Economy

US Stocks Open Lower on Threat Of New Tariffs

Published

7 years ago

31/05/2019

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.

Economy

NASD Index Rises 0.16% on Renewed Investors’ Appetite

Published

54 minutes ago

23/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.16 per cent on Monday, December 22 as investors showed hunger for unlisted stocks.

Trading data showed that the volume of securities traded at the session surged by 532.9 per cent to 12.6 million units from the previous 1.9 million units, as the value of transactions jumped by 64.3 per cent to N713.6 million from N80.3 million, though the number of deals moderated by 13.5 per cent to 32 deals from the 37 deals recorded in the previous trading session.

Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units sold for N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units worth N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units transacted for N4.9 billion.

InfraCredit Plc also finished the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units traded for N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with the sale of 1.2 billion units for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with a turnover of 537.0 million units valued at N524.9 million.

The unlisted securities market printed a price loser, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which dropped 20 Kobo to sell at N53.80 per share versus last Friday’s closing price of N54.00 per share.

However, the loss was offset by the trio of NASD Plc, Golden Capital Plc, and UBN Property Plc.

NASD Plc gained N5.00 to close at N60.00 per unit versus N55.00 per unit, Golden Capital Plc appreciated by 77 Kobo to N8.45 per share from N7.68 per share, and UBN Property Plc improved by 22 Kobo to N2.43 per unit from N2.21 per unit.

As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N3.38 billion to N2.125 billion from N2.121 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) grew by 5.65 per cent to 3,552.06 points from 3,546.41 points.

Economy

Nigeria’s Stock Exchange Sustains Bull Run by 0.26%

Published

1 hour ago

23/12/2025

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The bulls remained on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday, rallying by 0.26 per cent at the close of transactions.

This was buoyed by the gains recorded by 34 equities on Nigeria’s stock exchange, which outweighed the losses posted by 20 equities, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.

Aluminium Extrusion gained 9.72 per cent to quote at N13.55, International Energy Insurance improved by 9.69 per cent to N2.49, Mecure Industries rose by 9.64 per cent to N60.30, Royal Exchange expanded by 9.60 per cent to N1.94, and Austin Laz grew by 9.50 per cent to N2.65.

On the flip side, Custodian Investment depleted by 10.00 per cent to N35.10, ABC Transport crashed by 10.00 per cent to N3.15, Prestige Assurance weakened by 7.41 per cent to N1.50, and Guinea Insurance slipped by 7.38 per cent to N1.13.

During the session, investors traded 451.5 million shares worth N13.0 billion in 33,327 deals compared with the 1.5 billion shares valued at N21.8 billion transacted in 25,667 deals in the preceding session, showing spike in the number of deals by 29.84 per cent, and a decline in the trading volume and value by 69.90 per cent and 40.37 per cent apiece.

The first trading session of the Christmas week had Tantalizers as the most active with 50.2 million units sold for N127.5 million, First Holdco transacted 32.6 million units worth N1.5 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 27.3 million units valued at N562.3 million, Custodian Investment traded 22.1 million units for N857.8 million, and Chams transacted 21.3 million units valued at N71.1 million.

When the closing gong was struck at 2:30 pm to end trading activities, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 401.69 points to 152,459.07 points from 152,057.38 points and the market capitalisation went up by N256 billion to N97.193 trillion from N96.937 trillion.

Economy

Naira Appreciates to N1,456/$1 at Official FX Market

Published

2 hours ago

23/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira opened the week stronger against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) by N7.93 or 0.54 per cent on Monday, December 22, trading at N1,456.56/$1 compared with last Friday’s value of N1,464.49/$1.

The local currency also appreciated against the Euro in the same market window yesterday by N4.04 to close at N1,710.59/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,714.63/€1, but depreciated against the Pound Sterling by 3 Kobo to finish at N1,957.33/£1 compared with the previous session’s N1,957.30/£1.

At the GTBank FX counter, the Nigerian Naira lost N3 against the greenback during the session to end at N1,470/$1 versus N1,467/$1 and remained unchanged in the parallel market at N1,485/$1.

Despite the market facing seasonal pressure, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted FX intervention sales, which have significantly reduced but not remove pressure from the Naira. The lender sold $150 million to authorised dealers and banks to absorb pressures from increasing demand for Dollar.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s foreign exchange (FX) reserves have recorded the first decline in 25 weeks, falling by $263.151 million to $45.21 billion as of December 17, 2025, according to new data from the apex bank.

This marks a reversal of a long-running accumulation trend that pushed reserves to their highest level in six years. The contraction ended a sustained build-up that had peaked at $45.472 billion on December 12.

As for the cryptocurrency market, the bears dominated, with traders remaining cautious about a significant recovery with the market facing exhaustion.

While the total crypto market capitalization has surpassed $3 trillion, analysts warn that the market outcomes in the next few weeks may be driven by exhaustion rather than renewed confidence.

Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 1.9 per cent to $1.88, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 1.8 per cent to $2,971.28, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 1.4 per cent to sell at $87,599.57, and Solana (SOL) slumped by 1.1 per cent to $124.89.

Further, Litecoin (LTC) declined by 0.9 per cent to close at $76.84, Dogecoin (DOGE) shrank by 0.7 per cent to $0.1310, Binance Coin (BNB) lost 0.6 per cent to sell for $852.09, and Cardano (ADA) fell by 0.1 per cent to $0.3655, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.