Economy
Wall Street Faces Pullback on Profit Taking Fears
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Tuesday, with stocks likely to give back ground after ending the previous session mostly higher.
Profit taking may contribute to initial weakness on Wall Street, as traders cash in on recent gains after the S&P 500 reached a new record closing high on Monday.
Trepidation ahead of the Federal Reserve?s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday may also inspire some traders to look for safer havens.
The Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates by another quarter point, although traders may wait to see if the central bank follows through and provides any clues about future rate cuts.
A negative reaction to the latest batch of earnings news may also weigh on the markets, with Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) moving notably lower in pre-market trading after reporting its third quarter results.
After the close of trading on Monday, Alphabet reported third quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates, hurt largely by higher operating costs.
On the other hand, General Motors (GM) may see initial strength after reporting better than expected third quarter earnings, although the auto giant also lowered its full-year earnings guidance.
Extending the upward move seen last Friday, stocks moved mostly higher during the trading session on Monday. With the continued advance, the S&P 500 reached a record closing high and the Nasdaq moved within striking distance of a new record high.
The major averages ended the session off their best levels of the day but still firmly in positive territory. While the S&P 500 climbed 16.87 points or 0.6 percent to 3,039.42, the Nasdaq jumped 82.87 points or 1 percent to 8,325.99 and the Dow rose 132.66 points or 0.5 percent to 27,090.72.
The strength on Wall Street came amid continued optimism about U.S.-China trade talks as well as news that the European Union has granted the U.K.’s request for a Brexit deadline extension.
The move by the EU, which delays Brexit until January 31st, was widely expected but still removes the risk of a damaging no-deal split on Thursday.
News on the merger-and-acquisition from also generated some buying interest, with shares of Tiffany (TIF) soaring after French luxury goods maker LVMH confirmed it is talks to acquire the jeweler.
Reports suggest LVMH’s bid would value Tiffany at about $120 per share or $14.5 billion. Tiffany ended last Friday’s trading at $98.55 a share.
Liberty Property Trust (LPT) also moved sharply higher after agreeing to be acquired by rival commercial real estate firm Prologis (PLD) in an all-stock deal valued at $12.6 billion.
Shares of Fitbit (FIT) also spiked in recent trading after a report from Reuters said Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) has offered to acquire the wearable device maker.
The end of a 40-day strike at auto giant General Motors (GM) added to the positive sentiment, as members of the United Auto Workers union approved a new four-year contract.
Steel stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Steel Index up by 1.9 percent to its best closing level in well over a month.
Considerable strength was also visible among software stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent jump by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index.
Software giant Microsoft (MSFT) posted a strong gain after beating out Amazon (AMZN) for a $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon.
Biotechnology and semiconductor stocks also saw significant strength on the day, contributing to the notable advance by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
While financial and healthcare stocks also moved to the upside on the day, notable weakness emerged among gold, natural gas and utilities stocks.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of MRS Oil and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Friday, June 5.
MRS Plc lost N19.00 during the session to sell at N171.00 per share compared with Thursday’s value of N190.00 per share, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc depreciated by N8.70 to finish at N181.68 per unit compared with the preceding session’s N190.38 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation further lost N22.59 billion to close at N2.607 trillion versus the N2.630 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 37.76 points to settle at 4,358.32 points, in contrast to the previous day’s 4,396.08 points.
The alternative stock market closed the last trading day of this week with a price gainer, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gained 6 Kobo to quote at N78.40 per share compared with the preceding session’s N78.34 per share. However, it could not prevent the market from going down at the close of business.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went down by 50.0 per cent to 140,345 units from the preceding day’s 280,714 units, the value of stocks decreased by 16.5 per cent to N17.9 million from the previous session’s N21.5 million, and the number of deals carried out by market participants fell by 35.7 per cent to 27 deals from the 42 deals recorded on Thursday.
When trading activities closed for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth 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 valued at N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
Renewed interest in financial stocks and others lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.15 per cent on Friday.
Customs Street closed higher yesterday despite the 1.37 per cent loss recorded by the consumer goods sector as a result of profit-taking.
This was offset by gains in the other key sectors of the local bourse, as the insurance counter chalked up 1,14 per cent. The banking space appreciated by 0.90 per cent, the industrial goods segment grew by 0.46 per cent, and the energy sector expanded by 0.01 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 366.00 points to 242,593.31 points from 242,227.31 points, and the market capitalisation gained N235 billion to close at N155.594 trillion compared with the previous day’s N155.359 trillion.
The trio of International Energy Insurance, Abbey Mortgage Bank, and DAAR Communications improved by 10.00 per cent each yesterday to N7.26, N9.35, and N1.98, respectively, while Zichis advanced by 9.39 per cent to N32.38, with Sovereign Trust Insurance up by 8.70 per cent to N2.50.
On the flip side, Academy Press lost 9.84 per cent to quote at N8.25, University Press depreciated by 9.73 per cent to N5.10, Africa Prudential dipped by 2.63 per cent to N12.95, Chams crumbled by 2.44 per cent to N4.00, and International Breweries slipped by 1.59 per cent to N12.35.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive during the session after recording 37 appreciating equities and 14 depreciating equities, implying strong investor sentiment.
Abbey Mortgage Bank led the activity chart with a turnover of 164.1 million units worth N1.5 billion, Ellah Lakes sold 76.7 million units for N767.2 million, Access Holdings transacted 44.8 million units valued at N1.1 billion, Linkage Assurance exchanged 23.0 million units worth N41.2 million, and The Initiates traded 20.2 million units for N562.1 million.
At the close of trades, market participants transacted 608.5 million units worth N32.0 billion in 53,826 deals versus the 588.5 million units valued at N27.9 billion executed in 57,352 deals in the previous session. This showed that the number of deals eased by 6.15 per cent, the volume of transactions rose by 3.40 per cent, and the value of transactions soared by 14.70 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar by N3.46 or 0.25 per cent to N1,362.21/$1 from N1,358.75/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 5.
However, it appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window during the session by N4.47 to trade at N1,823.59/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,828.06/£1, and gained N7.00 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.58/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,581.58/€1.
For another trading session, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar in the parallel market and the GTBank forex counter on Friday at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.
The Naira is expected to remain strong in the near term, backed by a rise in external reserves, which are nearing $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about its outlook in the second half of 2026.
Heightened global uncertainty has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices remained depressed following a strong US jobs report that spurred markets to price in higher-for-longer interest rates, sending Treasury yields and the dollar up while hammering stocks, especially AI-related names. Crypto markets saw heavy leverage washouts with about $1.6 billion in positions liquidated over 24 hours.
Ethereum (ETH) gave up 4.9 per cent to trade at $1,584.68, Solana (SOL) fell by 3.3 per cent to $63.22, Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by 1.9 per cent to $61,333.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 1.8 per cent to $0.0821, and Ripple (XRP) moderated by 1.8 per cent to $1.09.
Further, TRON (TRX) dropped 1.6 per cent to sell at $0.3197, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.0 per cent to $581.18, and Cardano (ADA) declined by 0.4 per cent to $0.1589, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.07 to sell at $0.9997, and US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $0.9998.
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