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Brazil had a record high day and other Latin American stocks gained ground, as investors digested the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest interest-rate decision.
Mexico's market was supported by strength in mining shares, while upbeat trade data boosted Argentine equities. Brazil's Bovespa Index added 140.76 points, or 0.37%. Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index rose 57.86 points, or 0.31%, while Argentina's Merval Index jumped 22.42 points, or 1.27%. Brazilian stocks ended modestly higher, but enough to guarantee a second day record high, as investors assessed the outcome of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee's meeting today. Trading was choppy after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points and signaled that further rate hikes may be in the offing. The FOMC said inflation was low and the outlook remained contained; however, it added that slack in the economy was disappearing, which could add to inflationary pressures. In addition, it specified that further rate increases "may be needed," backing off a December statement that they would "likely" be needed. It also removed language that further rate hikes would be "measured." Some investors are concerned that further U.S. rate hikes at a time when Brazilian rates are falling could divert funds away from Brazilian bonds and stocks into U.S. treasuries. In local economic news, the São Paulo Federation of Industries, or Fiesp, said industrial activity in São Paulo state rose 1.8% in 2005 from the previous year. In December, industrial activity rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4% from November. On the corporate front, paper and pulp giant Suzano Papel e Celulose reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 2.99 million reais, reversing a year- earlier net profit of 136.3 million reais. Results were hurt in part by continued appreciation of the real against the U.S. dollar in 2005. The company noted that it remains concerned about the real's strength. "At current foreign exchange rates, imports (of paper and pulp) into Brazil are viable, putting pressure on the domestic market," the company said. Meanwhile, a brokerage raised its price target on Vale Do Rio Doce to US$ 55 from US$ 42. Elsewhere, Mexico's bolsa posted modest gains, helped by strength in mining issues, as gold and silver prices hit fresh multi-year highs. The National Statistics Institute said Mexico's silver production rose 11.7% in November from a year earlier, while gold production jumped 75.2%. In other data, the Finance Ministry estimated that the country's economy expanded about 3% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, as growth was limited by damage from Hurricanes Stan and Wilma on the agricultural sector. The Finance Ministry reiterated its full-year GDP forecast of 3.0%. Separately, the Finance Ministry said late yesterday that Mexico ended 2005 with a fiscal deficit of 7.5 billion pesos, equivalent to 0.09% of gross domestic product, which is down from 0.25% of GDP in 2004. In corporate news, a major investment bank upgraded Mexican mining company Grupo Mexico SA to "outperform" from "peer perform," saying the company is its "preferred way to invest in Latin American copper." Argentine issues jumped, extending recent gains, as investors were cheered by upbeat trade data for December. In economic news, Argentina posted a trade surplus of US $1.033 billion in December, up from US$ 854 million a year earlier, on a 19% year-on-year increase in monthly exports. However, the full- year surplus narrowed to US$ 11.321 billion in 2005 from US$ 12.105 billion the prior year, despite improved exports. Thomson Financial - www.thomsonfinancial.com
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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.
Brazil pays 12/13 % above the inflation rate.... and even if this will be reduced to 10 %, there is no reason that foreigners will not continue to keep a small part of their money in Reais if they have confidence that the government will also repay the capital.
At the end, it is a penatly that the government gives to itself and a gift for the lenders.
But when they will feel that now is the time.....they will flee the Reais far more rapidly they bought it.
Even local investors will switch to another currency very rapidly.