Economy

US Stocks Open Lower on Trade Deal Skepticism

Published

6 years ago

04/12/2018

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Tuesday, with stocks likely to give back ground following the rally seen in the previous session.

Profit taking may contribute to initial weakness on Wall Street, as traders cash in on the strong gains posted on Monday in reaction to the trade war truce reached by President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Uncertainty about whether the 90-day truce will give the U.S. and China enough time to reach a long-term trade agreement may inspire traders to cash in on yesterday?s strong upward move.

News that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, one of Trump?s more hawkish advisors on trade with China, has been tapped to lead the negotiations has added to the skepticism.

Trump has appeared optimistic about the potential for an agreement, claiming U.S. relations with China have taken a ?big lead forward? as a result of his meeting with XI.

?Very good things will happen,? Trump said in a post on Twitter. ?We are dealing from great strength, but China likewise has much to gain if and when a deal is completed. Level the field!?

?President Xi and I have a very strong and personal relationship,? he added. ?He and I are the only two people that can bring about massive and very positive change, on trade and far beyond, between our two great Nations.?

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, with a lack of major U.S. economic data likely to keep some traders on the sidelines.

Tomorrow?s national day of mourning for former President George H.W. Bush may also limit trading activity, as the NYSE and the Nasdaq will be closed on the day and the release of most economic data has been postponed.

After moving sharply higher at the open, stocks gave back some ground but managed to remain firmly positive throughout the trading session on Monday. With the advance on the day, the major averages added to the substantial gains posted last week.

The major averages moved roughly sideways for much of the session before closing significantly higher. The Dow surged up 287.97 points or 1.1 percent to 25,826.43, the Nasdaq soared 110.98 points or 1.5 percent to 7,441.51 and the S&P 500 shot up 30.20 points or 1.1 percent to 2,790.37.

The initial jump on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to the highly anticipated meeting between Trump and Xi over the weekend.

At the meeting, Trump and Xi agreed to a 90-day truce in the escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies as they work to reach a long-term trade deal.

A White House statement said Trump agreed not to raise the tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent on January 1st as planned.

In return, China agreed to purchase a “not yet agreed upon, but very substantial, amount” of agricultural, energy, industrial, and other product from the U.S.

The White House said the U.S. and China will use the next 90 days to attempt to reach an agreement on issues such as forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, and non-tariff barriers.

If the two countries are not able to reach an agreement by the end of the time period, the 10 percent tariffs on Chinese goods will be raised to 25 percent.

In remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump called the agreement with Xi an “incredible deal,” claiming it will have an “incredibly positive impact” on “every type of product.”

Trump also said China will be “opening up” and “getting rid of tariffs,” stating in a subsequent post on Twitter that China has agreed to reduce and remove tariffs on cars coming into the country from the U.S.

Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, noted Trump ripped up an earlier trade deal with China negotiated by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

“We suspect that since he negotiated this deal himself, Trump will be much more reluctant to torpedo it when his own personal reputation is on the line,” Ashworth said.

He added, “Nevertheless, his own administration includes plenty of China hawks who are pushing the protectionist agenda, so we suspect China will have to offer a little more than the minor concessions that South Korea, Mexico and Canada agreed to reach trade deals with the U.S.”

On the U.S. economic front, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing an unexpected acceleration in the pace of growth in manufacturing activity in the month of November.

The ISM said its purchasing managers index climbed to 59.3 in November after falling to 57.7 in October, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in manufacturing activity. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 57.5.

Meanwhile, a separate report from the Commerce Department showed construction spending unexpectedly edged lower in October.

Energy stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, benefiting from a sharp increase by the price of crude oil.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index spiked by 3.5 percent, while the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index and the NYSE Arca Oil Index both surged up by 2.7 percent.

Considerable strength also emerged among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent rally by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

Steel, semiconductor, gold, and retail stocks also saw significant strength on the day, reflecting broad based buying interest on Wall Street.

Economy

Geo-Fluids, Afriland Properties Lift NASD Bourse by 0.13%

Published

1 day ago

11/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The duo of Geo-Fluids Plc and Afriland Properties Plc propelled the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange up 0.13 per cent on Friday, January 10.

Investors gained N1.4 billion during the trading session after the market capitalisation of the bourse ended at N1.053 trillion compared with the previous day’s N1.052 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased at the close of business by 4.07 points to wrap the session at 3,073.93 points compared with 3,069.86 points recorded at the previous session.

