Author: Marketforces Africa

Oil Posts Weekly Loss, Brent Price Falls to $59.60 per Barrel Oil closed the week in loss, pressured by growing expectations of a Russia–Ukraine peace deal, weak demand signals from the US, and easing concerns over potential supply disruptions from Venezuela, despite intermittent geopolitical flare-ups that helped limit losses. International benchmark Brent crude traded at $59.67 per barrel, down 2.2% from last Friday’s close of $61.02. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $57.37 per barrel, falling around 4.3% compared with $59.93 last week. Sentiment was largely driven by optimism that diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine…

Anchoria Securities Sets N1,400 Target Price for Geregu Power Anchoria Securities Limited has recommended Geregu Power as one of the stocks to buy, with the target price set at N1,400, about 23% upside to its going market rate. According to its stock market performance, Geregu Power Plc delivered a negative year-to-date return of about 1% due to restricted price movement as a result of thin trading activities. The power-generating company has been unable to boost its shareholders’ wealth after post-listing monster rallies – a stock that was priced at N100 in Oct 2023 when it listed in the local bourse.…

Recapitalisation: No Bank Is Shutting Down – ACAMB The Association of Corporate Communication and Marketing Professionals in Banks (ACAMB) has assured that Nigerian banks are safe and healthy, with none shutting down because of recapitalisation, as is being speculated on social media. The association gave the assurance on Sunday in a joint statement by its President, Mr Rasheed Bolarinwa and the General Secretary ‘Jide Sipe. The statement referred to an Instagram video claiming that 12 banks would be shut down by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by March 2026. The association said the video intended to mislead the public,…

2026 Budget: Tinubu Signals Ruthless Crackdown on Armed Groups President Bola Tinubu has signalled a tougher, more ruthless crackdown on armed groups and individuals who finance, harbour or facilitate violent crimes across the country. Tinubu made this known on Friday in Abuja while addressing a joint session of the National Assembly during the presentation of the 2026 Appropriation Bill of N58.18 trillion. He stated that all armed groups would be treated as terrorists and emphasised that every naira allocated to security in the 2026 budget must result in improved safety for Nigerians. The president said national security remained the foundation…

Fitch Downgrades Gabon’s Issuer Default Ratings Fitch Ratings has downgraded Gabon’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency (LTFC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CCC-‘ from ‘CCC’ and Long-Term Local-Currency (LTLC) IDR to ‘CC’ from ‘CCC’.  The downgrade of Gabon’s IDRs reflects the country’s heightened liquidity strains, tight local debt market, and wide fiscal deficit among others. Ratings analysts said widening fiscal deficits, increasingly limited regional debt market access, a dearth of official creditor financing and high amortisations have resulted in severe strains on domestic and external government liquidity and rising arrears. Fitch highlighted that the significantly higher local-currency funding needs and greater strains in…

Forex Reforms Attract Unprecedented Investments – NGX Boss Dr Umaru Kwairanga, Group Chairman, Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX), says the foreign exchange reforms initiated by President Bola Tinubu has attracted unprecedented investments into the country. Kwairanga said this in an interview with the news agency on Saturday in Gombe. He described the reforms as painful but necessary pathway to economic prosperity and development, which resulted to a unified and realistic exchange rate boosting investor confidence and attracting foreign direct investments in the country. Kwairanga said that a lot of gains had been recorded in terms of improved foreign exchange accessibility, increased…

Global Credit Resilience to Face Major Tests in 2026 – Fitch Global credit begins 2026 with a generally benign outlook, despite lacklustre economic conditions and significant uncertainties that will keep risks elevated. Fitch Ratings expects the credit resilience seen in 2025 to continue. According to Fitch, the AI investment boom, which counterbalanced negative economic pressures, especially in the US, and underpinned highly favourable funding and liquidity conditions shows little sign of slowing, even as concerns about the risk of malinvestment and over-extended valuations have grown. It said fiscal support in major economies including the US and China, and a return…

US Private Credit Defaults Broaden Across Sectors, Rises to 5.7% Fitch Ratings’ U.S. Private Credit Default Rate (PCDR) increased to 5.7% for the TTM ending November 2025, up from 5.2% in October. This is the highest since February 2025. The PCDR comprises two components: the Model-based Credit Opinion (MCO) default rate and the Privately Monitored Rating (PMR) default rate. In November, the MCO default rate increased to 4.6% from 4.3%, while the PMR default rate jumped to 9.3% from 7.7%. Default activity rose sharply across the PCDR universe in November. Fitch recorded 13 default events, more than double the year…

Oil Prices Below $60 on Russia-Ukraine Peace Optimism Global prices of crude oil are tracking below $60 per barrel on Friday as markets price in optimism over Russia-Ukraine ongoing peace agreement discussions. Brent crude was trading at $59.40 per barrel, down around 0.06% from the previous close of $59.44. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also decreased by about 0.08% to $55.82, compared to $55.87 in the prior session. At a press conference at the White House, US President Donald Trump called on Kyiv to “move quickly on an agreement” ahead of Russia-Ukraine talks planned to be held in Miami…

U.S. Inflation Eases to 2.7% amid Shutdown Distortions In November 2025, the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed signs of cooling amid data distortions from a government shutdown, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reporting a 0.2% increase over the two months from September to November (no monthly data available for October). The annual headline inflation rate eased to 2.7% from 3.0%, below economist expectations of 3.1%, reflecting a downward bias in the report due to missing observations. The 43-day federal government shutdown prevented the BLS from collecting most price data for October, leading to the cancellation of the…