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Latin American stocks were mixed to higher on the day, with Brazilian stocks posting a modest retreat, while Mexico and Argentina rallied. Brazil continues to feel pressure from the alleged bribery scandal connected to the ruling Workers Party.
Meanwhile, Mexico moved higher, partly due to a robust session in the U.S., which was supported by better-than-expected results from IBM and Merrill Lynch. Argentine stocks advanced, as negotiations with privatized utility companies progressed.
Brazil's benchmark Bovespa Index slipped 50.48 points, or 0.20%, while Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index rallied 194.90 points, or 1.39%. Argentina's Merval Index surged 19.15 points, or 1.30%.
Brazilian issues turned mildly lower amid the latest developments regarding the country's political scandal. Investors are also awaiting the outcome of tomorrow's interest rate meeting by the central bank.
Meanwhile, the former secretary-general of the governing Workers Party, Sílvio Pereira, provided testimony before Congress today regarding the alleged cash-for-votes scheme orchestrated by the PT.
Former PT treasurer Delúbio Soares is scheduled to testify tomorrow. Separately, Urban Affairs Minister Olívio Dutra, who is a member of the PT, resigned and will be replaced by Márcio Fortes, who is currently executive-secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Development.
In corporate personnel movements, Banco do Brasil said that the director of the vehicle financing division and the director of the bank's cultural center have both stepped down. Brazil's largest bank is facing allegations of corruption related to the PT. The bank denies the allegations.
Mexican stocks once again reached a fresh record high, aided by strength in U.S. markets, amid upbeat corporate reports from both sides of the border. A surprisingly strong quarterly report from Dow member International Business Machines helped bolster U.S. shares.
Turning to local corporate news stories, media conglomerate Televisa announced a joint venture with U.K.-based EMI Group that will create a record company in Mexico.
As part of the deal, EMI will supply Televisa EMI Music with a working capital facility and licensing, while Televisa will provide media support.
Televisa will also expand its reach in the U.S. through a partnership with EMI Music U.S. Latin operations, which will soon be known as EMI Televisa Music.
Elsewhere, state-run oil firm Pemex said that it needed to evacuate workers from rigs in the northern Gulf of Mexico due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Emily. Meanwhile, workers from the southern Gulf of Mexico are set to return to work tomorrow.
A major investment bank raised its price target for Coca-Cola Femsa to US$ 35 from US$ 29.50. The brokerage said it expects stronger volume growth, and falling PET prices should improve gross margins.
Meanwhile, Telmex shares advanced, after an investment house boosted its earnings forecast on the fixed-line operator due to a lower tax rate and higher interconnection costs.
Argentine issues also powered higher on the session amid stronger trading volumes and as governmental talks with utility concerns progressed.
The Planning Ministry said that Spain's Telefonica is set to abandon a lawsuit against Argentina in about two weeks and sign a new long-term contract. The company's lawsuit was related to the government's decision to convert rates into devalued pesos and freeze them.
Thomson Financial Corporate Group - www.thomsonfinancial.com
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The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.