|
Latin American markets continued their collective upward advance for a second-straight session. Brazil powered higher, as investors chose to concentrate on the country's corporate developments, rather than the ongoing political scandal.
Meanwhile, Mexican shares continue to benefit from a largely positive earnings season, while Argentine stocks are moving higher ahead of the country's financial releases. U.S. shares were firmly higher today, on upbeat economic reports and robust July sales data from the auto sector.
Brazil's benchmark Bovespa Index surged 490.47 points, or 1.87%, while Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index jumped 95.16 points, or 0.65%. Argentina's Merval Index leapt 12.80 points, or 0.84%.
Brazilian shares continued their winning streak. In the latest testimony regarding the country's alleged cash-for-votes scheme, former chief of staff José Dirceu denied any involvement in the scandal.
Meanwhile, local newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported that at least 18 members of Congress who are allegedly linked to the bribery scheme may resign from the Chamber of Deputies. Yesterday, Congressman Waldemar Costa Neto became the first to resign.
The financial sector was active today. Banco Itaú, Brazil's second-largest private bank, posted a jump in its second-quarter net profit to 1.33 billion reais from 949 million reais a year ago, primarily due to the expansion of its credit portfolios. The firm's total assets grew to 144.55 billion reais from 122.76 billion reais a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Banco Bradesco, the country's largest private bank, signed a memorandum of understanding with retailer Lojas Colombo to provide its customers with consumer credit services. Bradesco signed a similar agreement with Lojas Leader last week.
In other financial releases, no-frills airline Gol said that higher fuel costs and strong price pressures overshadowed the firm's surge in revenue during the second quarter.
The firm's quarterly net profit was nearly flat at 73.4 million reais from 73.2 million reais a year ago, while net revenue leapt to 562.2 million reais from 385.5 million reais.
Gol's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and aircraft rental costs edged up 6% to 155.7 million reais from 146.9 million reais.
Mexican shares added to yesterday's strong performance in the wake of a mostly positive earnings season in the country. U.S. markets also ended positively, adding to upbeat domestic investor sentiment, as the U.S. is a key trading partner of Mexico.
State-run oil firm Pemex said that its trade surplus widened by 22% to US$10.19 billion in the first half of the year, bolstered by strong crude oil prices.
Turning to research news, a major investment bank initiated coverage on copper miner Grupo Mexico with a "buy" rating. The bank commented that Grupo Mexico's shares are trading at a discount to their peers. Grupo Mexico shares advanced on the news.
Argentina's Merval stock index reached a four-month high today, as investor optimism abounds ahead of the country's second-quarter earnings season. Trading volume has also picked up in recent days.
Thomson Financial Corporate Group - www.thomsonfinancial.com
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
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.