|
Latin American stocks were mixed, with Brazilian shares in a slump, Mexico slightly higher and Argentine shares flat, as investors await clues about the prospects for interest rates following next week's Federal Reserve's FOMC policy meeting.
Brazil's Bovespa Index declined 229.87 points, or 0.67%. Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index edged up 32.19 points, or 0.18%, while Argentina's Merval Index receded 1.67 points, or 0.11%. Brazilian stocks fell today, June 22, as investors took part in some profit taking following yesterday's surge. Meanwhile, trading was cut short by the Brazilian national team's game versus Japan at the World Cup. In economic news, the Getúlio Vargas Foundation reported that the country's General Price Index, or IGP-M, advanced 0.56% in the 10 days through June 20, compared with a rise of 0.34% for the same period last month. The latest results were in line with analyst expectations. On the corporate front, mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce advanced. Late Wednesday, the company said it had reached a deal with Chinese steelmakers to raise iron ore prices by 19% in 2006 contracts. The firm also announced a share buyback program in which the firm will buy up to 5% of its outstanding preferred shares. Airline stocks also fell across the board, with low-cost carrier Gol and rival TAM, the country's largest airline, sinking by the close. The companies' shares decreased on reports that Gol and TAM may not benefit as much as expected from the demise of flagship airline Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense, or Varig. The government may favor smaller rivals in the awarding of Varig's old routes to increase competition, while the two airlines' costs will likely rise as they take on passengers stranded by Varig's possible liquidation. Meanwhile, Brazilian grocer Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição, or CBD, the country's largest supermarket chain, surged after a major investment bank upgraded the company's shares to "Buy 2" from "Neutral 2." The brokerage said the "worst" of the company's recent sales woes was already priced into the shares. Elsewhere, Mexican stocks edged higher, bucking the broader negative trend elsewhere in Latin America and the U.S. In economic headlines, the Bank of Mexico announced that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.07% in the first half of June, less than what analysts has expected. Still, the annual rate moved back up to about 3.27% from 3% at the end of May. In a report, a large investment bank said it was adopting a defensive position in Mexican shares on the possibility of leftist Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, winning the July 2 presidential election. Separately, the bank said it switched out of homebuilder Urbi in favor of Wal-Mart de Mexico, the country's biggest retailer. Argentine stocks were little changed amid thin trading as investors mainly stuck to the sidelines. The benchmark Merval Index ended lower, while the broader General Index rose slightly. Volume remained relatively low. In economic news, the National Statistics Agency, or Indec, said that the current account surplus arrived at US$ 1.1 79 billion, up from US$ 1 85 million in the first quarter of 2005. Thomson Financial - www.thomsonfinancial.com
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
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.