|
Latin American stocks were mixed, with Brazilian shares slipping after a central bank survey showed economists raised their local inflation forecasts. Meanwhile, Mexican issues edged up amid some encouraging corporate news.
Brazil's Bovespa Index dropped 62.90 points, or 0.17%. Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index added 100.88 points, or 0.55%, while Argentina's Merval Index shed 2.90 points, or 0.17%. Brazilian stocks dipped amid worries about rising inflation amid lofty global oil prices. The Brazilian central bank's weekly market survey showed that economists and analysts raised their forecasts for 2006 year-end inflation as measured by the IPCA index to 4.61% from estimates in the previous survey of 4.58%. The central bank's target for 2006 inflation is 4.5%, but a tolerance band allows maximum inflation of 6.5%. Survey respondents also lowered their GDP growth forecasts for 2005 to 2.3% from 2.4%. For 2006, they left their outlook unchanged at 3.5%. Helping to limit the Bovespa's losses, oil prices reversed some of their recent strong gains. Some investors have feared that the recent resurgence in oil prices will fuel inflation at home and abroad, resulting in higher global interest rates. High interest rates in developed countries such as the U.S. tend to draw funds away from emerging markets like Brazil. On the corporate front, steel maker Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) was in focus following news of an explosion at its main steel mill in Rio de Janeiro state. The blast furnace has been shut down due to some equipment damage. The company said it is investigating the matter. Meanwhile, the president of steelmaker Arcelor Brasil said in a local newspaper report that Brazil's steel industry in 2006 should return to the record production levels reached in 2004. "For Brasil, if gross domestic product grows 3.5%, we see a good possibility of recovery, because 2005 was a down year. We should return to the level of 2004," he said. In research, a major investment bank started coverage of Internet service provider UOL with a "reduce 2" rating, saying, "the business model looks difficult, with slow growth, tough competition and soft revenues." Also, an investment bank upgraded tobacco firm Souza Cruz SA to "buy" from "neutral," saying fourth-quarter results will likely improve on higher cigarette volumes and the modest real depreciation. Elsewhere, Mexican shares gained ground following a recent bout of profit taking after a rally at the start of the year. Investors largely shrugged off downbeat economic news. The National Statistics Institute reported that Mexican retail sales fell 2.9% in November from October in non-annualized, seasonally adjusted terms. Sales climbed 1.4% from a year earlier, missing analyst expectations for a rise of 4.1%. In corporate developments, Mexican wireless telecom firm Grupo Iusacell said it has reached an agreement in principle with a majority of its creditors to restructure US$ 766 million in debt. Meanwhile, miner Penoles said it reached a wage agreement with workers at its lead and zinc mines in northern Mexico, thereby averting a strike. In research, a major investment bank raised its price target on Grupo Financiero Inbursa to US$ 2.27 from US$ 2.17, citing an improved peso forecast. Also, another bank started coverage of telecom firm Axtel at "buy." Argentine issues eased lower amid a dearth of market news. Helping to limit losses in the Merval, Tenaris extended recent gains on continued high oil prices and last week's broker upgrade. Thomson Financial - 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.
Come on ! this is not serious.
U.s.rates are still very low historically.
And if U.S. interst rates are high, what is the correct definition for brazilian rates ?
Just junkies those stupid thomsonfionancial.com, an american firm by the way ! smile