Economy

Wall Street Opens Higher Monday on Trade Deal Optimism

Published

5 years ago

04/11/2019

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher opening on Monday, suggesting stocks will see further upside following the rally last Friday.

The markets may benefit from optimism about a U.S.-China trade agreement, with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross expressing optimism phase one of a trade deal could be signed this month.

?We?re in good shape, we?re making good progress, and there?s no natural reason why it couldn?t be,? Ross said in an interview with Bloomberg on Sunday.

Ross called the phase one agreement ?particularly complicated? and acknowledged it is ?always possible? the signing of the deal could ?slip a little bit.?

In the interview, Ross also said licenses for U.S. firms to sell components to China?s Huawei Technologies would be coming ?very shortly.?

President Donald Trump has also continued to express optimism about a trade deal, recently suggesting phase one of an agreement could be signed somewhere in the U.S. as soon as this month.

Stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading session on Friday as traders reacted to much better than expected U.S. jobs data. With the strong upward moves, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The major averages saw further upside going into the close, ending the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow surged up 301.13 points or 1.1 percent to 27,347.36, the Nasdaq soared 94.04 points or 1.1 percent to 8,386.40 and the S&P 500 jumped 29.35 points or 1 percent to 3,066.91.

For the week, the Dow shot up by 1.4 percent, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 skyrocketed by 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

The rally on Wall Street came as the much stronger than expected U.S. jobs data washed away concerns about the economic outlook.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 128,000 jobs in October compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 89,000 jobs.

The report also showed substantial upward revisions to job growth in September and August, with revised data showing employment jumped by 180,000 jobs and 219,000 jobs, respectively.

With the upward revisions, employment gains in September and August combined were 95,000 more than previously reported.

“The upshot is that the three-month average gain is now 175,000, which is easily enough to outpace population growth,” said Michael Pearce, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics.

He added, “That is in stark contrast with much of the recent survey evidence, which had pointed to a sharp slowdown in employment growth.”

Despite the stronger than expected job growth, the report said the unemployment rate inched up to 3.6 percent in October from 3.5 percent in September. The uptick matched economist estimates.

The unemployment rate crept up from the nearly 50-year low hit in the previous month as a 325-person jump in the size of the labor force more than offset a 241,000-person increase in the household survey measure of employment.

Renewed optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal added to the positive sentiment, as a report from China’s Xinhua News Agency said negotiators have “reached consensus on principles.”

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a separate report from the Institute for Supply Management showing a continued contraction in U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of October.

The ISM said its purchasing managers index crept up 48.3 in October from 47.8 in September, although a reading below 50 still indicates a contraction in manufacturing activity. Economists had expected the index to rise to 48.9.

In the previous month, the index fell to its lowest level since hitting 46.3 in June of 2009, the last month of the Great Recession.

“Comments from the panel reflect an improvement from the prior month, but sentiment remains more cautious than optimistic,” said Timothy Fiore, Chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. “Global trade remains the most significant cross-industry issue.”

Energy stocks turned in some of the market’s best performances on the day, benefiting for a sharp increase by the price of crude oil.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index soared by 5.4 percent, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index surged up by 3 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index jumped by 2.3 percent.

Substantial strength was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 4.3 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. The index ended the session at its best closing level in well over a month.

U.S. Steel (X) helped lead the sector higher after reporting a narrower than expected third quarter loss on revenues that exceeded analyst estimates.

Biotechnology, transportation and financial stocks also saw significant strength on the day, while gold, networking and telecom stocks bucked the uptrend.

Economy

FAAC Disburses 1.727trn to FG, States Local Councils in December 2024

Published

5 hours ago

14/12/2024

Modupe Gbadeyanka

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.

The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.

At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.

According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.

It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.

The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.

The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.

As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.

Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.

Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

Economy

Okitipupa Plc, Two Others Lift Unlisted Securities Market by 0.65%

Published

10 hours ago

14/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.

On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.

Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.

Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.

At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.

In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.

Economy

Naira Trades N1,533/$1 at Official Market, N1,650/$1 at Parallel Market

Published

11 hours ago

14/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1 on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.

The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.

The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.

The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.

Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.

In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.

At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.