Economy
US Stocks Open Lower on Threat Of New Tariffs
By investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a lower opening on Friday, with stocks likely to come under pressure after ending the previous session modestly higher.
Trade concerns are likely to weigh on the markets once again after President Donald Trump revealed plans to use tariffs to compel Mexico to make efforts to stop flow of illegal immigrants across the country and into the U.S.
?On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP,? Trump announced in a post on Twitter
He added, ?The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, at which time the Tariffs will be removed.?
Trump revealed in a subsequent White House statement the tariffs will be raised to 10 percent on July 1st if the crisis persists, with tariffs eventually rising as high as 25 percent by October 1st.
The president argued the sustained imposition of tariffs will produce a massive return of jobs back to U.S., describing the move as an effort to ?firmly and forcefully? stand up for America?s interests.
?We have confidence that Mexico can and will act swiftly to help the United States stop this long-term, dangerous, and deeply unfair problem,? Trump said.
?The United States has been very good to Mexico for many years,? he added. ?We are now asking that Mexico immediately do its fair share to stop the use of its territory as a conduit for illegal immigration into our country.?
The threat of new tariffs on Mexican imports comes amid the escalating trade dispute between the U.S. and China, which has recently weighed on stocks and raised concerns about the global economic outlook.
After failing to sustain an early move to the upside, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Thursday. The major averages spent a good part of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.
Eventually, the major averages closed in positive territory but well off their best levels of the day. The Dow rose 43.47 points or 0.2 percent to 25,169.88, the Nasdaq climbed 20.41 points or 0.3 percent to 7,567.72 and the S&P 500 edged up 5.84 points or 0.2 percent to 2,788.86.
The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected bargain hunting following recent weakness, with the Dow bouncing off its lowest closing level in well over three months.
An early rebound by treasury yields also contributed to the upward move, as a recent decline by yields has led to concerns about the outlook for the economy and the possibility of a recession.
Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as traders seemed reluctant to get back into the markets due to lingering concerns about the U.S.-China trade dispute.
Amid a continued escalation of the rhetoric, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Hanhui accused the U.S. of “economic terrorism” by raising tariffs on Chinese goods.
“We oppose a trade war but are not afraid of a trade war,” Zhang said. “This kind of deliberately provoking trade disputes is naked economic terrorism, economic homicide, economic bullying.”
A report from Bloomberg News indicating China has put purchases of U.S. soybeans on hold has added to concerns about a trade war.
Treasuries also turned higher over the course of the trading session, contributing to a notable downturn by yields.
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended May 25th.
The report said initial jobless claims edged up to 215,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 212,000.
A separate report from the Commerce Department showed U.S. economic growth in the first quarter accelerated by slightly less than initially estimated.
The Commerce Department said real gross domestic product surged up by 3.1 percent in the first quarter, reflecting a slight downward from revision from the previously reported 3.2 percent jump.
The downwardly revised increase in GDP, which matched economist estimates, still represented a notable acceleration from the 2.2 percent growth seen in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing pending home sales unexpectedly pulled back in the month of April.
NAR said its pending home sales index tumbled by 1.5 percent to 104.3 in April after surging up by 3.9 percent to an upwardly revised 105.9 in March.
The pullback came as a surprise to economists, who had expected pending home sales to climb by 0.9 percent compared to the 3.8 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.
Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, contributing to the lackluster close by the broader markets.
Energy stocks showed a significant move to the downside, however, with a steep drop by the price of crude oil weighing on the sector.
Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index tumbled by 2 percent, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index slumped by 1.7 and the NYSE Arca Oil Index fell by 1.3 percent.
Banking stocks also came under pressure over the course of the trading session, dragging the KBW Bank Index down by 1.3 percent.
On the other hand, gold stocks moved higher along with the price of the precious metal, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index jumping by 1.8 percent.
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.
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.
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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