Economy

Wall Street Opens Flat After Monday’s Rally

Published

7 years ago

02/04/2019

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a roughly flat opening on Tuesday following the rally seen in the previous session.

Uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets may keep some traders on the sidelines after yesterday?s advance lifted the Dow and the Nasdaq to nearly six-month closing highs.

Traders may be looking for more concrete developments out of ongoing U.S.-China trade talks before making more significant moves.

Additionally, a report from the Commerce Department may partly offset the positive sentiment generated by the upbeat manufacturing data released on Monday.

The report showed a steep drop in durable goods orders in the month of February, although the decrease was largely due to a nosedive in orders for transportation equipment.

Stocks showed a substantial move to the upside during the trading day on Monday, adding to the strong gains posted last week. With the upward move, the Dow and the Nasdaq ended the session at their best closing levels in nearly six months.

The major averages reached new highs late in the session but gave back ground going into the close. The Dow jumped 329.74 points or 1.3 percent to 26,258.42, the Nasdaq soared 99.59 points or 1.3 percent to 7,828.91 and the S&P 500 surged up 32.79 points or 1.2 percent to 2,867.19.

The rally on Wall Street reflected continued optimism about U.S.-China trade talks as well as a positive reaction to upbeat U.S. and Chinese manufacturing data.

Official data showed Chinese manufacturing activity unexpectedly grew for the first time in fourth months in March. A private survey also showed the manufacturing sector in the world’s second biggest economy returning to growth.

Additionally, Beijing announced that it will continue to suspend additional tariffs on U.S. vehicles and auto parts after April 1 as a gesture after Washington delayed tariff hikes on Chinese imports.

A delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is headed to Washington later this week for another round of trade talks.

Further buying interest was generated by a report from the Institute for Supply Management unexpectedly showing a faster rate of growth in U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of March.

The ISM said its purchasing managers index rose to 55.3 in March after falling to 54.2 in February, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the manufacturing sector. Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged.

“Comments from the panel reflect continued expanding business strength, supported by gains in new orders and employment,” said Timothy Fiore, Chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a Commerce Department report showing an unexpected decrease in U.S. retail sales in February, as the report also showed a significant upward revision to the increase in sales in the previous month.

The report said retail sales dipped by 0.2 percent in February after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.7 percent in January.

Economists had expected sales to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.2 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.

Excluding a rebound in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales fell by 0.4 percent in February after jumping by a revised 1.4 percent in January.

Ex-auto sales had been expected to climb by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.9 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Oil service stocks saw considerable strength on the day, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 3.4 percent. The strength in the sector came amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil.

Steel stocks also moved sharply higher over the course of the trading session, as the upbeat manufacturing data generated optimism about global demand. Reflecting the strength in the steel sector, the NYSE Arca Steel Index spiked by 3.3 percent.

Significant strength was also visible among financial stocks, with the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index and the KBW Bank Index soaring by 3.2 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

Semiconductor, transportation, and computer hardware stocks also moved notably higher, while gold stocks bucked the uptrend amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal.

Economy

Nipco, 11 Plc Crash OTC Securities Exchange by 4.76%

Published

39 minutes ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Energy stocks influenced the 4.76 per cent loss recorded by the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, December 5.

The culprits were the duo of 11 Plc and Nipco Plc,with the former shedding N32.17 to end at N291.83 per share compared with the previous day’s N324.00 per share, and the latter down by N21.00 to sell at N195.00 per unit versus the previous session’s N216.00 per unit.

Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slumped by 170.16 points to 3,401.37 points from 3,571.53 points and the market capitalisation lost N101.81 billion to close at N2.035 billion from the N2.136 trillion quoted in the preceding session.

The OTC securities exchange suffered the decline yesterday despite the share prices of three companies closing green.

Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc was up by N1.80 to close at N39.80 per share compared with Thursday’s price of N38.00 per share, Air Liquide Plc appreciated by N1.09 to N11.99 per unit from N10.90 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 78 Kobo to N56.57 per share from N55.79 per share.

