|
Latin American stocks were mixed, with Brazilian stocks posting robust gains on expectations of further monetary easing. Meanwhile, Mexican shares were dragged down by profit taking.
Brazil's Bovespa Index surged 453.55 points, or 1.44%. Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index dropped 152.93 points, or 0.91%, while Argentina's Merval Index edged up 1.65 points, or 0.10%. Brazilian stocks powered higher amid expectations the country's central bank would announce another interest-rate cut after the market's close. As expected, the bank cut interest rates by 50 basis points to 18.5%, the third rate reduction in as many months. Shares were also supported by continued positive sentiment generated by Finance Mister Antonio Palocci's testimony before congress yesterday. He defended his austere fiscal policies, which have been credited with reviving Brazil's economy. The testimony helped to ease concerns over recent rumors that Palocci might resign. In economic news, Brazil's tax receipts rose 4.4% in October from a year ago, helped by economic growth and an increase in corporate income-tax collection. Elsewhere, Mexican shares fell, as investors took some profits following five straight sessions of record closing highs. Weighing on sentiment somewhat, the Finance Ministry reported late in today's session that Mexico's trade deficit widened to US$ 631 million from US$ 313 million in September and a year-earlier deficit of US$ 611 million. Among individual shares, America Movil was active after the company announced late yesterday that it plans to pay an extraordinary dividend of 0.30 pesos a share. Meanwhile, shares of airline holding company Cintra extended yesterday's losses that followed news the government received only two bids each for majority stakes in the company's main airlines AeroMexico and Mexicana. Argentine issues were little changed, as investors awaited news on Argentina's move to begin talks with the International Monetary Fund about a new accord. Finance Minister Lavagna indicated earlier this week that IMF talks should start within 20 days. In economic developments, Argentina logged a primary surplus of 700 million pesos in October, well below market forecasts of 1.685 billion pesos and September's surplus of 1.617 billion pesos. Thomson Financial Corporate Group - www.thomsonfinancial.com
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
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.