Economy
US Stocks Open Sharply Higher on Renewed Optimism About Trade
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a sharply higher opening on Tuesday, with stocks likely to see further upside following the substantial recovery seen over the course of the previous session.
Renewed optimism about U.S.-China trade talks may generate early buying interest after a telephone call between top officials from the world?s two largest economies.
China?s Commerce Ministry said Chinese Vice Premier Liu He spoke with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
?Both sides exchanged views on putting into effect the consensus reached by the two countries? leaders at their meeting, and pushing forward the timetable and roadmap for the next stage of economic and trade consultations work,? the ministry said in a statement.
Indications the talks are moving forward has offset some of the skepticism about the potential for a trade deal after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a 90-day trade truce earlier this month.
A report from Bloomberg News that China is moving toward cutting tariffs on imported U.S.-made cars is likely to add to the positive sentiment.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said a proposal to reduce tariffs on cars made in the U.S. to 15 percent from the current 40 percent has been submitted to China?s Cabinet.
Just after his meeting with Xi, Trump claimed in a post on Twitter that China had agreed to reduce and remove tariffs on cars coming into China from the U.S.
After moving sharply lower in morning trading, stocks staged a substantial turnaround over the course of the trading session on Monday. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day and into positive territory.
The major averages all closed higher, although the Nasdaq outperformed its counterparts, climbing 51.27 points or 0.7 percent to 7,020.52. The Dow inched up 34.31 points or 0.1 percent to 24,423.26 and the S&P 500 edged up 4.64 points or 0.2 percent to 2,637.72.
The turnaround on Wall Street came as traders went bargain hunting after the early weakness extended the sell-off seen last week.
The Dow and the S&P 500 rebounded after hitting their lowest intraday levels in seven and eight months, respectively.
Light trading activity may have contributed to the volatility, as some traders remained on the sidelines amid a lack of major U.S. economic data.
The economic calendar remains relatively light throughout the week, although reports on producer and consumer price inflation, retail sales, and industrial production are likely to attract attention in the coming days.
Traders may nonetheless remain reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting next week.
With the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates by another quarter point, traders will closely scrutinize the accompanying statement for clues about future rate hikes.
The early weakness on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about the global economic outlook along with skepticism about the potential for a long-term trade deal between the U.S. and China.
Negative sentiment was generated by the release of a report from the Chinese customs office showing slower export growth.
Chinese exports rose 5.4 percent in November from a year earlier, marking the weakest performance since a contraction in March. Import growth stood at 3 percent, the slowest since October of 2016.
Data showing that the Japanese economy contracted the most in over four years in the third quarter also added to investor worries over slowing global growth.
Technology stocks helped lead the rebound on Wall Street, as reflected by the significant advance by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Within the tech sector, software stocks turned in some of the best performances, with the Dow Jones Software Index jumping by 2 percent.
Considerable strength also emerged among semiconductor and networking stocks, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 1.4 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
On the other hand, substantial weakness remained visible among energy stocks, which moved lower along with the price of crude oil.
Banking, steel, and housing stocks climbed off their worst levels but also ended the day notably lower, limiting the upside for the broad markets.
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.
