Stanbic IBTC is expected to release Nigeria’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a metric used to measure business activities on Monday while the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will reveal the unemployment figures of the world’s largest economy on Friday.
Monday, December 2
Stanbic IBTC to publish Nigeria’s PMI
Stanbic IBTC is expected to release Nigeria’s Purchasing Managers’ Index for November on Monday.
In October, the PMI report indicated that the headline index decreased to 46.9 in October from 49.8 in September, marking the lowest level since March 2023.
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The PMI reading above 50.0 signals an improvement in business conditions, while those below show deterioration.
The report disclosed that the decline was fueled primarily by the third-highest rise in overall input costs.
“This surge reflects a weak naira, high transportation fees, and rising fuel prices that have severely squeezed businesses’ purchasing power. As a result, Nigerian firms have been forced to raise their selling prices at one of the fastest rates in history, passing rising costs on to consumers and worsening inflationary pressures,” the report said.
Many of the said challenges have remained. Inflation increased for the second consecutive month in October to 33.88 percent, further squeezing Nigerians purchasing power.
Wednesday, December 4
CBN to auction N233.31bn T-bills
The Central Bank of Nigeria will be auctioning treasury bills worth N233.31 billion on Wednesday.
It will be auctioning N19.60 billion for 91-days tenor, N10.55 billion for the 182-day tenor and for the 364-day N203.15 billion.
At the last auction CBN, rolled over a total of N409.97 billion across the 91- 182- and 364-Day tenors and sold only N384.93 billion.
Only N197.1 billion worth of one-year treasury bills was sold despite being oversubscribed to the tune of N909.5 billion. The auction saw a downward move in stop rate to 20.9 percent from 21.89 percent in the previous auction for the one year bill.
The Central Bank of Nigeria will be auctioning treasury bills worth N233.3 billion on Wednesday.
It will also be auctioning N19.60 billion for 91-days tenor, N10.55 billion for the 182-day tenor and for the 364-day N203.15 billion.
Read also: NACCIMA criticizes NBS report on GDP growth, unemployment
At the last auction total of N693.04 billion worth of T-bills was sold higher than the N610.80 billion maturing bills rolled over by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) .
Investors took to the one-year bill, hence making it oversubscribed to the tune of N1.12 trillion, selling N640.71 billion worth of it.
The yield on the one-year T-bills increased to 30.7 percent from 29.87 percent, the highest on record.
The recently released December issuance calendar reflects higher paper supply of N1.39 trillion compared to N1.32 trillion in November.
“Inflation increased for the second consecutive month in October to 33.88 percent, further squeezing Nigerians purchasing power.”
Analysts at Meristem said that this aligns with expectations of increased borrowing to address fiscal pressures.
“In recent auctions, there has been a clear shift towards higher stop rates, signalling the government’s readiness to accept increased borrowing costs,” Meristem analysts noted in its post MPC report.
Last week the Monetary Policy Committee hiked interest rate for the sixth consecutive time by 25 basis points to 27.50 percent to fight soaring inflationary pressures.
In the most recent bond and treasury bill auctions, average stop rates rose to 21.50 percent and 20.00 percent, respectively, compared to 21.25 percent and 19.83 percent in previous auctions.
NBS to publish foreign goods in statistics report
The National Bureau of Statistics will be releasing a report breaking down the country’s foreign goods and the amount of capital that flocked in the third quarter of 2024.
Africa’s fourth biggest economy’s total merchandise trade stood at N31.8 trillion in Q2, representing a decrease of 3.76 percent over the value recorded in the preceding quarter.
However, on a year-on-year basis it increased by 150.39 percent compared to the value recorded in the corresponding period of 2023.
Nigeria recorded a N6.9 trillion trade surplus, extending its gains for the seventh consecutive quarters in the period under review.
Total exports surged by 201.75 percent in one year, mostly driven by exports of crude oil. Exports amounted to N19.4 trillion on a quarter basis, representing 60.89 percent of total trade.
The Abuja-based bureau said that Nigeria’s exports trade continued to be dominated by crude oil exports as it was valued at N14.5 trillion even as it dropped by 5.99 percent compared to N15.4 trillion recorded in the previous quarter.
Read also: Naira to extend gains as US eyes unemployment data
Friday, December 6
FAO to release global food prices report for November
The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) will be releasing its report on global food prices on Friday.
Global food prices rose in October across a broad spectrum of products, primarily driven by increases in vegetable oils, according to a monthly report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Friday.
The FAO’s price index, which monitors fluctuations in international prices of a basket of staple commodities, increased by 2 percent from the previous month, reaching levels not seen since April 2023.
In comparison to the same month last year, prices were up 5.5 percent, although they remained 20.5 percent below their peak in March 2022.
Notably, the vegetable oil index surged by 7.3 percent from September to October, marking its highest level in two years.
The dairy index also saw a 2.5 percent increase in October compared to September, with an overall rise of 21.4 percent year-on-year, driven by strong demand for cheese and butter amid reduced seasonal milk production in Europe.
Sugar prices climbed by 2.6b percent, influenced by expectations of decreased production in Brazil due to drought conditions.
In the grains sector, there was a modest month-on-month increase of 0.8 percent, although prices still fell by 8.3 percent compared to October 2023.
Wheat prices have risen for the second consecutive month, reflecting challenging climatic conditions affecting crop yields.
Corn followed a similar upward trend, supported by robust demand. Conversely, rice prices declined, with the FAO index indicating a decrease of 5.6 percent in October.
U.S. to release unemployment data
The United States’ Bureau of Labor Statistics is billed to publish the unemployment report for the month of November on Friday.
The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent in October — the same as September, according to the jobs report released on Nov. 1 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Job gains came in far below projections for October, with a total of 12,000. The consensus estimated monthly expectation was an increase of 120,000, according to Morningstar, an investing firm.
Read also: Lagos moves to tackle unemployment with entrepreneurship drive
The report from the bureau says hurricanes in the southeast likely impacted data collection in October.
Job gains were primarily in health care and government. Manufacturing jobs declined because of strike activity, according to the report.
With President-elect Donald Trump’s victory at the keenly contested election, unemployment is expected to begin to decelerate as he works with his Americans-first-protectionism policies.
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