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The Federal Government has announced plans to sell $500 million of dollar-denominated securities in the domestic market in a bid to strengthen the Naira.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, at an event in Abuja on Thursday, July 25.

The minister said the move is expected to attract investment from Diaspora Nigerians and Nigerians with savings held abroad and will take place in three to four weeks’ time.

According to him, “We have an open exchange rate system, it’s not illegal and so we have the issuance of a dollar-denominated security, not depending on the financial architecture of the Western world, not depending on the kind of architecture that you use to raise Eurobonds.

We’re using the Nigerian financial system, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the banking system, the investment bankers to issue $500 million in the first instance that will be available and will attract foreign currency held by Nigerians abroad and anybody else who buys into the macroeconomic reform efforts of President Bola Tinubu.

That issue is a challenge to the best and the brightest in the financial markets. It is due to open in the next three to four weeks maximum.”

The government is also not considering a eurobond offering, focusing on the dollar bond instead.

“Eurobond is one of the options that we have, the markets are open to us, our ratings and our performance merit it. But we prefer in the first instance to challenge Nigerians to come home with their money and be part of the Nigerian reform success story,” he said.

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A 300-level Computer Science student of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi, Naja’atu Salisu, has passed away after she was found unconscious in the bathroom on Friday morning, July 26.

It was gathered that Naja’atu entered the bathroom in the female hostel at the Gubi campus of the university to have a morning shower and prepare for lectures but was later found lying unconscious on the floor of the bathroom.

One of her roommates who spoke with Leadership said: “She had done every routine in preparation for the morning class before going into the bathroom. She brought wears that she planned to wear to the class and kept them on the side of her bed.”

Confirming the incident, ATBU Spokesperson, Zailani Bappa, said she was rushed to the university’s clinic medical attention, but medical personnel were unable to find a vein on her body.

“Having noticed this, Naja’atu was rushed to the Trauma Centre of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital where she was certified d£ad by medical doctors,” he said.

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Newell Brands (NWL) beat second-quarter expectations and upgraded its full-year guidance after the company made “significant progress" on its turnaround, sending shares of the Yankee Candle owner up 40% on Friday.

The parent of Crock-Pot, Elmer’s and Sharpie now projects adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 60 cents to 65 cents in 2024, up from a previous estimate of 52 cents to 62 cents. Newell also narrowed its net sales growth range to declines of between 6% and 7% from 5% to 8%. 

Friday's jump pulled the company's shares a few points into the green year-to-date, though still well off highs seen in 2021.

"Over the past year we have improved the rate of year over year core sales growth from down 15% in the first half of 2023 to down 9% in the back half of 2023 to down 4.5% in the first half of 2024," CEO Chris Peterson said on the company’s earnings call.

The company expects its realignment to be “substantially implemented” by the end of 2024 and generate $65 million to $90 million in annualized savings. The company reported less outstanding debt and more cash or equivalents year-over-year.

"We are making significant progress,” Peterson said in a statement. “Since implementing the new corporate strategy, we have taken decisive actions that have improved the company's top line trajectory, driven significant gross and operating margin expansion, delevered the balance sheet and improved cash flow performance”

In the second quarter, Newell posted net income of $45 million, or 11 cents per share, more than double the $18 million, or 4 cents per share, it reported a year earlier. Net sales fell nearly 8% to $2 billion.

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Amazon (AMZN) reports earnings after the bell Thursday, with investors watching the results after a tech-industry selloff dragged heavyweights like the Magnificent Seven lower this week after earnings from Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Tesla (TSLA) disappointed.

Analysts expect total revenue for the tech and online retail giant to rise about 11% from the second quarter last year to $148.68 billion from $134.38 billion last year. Net income is projected to jump 65% year-over-year to $11.13 billion from $6.75 billion in the year-ago quarter. Amazon has worked to reduce costs by making its delivery network more efficient over the past year.

In Amazon's last earnings report in April, growth from the company's advertising segment and revenue from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the company's efforts in artificial intelligence (AI) boosted Amazon's earnings.