Geo-Fluids added 25 Kobo to its value to close at N4.85 per unit compared with the previous session’s N4.60 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 24 Kobo to close at N16.25 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N16.01 per share.

There was a 35.4 per cent fall in the volume of securities traded in the session as investors exchanged 4.3 million units compared to 6.6 million units traded in the preceding session, the value of shares traded yesterday went down by 37.4 per cent to N17.2 million from the N27.5 million recorded a day earlier, and the number of deals decreased by 47.2 per cent to 19 deals from the 36 deals recorded in the preceding day.

FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.9 million units worth N74.2 million, followed by 11 Plc with 12,963 units valued at N3.2 million, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI )Plc with 10.7 million units sold for N2.1 million.

IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 10.6 million units sold for N2.1 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 1.9 million units valued at N74.2 million, and Acorn Petroleum Plc with 1.2 million units worth N1.9 million.

Economy

Naira Depreciates to N1,543/$1 at Official Market

Published

1 day ago

11/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira witnessed a depreciation on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 10.

According to data from the FMDQ Exchange, the local currency weakened against the greenback yesterday by 0.12 per cent or N1.80 to sell for N1,543.03/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,541.23/$1.

The pressure on the domestic currency came as the access granted to the Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to purchase FX from the official market through the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform prepares to end next week, precisely on January 19.

The CBN had given a 42-day window to the operators to access the platform to help stabilise the Naira in December, and this expires next week.

On Friday, the Nigerian currency tumbled against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N30.78 to sell for N1,889.29/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,858.51/£1, but gained N5.48 against the Euro to finish at N1,583.81/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s rate of N1,589.29/€1.

As for the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira remained stable against the US Dollar during the trading session at N1,650/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.

In the cryptocurrency market, it was bearish as the US economy added 256,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, topping forecasts for 160,000 and up from 212,000 in November (revised from an originally reported 227,000).

However, the readings came after a number of recent economic reports triggered a broad-market pullback across asset classes such as crypto as investors quickly scaled back the idea of a continued series of Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.

Cardano (ADA) fell by 3.6 per cent to trade at $0.921, Solana (SOL) slumped by 2.8 per cent to $185.93, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $3,233.27, Litecoin (LTC) lost 1.3 per cent to finish at $103.62, Dogecoin (DOGE) shed 0.5 per cent to sell at $0.3315, Bitcoin (BTC), waned by 0.2 per cent to $94,154.43, and Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 0.1 per cent to $693.30.

On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 1.5 per cent to settle at $2.34, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.

Economy

Customs Street Crumbles by 0.08% as Profit-Takers Take Charge

Published

1 day ago

11/01/2025

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

Profit-takers took control of Customs Street on Friday, plunging it by 0.08 per cent at the close of trading activities.

The sell-offs were across all the key sectors of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on last trading session of the week.

The insurance space went down by 1.53 per cent, the banking index depreciated by 0.41 per cent, the consumer goods sector weakened by 0.16 per cent, and the energy counter slumped by 0.08 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) tumbled by 79.68 points to 105,451.06 points from 105,530.74 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N48 billion to N64.303 trillion from N64.351 trillion.

Yesterday, investors traded 1.5 billion shares worth N19.4 billion in 12,877 deals compared with the 489.5 million shares worth N13.1 billion transacted in 13,010 deals in the preceding day, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 1.02 deals and a rise in the trading volume and value by 203.14 per cent and 48.09 per cent, respectively.

Wema Bank was the busiest stock with 976.2 million units valued at N9.8 billion, Tantalizers traded 53.0 million units worth 129.6 million, Universal Insurance sold 34.8 million units for N26.8 million, Access Holdings exchanged 33.9 million units valued at N843.8 million, and Nigerian Breweries traded 27.3 million units worth N873.3 million.

The heaviest loss was suffered by Sunu Assurances with a decline of 9.99 per cent to trade at N7.30, Eunisell shed 9.96 per cent to N17.35, SAHCO crumbled by 9.87 per cent to N30.15, DAAR Communications plunged by 9.28 per cent to 88 Kobo, and Sovereign Trust Insurance went down by 7.04 per cent to N1.32.

On the flip side, C&I Leasing gained 10.00 per cent to close at N4.51, Honeywell Flour appreciated by 9.99 per cent to N10.02, Trans Nationwide Express jumped by 9.89 per cent to N2.00, RT Briscoe rose by 9.83 per cent to N2.57, and Secure Electronic Technology grew by 9.46 per cent to 81 Kobo.

Business Post reports that the bourse ended with 33 price gainers and 25 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.