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Brazilian and Latin American stocks gained ground on friendly signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve that its rate tightening campaign may be over sooner rather than later. Optimism about local economies, such as in Brazil, also propped up LatAm markets in the first session of the year, Tuesday, January 3.
Brazil's Bovespa Index jumped 1,033.31 points, or 3.08%. Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index gained 574.99 points, or 3.21%, while Argentina's Merval Index added 46.33 points, 2.98%. The main stock driver in the region hailed from the Northern hemisphere, when minutes of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee's December meeting on interest rates showed a majority of its members believe the central bank will only need to implement a few more rate hikes to contain inflation. Most members believe that "the number of additional firming steps required probably would not be large," according to the minutes. Rising U.S. interest rates often redirect fund flows away from emerging markets such as Latin America. The Brazilian market advanced, with blue chip stocks reportedly drawing a majority of foreign funds, according to news reports. Investors are optimistic about growth for the local economy in 2006, amid lower interest rates. Brazil's central bank is meeting on January 18 and is expected to cut rates anew by at least 50 basis points. In company news, mining firm Vale do Rio Doce, CVRD, saw some interest on news it is planning to buy back debt worth US$ 300 million, in a bid to reduce its debt exposure. Also, grocer CBD climbed, with some analysts anticipating strong sales of durable consumer goods in 2006, due to consumer's increased access to credit thanks to the company's venture with bank Itaú. On the downside, a major investment bank cut airline Gol to "neutral" from "buy," citing valuation, while upgrading Chile's LAN Airlines to "buy" from "neutral," due to an improved earnings outlook. Elsewhere, Mexican shares posted robust gains, in tandem with U.S. counterparts, following the release of the Fed's encouraging minutes. Bullish sentiment about the local economy also helped. Of note, a local brokerage expects many of the factors that supported the market in 2005, such as lower interest rates and stable economic conditions, to continue this year. In research, an influential investment bank expects America Movil to outrun fixed line Telmex, but added that Mexican telecoms look relatively less attractive than Brazilian telecoms. Separately, news services reported that the newly listed shares of the infrastructure and construction companies controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim found support on expectations that they will be added in February to the IPC stock index. Meanwhile, in Argentina, stocks advanced, in line with regional counterparts, and as investors readjusted their holdings to match changes in weightings for some of the companies listed in the Merval. Steel tube manufacturer Tenaris and power transporter Transener saw their weight increase, while banks' prominence was revised lower. However, Banco Macro Bansur bounded, amid talk that it is better positioned than its peers, as it is preparing to list ADRs in New York. Thomson Financial - www.thomsonfinancial.com
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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.