Emeka Ucheaga Advisory

Despite strong economic fundamentals and fairly optimistic market sentiments that have driven stock market prices in the past year and even stronger since the start of 2018, stock markets all around the world are witnessing an unexplained coordinated price descent in the past one week. Asides the biggest bitcoin price crash in years, now 66% lower than its record high price of $19,500 in December, nothing out of the ordinary has occurred. Yes, stock prices are at the highest it's been in since pre-crisis era in U.S and the market is due for a price correction but then how do we explain market dips in relatively cheap emerging markets? Something is amiss! As Central Bankers around the world have begun to discuss monetary tightening in a coordinated fashion as the quest for 2% inflation seems more achievable this year due to strong global economic and rising commodity prices, bond prices have dropped precipitously and the U.S 10 year Treasury bills risen above 2.5% a

Dear Speculators, Let's face it, 2017 was a bad year. The only things that went the right way in '17 were crude oil, equities and the decelerating pace of inflation. From fuel scarcity to periodic power outages, rising unemployment to terrorism perpetrated by herdsmen, Nigeria looked more or less worse of the same. As usual, the new year has started with a lot of hope but the long queues at filling stations is enough to beat out the optimism out of most realists. To help in putting the most important things into perspectives so we do not dwell less on minor things rather than channelling all our attention to major possibilities this year, we have put together 10 of the biggest surprises this year you should pay attention to. Ten Surprises of 2018 1. The stock market ASI crosses 65,000 2. Banks post record annual profits for 2017 3. 1-year TBills rates fall below 13% 4. Inflation falls below 12.5% 5. Nigeria's economy expands by more than 4% 6. Crude oil price exceeds $