|
Latin American stocks were mixed to lower, with Brazilian shares dipping on continued profit taking, while Mexico's Bolsa dropped despite strong earnings from a local telecom giant.
Bucking the downtrend, Argentine issues managed solid gains. Brazil's Bovespa Index dipped 62.29 points, or 0.17%. Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index dropped 254.82 points, or 1.37%, while Argentina's Merval Index jumped 22.49 points, or 1.33%. Brazilian stocks slumped, as investors digested a mixed batch of earnings news, while continuing to cash in some of the market's stellar January gains. The Bovespa rallied nearly 15% in January amid expectations of solid economic growth and a further decline in interest rates in 2006. On the earnings front, long steel maker Gerdau said its fourth-quarter net profit rose to 730.5 million reais from 635.8 million reais in the year-ago period. For the year, net profit edged up 0.3% to 3.245 billion reais from 3.235 billion reais in 2004. Results benefited from recently acquired units and increased exports, which helped to offset weaker prices and slack domestic demand. Net revenue declined 0.2% to 4.886 billion in the fourth quarter and jumped 8.4% in 2005. Meanwhile, petrochemical firm Braskem swung to a fourth-quarter net loss of 5 million reais from a net profit of 487 million reais a year earlier, hurt by a strengthening local currency. Net revenue rose to 2.83 billion reais from 2.8 billion reais a year earlier. The company said a 5% strengthening of the real "neutralized" a 3% reduction in the price of naphtha, a key raw material used by the company. Net profit for full year 2005 fell to 677 million reais from 691 million reais in 2004. In research, an influential investment bank raised its price target for cable TV company NET Serviços to US$ 6 from US$ 5.75, citing a positive economic outlook. Elsewhere, the National Association of Financial Market Institutions (ANDIMA) said it expects Brazil's gross domestic product to grow by 3.5% in 2006, despite some financial market volatility amid the October presidential election. "The political campaign could create a somewhat more volatile environment in 2006, which will be reflected in Brazil's economic indicators. However, volatility will not be as great as it was in 2002." ANDIMA added that it sees 2006 inflation at 4.5%, matching the government's target. Inflation in 2005 was 5.69%, slightly above the government's target of 5.1%. Mexican shares moved lower for the fourth-straight session, reversing course from earlier strength on the back of America Movil's stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results. Investors are looking forward to Walmex's financial release tomorrow after the market close. Wireless titan America Movil posted quarterly sales of 52.4 billion pesos, up 27.6% from a year ago when sales were 41.1 billion pesos. Net profit reached 14.4 billion pesos, compared to 1.68 billion pesos last year. EBITDA surged 45.6% to 15.2 billion pesos. America Movil added 9.7 million subscribers in the most recent quarter, bringing the total to 93.3 million. For the full year, the firm posted net earnings of 31.6 billion. Elsewhere, airport operator Asur said that its passenger traffic declined 23.5% in January to 976,053 from 1.28 million passengers in the corresponding period a year ago. The decline incorporated the continued negative effects of last October's hurricane, which hampered tourism in Cancun and Cozumel. Argentina turned higher today, ignoring weakness elsewhere in the region. Economy Minister Felisa Miceli said in a meeting with senators today that the local government expects month-on-month inflation to arrive at less than 1% in February, according to sources present at the meeting. In earnings news, natural gas pipeline operator TGS posted a fourth-quarter net profit of 8.5 million Argentine pesos, compared to 78.7 million pesos a year ago. For the full year, net profit arrived at 217.6 million pesos, up from 147.9 million pesos in 2004. Elsewhere, Spanish-Argentine oil and energy firm Repsol YPF is in talks with Russia's OAO Gazprom to join forces on liquefied natural gas projects. Earlier this week, Repsol acquired 10% of Sweden's West Siberian Resources Ltd. 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.