During the session, the volume of transactions rose by 6,885.3 per cent to 18.2 million units from 4.3 million units, the value of transactions ballooned by 10,301.7 per cent to N389.7 million from N347.2 million, but the number of deals declined by 29.7 per cent to 26 deals from 37 deals.

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 worth N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units valued at N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units worth N4.2 billion.

InfraCredit Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units worth N524.9 million.

Economy

Naira Depreciates to N1,450/$1 at Official Forex Market

Published

55 minutes ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated further against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, December 5, as FX demand pressure mounts.

The Nigerian currency lost N2.60 or 0.18 per cent against the greenback to close at N1,450.43/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.83/$1.

Equally, the domestic currency declined against the Pound Sterling in the official forex market during the session by N4.48 to trade at N1,935.45/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,930.97/£1 and shrank against the Euro by 43 Kobo to end at N1,689.17/€1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N1,688.74/€1.

Similarly, the local currency performed badly against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX counter by N2 to close at N1,455/$1 versus Thursday’s N1,453/$1 but traded flat at the parallel market at N14.65/$1.

As the country gets into the festive period, pressure mounted on the local currency reflecting higher foreign payments and lower FX inflows.

However, there are expectations that the Nigerian currency will be stable, supported by interventions by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the face of steady dollar Demand and inflows from Detty December festivities that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month.

Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450/$1 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.

As for the crypto market, it was down yesterday due to profit-taking associated with year-end trading. However, the December 1-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation by the University of Michigan fell to 4.1 per cent from 4.5 per cent previously and 4.5 per cent expected. The 5-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation fell to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 per cent previously and 3.4 per cent expected.

With the dearth of official economic data of late, these private surveys have taken on a new level of significance and the market banks of them to make decisions.

Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $0.4142, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 5.1 per cent to $0.1394, Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 3.9 per cent to $3,039.75, Solana (SOL) declined by 3.8 per cent to $133.24, and Litecoin (LTC) fell by 3.7 per cent to $80.59.

Further, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 2.6 per cent to sell at $89,683.72, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $883.59, and Ripple (XRP) shrank by 2.1 per cent to $2.04, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.

Economy

Oil Market Climbs on Federal Reserve Rate-Cut Signals, Supply Concerns

Published

1 hour ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The oil market was up on Friday on increasing expectations the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week, which could boost economic growth and energy demand.

Brent futures rose by 49 cents or 0.8 per cent to $63.75 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures expanded by 41 cents or 0.7 per cent to $60.08 per barrel.

Investors digested a US inflation report and recalibrated expectations for the Federal Reserve to reduce rates at its December 9-10 meeting.

US consumer spending increased moderately in September after three straight months of solid gains, suggesting a loss of momentum in the economy at the end of the third quarter as a lackluster labor market and the rising cost of living curbed demand.

Traders have been pricing in an 87 per cent chance that the US central bank will lower borrowing costs by 25 basis points next week, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

Investors also focused on news from Russia and Venezuela to determine whether oil supplies from the two sanctioned members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) will increase or decrease in the future.

The failure of US talks in Moscow to achieve any significant breakthrough over the war in Ukraine has helped to boost oil prices so far this week.

A loss of Venezuelan oil production in case of a US military intervention will materially impact global benchmark prices as the market will have to replace Venezuela’s heavy crude.

Venezuela is estimated to pump about 1.1 million barrels per day of crude oil at present, so if the US-Venezuela tension escalation into an invasion in the South American country, this volume of crude would be at risk.

Reuters reported that the Group of Seven countries and the European Union are in talks to replace a price cap on Russian oil exports with a full maritime services ban in a bid to reduce the oil revenue that helps finance Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Any deal that could lift sanctions on Russia, the world’s second-biggest crude producer after the US, could increase the amount of oil available to global markets, weakening prices.