to N2.70 per share from N2.65 per share.
However, there was a price loser, MRS Oil, which dipped by N21.75 to N195.75 per unit from N217.50 per unit.
During the final session of the week, the value of securities jumped 75.2 per cent to N41.3 million from N23.6 million units, and the number of deals expanded by 62.9 per cent to 44 deals from 27 deals, while the volume of securities declined marginally by 0.9 per cent to 447,403 units from 451,522 units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units traded for N1.2 billion.
GNI was also the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 59.6 million units transacted for N4.0 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.8 million units exchanged for N1.9 billion.
Economy
Naira Slips to N1,358/$1 as FX Reserves, Policy Uncertainty Concerns
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira in the currency market on Friday, April 24, as its value depreciated against the major foreign currencies at the close of transactions.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), it lost N4.53 or 0.33 per cent against the United States Dollar yesterday to trade at N1,358.44/$1, in contrast to the N1,353.91/$1 it was exchanged on Thursday.
Equally, the domestic currency slipped against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.14 to close at N1,834.02/£1, compared with the previous rate of N1,825.88/£1 and dropped N8.01 against the Euro to sell at N1,590.73/€1 versus N1,582.72/€1.
Also, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX desk on Friday by N4 to quote at N1,370/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,366/$1, and at the parallel market, it depleted by N5 to settle at N1,380/$1 versus the preceding day’s N1,375/$1.
Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that NFEM interbank turnover surged to N43.562 million across 68 deals, up from N28.117 million the previous day.
Despite the CBN’s reassurance that the recent drop in external reserves is not worrisome, the market remains unsettled by persistent concerns over liquidity constraints, policy transparency, and weakening confidence in Nigeria’s FX market as gross reserves continue to decline to $48.4 billion.
The outlook for the Dollar appears supported by broader macro risks, including elevated oil prices tied to the tanker traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and a continued US-Iran standoff over ceasefire negotiations.
A look at the digital currency market showed that investors are sitting on the edge as the US Dollar rebounded amid geopolitical and inflation risks despite continued inflows into US spot bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Solana (SOL) rose by 1.2 per cent to sell $86.45, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $0.2517, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.9 per cent to $0.0989, Ripple (XRP) improved by 0.3 per cent to $1.43, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 0.2 per cent to $2,316.83, and Binance Coin (BNB) chalked up 0.1 per cent to sell for $637.44.
However, TRON (TRX) depreciated by 1.3 per cent to $0.3235, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.2 per cent to close at $77,562.27, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
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