In the global space, U.S. equities maintained their winning streak this week as better-than-expected third-quarter earnings reports enhanced the performance of market indexes. In the coming week, upcoming earnings reports from Tesla, Netflix, Honeywell amongst others are likely to be what determines whether the strong performance is sustained.

On the treasury end, the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury Note dipped by 0.05% to 1.57%, from 1.61% the previous week, after retail sales for September showed a surprise increase. The retail sales report tracks consumer demand for finished goods by measuring the purchases of durable and non-durable goods over a defined period of time. Retail sales are an important economic indicator because consumer spending drives much of the economy

Elsewhere, bitcoin crossed the USD60,000 level as investors were optimistic about the chance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approving the first bitcoin futures Exchange-Traded Funds. The cryptocurrency’s jump added to positive market sentiment, suggesting risk-taking could pick up.

On the domestic front,

The Nigerian equities market held on to its winning streak as the market returned a 1.39% gain this week. This further improved its year-to-date return to 2.90%. All sectoral indexes gained during the week, with the banking sector and insurance sector outperforming other sectors.

On the macroeconomic scene, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the Inflation report for September 2021, which revealed a further decline in inflation to 16.63% year-on-year, from 17.01% in August 2021. The decline in inflation was largely due to the moderation in food inflation, which muted the noted increase in core inflation.

At the fixed income primary market, a treasury bills auction was conducted during the week. As usual, rates on the 91-day and 182-day notes did not budge, printing at 2.50% and 3.50% each. The 364-day instrument, however, declined to 7.25% (from 7.50% at the previous auction). At the fixed income secondary market, it was a mix of buy and sell activities as the average yield on treasury bills, which moves in the opposite direction with prices, declined to 5.17% (from 5.35% the previous week). The average yield on bonds, however, inched higher to 10.96% (from 10.665 the previous week).