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Brazilian stocks were up and Latin American stocks were mostly higher as well, as a positive assessment of the U.S. economy's growth outlook from the new U.S. Federal Reserve chairman helped to buoy investor sentiment.
Gains in Mexico's bolsa were limited by data showing slower-than-expected economic growth in Mexico in the fourth quarter. Brazil's Bovespa Index jumped 612.42 points, or 1.67%. Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index climbed 146.15 points, or 0.81%, while Argentina's Merval Index dipped 0.53 point, or 0.03%. Brazilian stocks posted robust gains, as investors were heartened by comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that suggested the U.S. economy is on solid footing and inflation concerns are not growing. In his first semi-annual testimony before the U.S. Congress, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke gave an upbeat assessment of the economy's growth prospects and suggested that further interest-rate hikes may be necessary. Bernanke said long-term inflation expectations appear "well anchored," while the latest employment and consumer spending data "suggests that the economic expansion remains on track." He also said higher energy prices could still spill over into wider price inflation, and strong demand could cause output to "overshoot," putting further upward pressure on prices. "In these circumstances, the FOMC judged that some further firming of monetary policy may be necessary, an assessment with which I concur," Bernanke said in prepared remarks. Investors were somewhat relieved that Bernanke's assessment of the economy and inflation did not stray significantly from the tone of previous commentary from former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan. In corporate news, mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) received an upgrade by an influential investment bank to "outperform" from "peer perform" on expectations of a higher-than-anticipated increase in iron-ore prices in 2006 contract negotiations. "Given our new estimates and the recent nearly 10% pullback in the shares, we are upgrading our recommendation to outperform from peer perform," the bank said. A state government spokesman confirmed that electric utility Companhia Paranaense de Energia SA (Copel) has offered El Paso Corp. US$ 190 million for a 60% stake in UEG Araucária. Late yesterday, supermarket chain CBD said its nominal same-store sales inched up 0.3% in January compared with the same month a year ago. Same-store sales when adjusted for inflation dropped 5.1% in January from a year earlier. Mexican shares continued to move higher today, despite some disappointment in the GDP figures. Mexico's gross domestic product growth slowed to 3% in 2005 from 2004's 4.2% growth rate. Fourth-quarter GDP advanced 2.7% from a year ago, below analyst expectations, and advanced 0.59% from the third quarter on a non-annualized, seasonally-adjusted basis. In earnings news, paper products firm Kimberly Clark de Mexico SA's fourth-quarter net profit declined to 926.3 million pesos from 986.7 million pesos a year ago, partly due to the strong domestic currency increasing financial costs. Sales advanced to 5.61 billion pesos from 5.23 billion pesos, while operating profit rose to 1.40 billion pesos from 1.32 billion pesos. Argentina was just about unchanged on the day, as investors continue to await the arrival of corporate earnings before committing money to the market. On the earnings front, financial services provider Grupo Galicia said that its net profit for the fourth quarter arrived at 27.5 million pesos, reversing a year-earlier loss of 35.7 million pesos. For the full year, the firm's net profit was 107.2 million pesos, up from a loss of 109.9 million pesos in 2004. Telefonica de Argentina signed a letter of understanding with the government today, which could eventually solidify a new long-term contract. That firm, along with Telecom Argentina, has been negotiating contracts for more than two years. 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.