Five things to know to start your Saturday

Canada’s PM met with Trump amid tariff threat

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Donald Trump’s Florida resort on Friday to meet with the U.S. President-elect, days after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on Canadian imports over border-related concerns.

According to media reports, Trudeau, whose public itinerary did not list a scheduled visit to Florida, was seen leaving a hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida, to go to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Trump earlier this week vowed to impose additional tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, casting the levies as necessary to secure US borders, a top concern of voters in November’s presidential election. The president-elect said he would impose an additional 10% tariffs on goods from China and 25% on all products from Mexico and Canada if they failed to act.

Dow and S&P 500 reached new record highs

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average hit record closing highs in a shortened Black Friday session, lifted by technology stocks such as Nvidia while retail was in focus as the holiday shopping season kicked off.

Information technology stocks helped boost the benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow, which was also aided by industrial stocks. Nvidia gained 2%, while Tesla rose 3.7%.

Investors monitored shoppers’ responses to deep Black Friday discounts. Adobe Analytics estimated consumers would spend a record $10.8 billion in online purchases, up 9.9% from Black Friday last year.

The S&P 500 rose 0.56% to 6,032.44 points after breaching its intraday record high of 6,025.42 set on Nov. 26. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.42% to 44,910.65 points. The Nasdaq gained 0.83% at 19,218.17 points.

13 states want to borrow a fresh N380bn in 2025

Thirteen Nigerian states are planning to generate 613 billion naira in internal revenue for 2025 and borrow an additional 380 billion naira to cover budget shortfalls.

This borrowing comes despite a 40 per cent increase in their statutory allocations from the Federation Account. In the first half of 2024, about 22 states had already borrowed 446 billion naira, with debt servicing consuming a significant portion of their income.

The states involved include Adamawa, Kano, Anambra, Bauchi, Borno, Ebonyi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Niger, and Oyo. Their financial strategy is detailed in their 2025-2027 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Papers.

Nigeria says it will spend N2.4 trillion on electricity subsidies by year’s end

The Nigerian government plans to spend a massive N2.4 trillion on electricity subsidies before the end of the year. Dr. Yusuf Ali, a top official from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), shared this information during a professional conference in Lagos on Thursday.

According to Ali, the subsidy amount has been changing due to complications with currency exchange rates and electricity pricing. As of November, the government had already spent 1.9 trillion naira on these subsidies. He predicts that by December, the monthly electricity subsidy could reach 260 billion naira.

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China’s factory activity is expanding

China’s manufacturing sector showed signs of growth in November, bouncing back from previous months of economic challenges. The country’s official manufacturing index rose to 50.3, indicating expansion after the government introduced a comprehensive set of economic stimulus measures in late September.

The National Bureau of Statistics reported that while the manufacturing sector was expanding, the service and construction sectors experienced a slight decline. The non-manufacturing index dropped slightly from 50.2 in October to 50 in November. The overall composite economic index remained steady at 50.8.

This economic recovery comes after China implemented a range of supportive policies. Recent economic indicators have been promising: factory activity in October exceeded analyst predictions, home sales increased for the first time this year, infrastructure investment remained consistent, and the urban unemployment rate dropped to its lowest point in four months.