|
Latin American stocks were mixed to lower, this Friday, January 27, with Brazilian and Mexican shares falling on profit taking following recent strong gains due to good news in the inflation front.
Mexican shares were further pressured by downbeat U.S. economic growth data, while in-line local inflation figures helped to limit Brazil's losses. Argentina's market rose on strength in steel issues. Brazil's Bovespa Index fell 192.14 points, or 0.51%. Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index dropped 260.25 points, or 1.35%, while Argentina's Merval Index jumped 15.37 points, or 0.89%. Brazilian stocks reversed early-session gains to end lower, as investors locked in some profits. Shares were boosted early in the day by a pair of economic reports showing tame inflation. São Paulo's Fipe research institute said its consumer price index rose 0.62% in the four weeks ended January 23, compared with a gain of 0.59% in the four weeks ended January 15. The results were in line with market forecast. Meanwhile, the Brazilian Census Bureau said the official inflation rate as measured in the IPCA-15 accelerated to 0.51% in the December 14 to January 13 period, up from 0.38% in the November 15 to December 13 period. The result was in line with expectations for an increase of 0.40% to 0.60%. Brazil's central bank said at its last meeting that recent rises in inflation were temporary and 2006 inflation expectations remain below targets. Today's data appeared to support that assessment. Among the equity movers, steel shares benefited from expectations of consolidation in the sector after Dutch steel giant Mittal Steel confirmed it was offering to buy Arcelor for US$ 22.8 billion. Shares of Arcelor Brasil, the holding company for Arcelor's Brazilian steelmaking assets, posted robust gains. Other Brazilian steel makers also gained on the news. Also, mining gaint CVRD was in focus after its board approved the stock-merger proposal to incorporate CVRD's Caemi Mineracao. Elsewhere, Mexican shares dropped, as investors reacted to data showing a bigger-than-expected slowdown in U.S. economic growth. U.S. gross domestic product rose 1.1% in the fourth quarter, below the third quarter's 4.1% rate and economists' forecasts of 2.6% growth. Mexico's economic health is tied closely to that of the U.S. since Mexico sends nearly 90% of its exports north of the border. Earlier in the sessions, Mexican shares climbed to an intraday record high after the Bank of Mexico slashed interest rates by 50 basis points, as expected. It was the sixth cut in as many months and the second-straight reduction of half a percentage point. However, the bank continued caution that inflation risks remain and said that in the coming months it sees "limited room for further reductions in the monetary restriction." Among individual shares, cement maker Cemex fell after the company reported a 27% drop in its fourth-quarter net profit compared to a year ago. EBITDA rose from a year earlier but missed the company's preliminary estimate. Bucking the down trend, Grupo Mexico advanced after its Peruvian unit, Southern Peru Copper, reported a higher fourth-quarter net profit. Argentine issues gained ground, with the Merval getting a boost from strength in the shares of flat steelmakers Acindar and Siderar on news of Mittal's bid for Arcelor. 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.