Bank of America analysts wrote Friday that they believe growth in AWS demand could power its revenue above estimates, as Amazon has expanded the range of products available through its Bedrock platform.

Amazon's advertising revenue is likely to grow in the quarter and the second half of the year as the rollout of ads on Prime Video continues, analysts said. Wedbush analysts said 87% of advertisers who advertise on Amazon said in a recent survey that they increased spending in the second quarter compared to last year, and 91% said they plan to increase their ad spend in the third quarter.

While the financial performance of Prime Day will impact Amazon's third-quarter earnings, investors may be looking for additional clues about how successful this year's 48-hour sales event was. Data from Adobe Analytics found that the event generated an estimated $14 billion in online spending across U.S. retailers, split almost evenly over the two days.

Bank of America analysts said their estimates put Prime Day's gross merchandise value around $13.4 billion, up 10% from last year and better than their projections of a 7% bump, also noting that a record number of Prime signups could help Amazon continue to gain market share in online retail.

Amazon stock rose 1.5% on Friday, leaving it up about 20% for the year so far.

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Major U.S. equities indexes saw significant gains on the final day of a volatile trading week after the latest Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) data revealed price increases ticked downward in June.

The PCE is a preferred gauge of inflation monitored by the Federal Reserve, so the continuing cooldown in price pressures supports the expectation that the central bank will cut interest rates in the coming months.

The S&P advanced 1.1% in Friday's session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 1.0%, while the Dow jumped 1.6%, boosted by outsized gains from industrial conglomerate 3M (MMM).

In addition to notching the top performance among the 30 components of the Dow, 3M shares led the way for the S&P 500, skyrocketing 23.0% to reach their highest level since 2022. The leap higher for the stock came after the maker of Scotch tape, Scotch-Brite, and other well-known brands reported better-than-expected second-quarter profit and sales while boosting its forecasts for the full year. CEO William Brown, who took the reigns of 3M at the beginning of May, said the conglomerate is focused on organic revenue growth following the settlement of class-action lawsuits and the spinoff of its health care unit Solventum (SOLV).

Shares of Mohawk Industries (MHK) soared 19.5% after the residential and commercial flooring manufacturer beat earnings per share (EPS) forecasts for the second quarter and guided third-quarter earnings above consensus estimates. Following the strong quarterly results, Bank of America upgraded Mohawk stock from "underperform" to "buy" while significantly hiking its price target. Analysts expressed confidence in Mohawk's ability to continue expanding its margins even as it navigates a difficult macroeconomic environment.

Cable and internet provider Charter Communications (CHTR) also outperformed top- and bottom-line expectations in its second-quarter earnings release, and its shares jumped 16.6%. Although Charter reported a decline in broadband subscribers amid stiff competition, the company achieved growth in rural markets, driven by its expansion in mobile phones as well as government programs aiming to improve internet access in more remote areas.

Dexcom (DXCM) shares suffered the steepest losses of any S&P 500 stock, plummeting 40.7% after the maker of glucose monitoring devices for patients managing diabetes missed second-quarter revenue estimates and cut its sales guidance for the current quarter and the full year. According to the company, a reshuffling of its sales team, slower-than-expected new customer additions and lower revenue per user contributed to the weak results and a more restrained outlook.

Biogen (BIIB) shares sank 7.2% after regulators in Europe rejected the Alzheimer’s treatment Leqembi developed by the biotechnology firm in coordination with Japan-based pharmaceutical company Eisai (ESAIY). Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Leqembi last year, the European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee did not recommend granting marketing authorization for the drug, arguing that the risk of serious side effects outweighs the treatment's potential benefits. Eisai's American depositary receipts (ADRs) dropped 12.9% on the day.

Shares of aerospace and defense contractor L3Harris Technologies (LHX) fell 5.7%. Although the company beat second-quarter profit estimates and boosted its full-year guidance, citing strong weapons demand amid elevated global tensions, Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to "hold," pointing to a high valuation following year-to-date gains heading into Friday's session.

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