The palliatives are here

E kaaro o, Ututu Oma, Barka da Safiya - Good morning, and a warm welcome to ThinkBusiness Nigeria, your Monday – Friday dose of commentary, contexts, and insights on business and economic news that matter to you.

TGIF.

The 2023 Women’s Football World Cup that concludes this Sunday in Australia has shown the generous promise and potential in women’s football. It is the 9^th, and the final will be played by two European teams – England (defeated Nigeria in the round of 16), and Spain.

I am still full of praise for the Falcons because they did extremely well in very difficult circumstances. More so, the English team that defeated them through penalties in the round of 16 seem to have had easier games in the quarter and semifinals.

However, since Nigeria is not in the final, my support will go to the English.

Please have a great weekend.

Please, also share so we can continue to build a community of “business thinkers”.

Markets

• The benchmark NGX All-Share Index (ASI) shed 176.32 (-0.27%) points to close at 64,448.96, representing a week loss of 1.16%, a 4-week gain of 0.81%, and an overall year-to-date gain of 25.75%. Guinea Insurance share price declined by 8.57%, followed by RT Briscoe (-8.16%), Consolidated Hallmark Insurance (-7.61%) and Sunu Assurances Nigeria (-6.98%).

• Oil prices rose more than 1% on Thursday, after falling for three straight sessions, as the dollar pulled back from highs and as China's central bank sought to bolster the property market and wider economy. Brent crude futures rose 95 cents, or 0.89% to US $84.19 a barrel, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was up US $1.23, or 1.6% at US $80.60 a barrel.

• Naira appreciated at both the I&E window and on the streets. At the I&E window, Naira demonstrated a slight appreciation of 0.19%, closing at N740.67 tothe US dollar. On the streets, Naira apppreciated by 4.30%, reaching a value of N890.00 against the US dollar.

• U.S. natural gas futures rose in the run up to a federal report expected to show a smaller than usual storage build last week as hotter weather boosted cooling demand. Front-month gas futures for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange were up 6.5 cents, or 2.5%, at US $2.63 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).

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National Headlines

• The palliatives are here – The National Economic Council (NEC) says each State of the Federation will receive N5 billion as part of the federal government palliative package. The fund is 52% grant and 48% to be refunded. The fund will be used in the procurement of grains and rice. These measures are consistent with the President’s declaration of state of emergency on food security. He has also changed the name of the ministry focused on Agriculture to Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. Food inflation has been on the rise, with the latest figure of 26%.

• Military Air Crash and Victims – According to Guardian reports, Nigeria’s defence headquarters has provided details of the number of lives involved in the unfortunate incident few days ago. The flight was on a rescue mission near Shiroro in Niger State. It was carrying corpses of 25 soldiers that had died in earlier operation, seven wounded soldiers, also of earlier operation, two pilots and two crew members. The crash happened on Monday 14^th near Chukuba village in Niger State.

Global Headlines

• US imposes duties on selective steel imports – According to Reuters, the US Commerce department has said it will impose anti-dumping duties on tin plated steel from Canada, China, and Germany. Tin plated steel is widely used in food and paint packaging in the US. The planned duties are 122.5% on China, 7% on Germany, and 5% on Canada. The US says it is imposing the duties because the prices of the products were higher in the affected countries home markets.

• US labour market remains tight – The data which measures the number of people who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the last week fell, reflecting continued labour market tightness in the world’s largest economy. In the week ending August 12, it was 239,000 compared to 248,000 the week before. US unemployment rate currently stands at 3.5%. The economy in recent months has shown tremendous resilience despite rising interest rates that has reached 5.25% - 5.5% range, while inflation rate is 3.2%. The Fed meets in September to decide whether to raise rates.

• Japan's exports decline in July 2023 – Latest data on Japanese exports shows a fall for the first time in 30 months, following slow global demand for light oil and chip making equipment. Exports fell by 0.3% y/y, after a 1.5% rise in June.