As Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff moves ever closer to impeachment, traders are wondering if another end is near: the end of the yearlong market rout.
While most agree it’s too soon to declare either Rousseff’s presidency or Brazil’s stock and bond collapse are over, the debate is gaining steam. Franklin Templeton Investments ChairmanMark Mobius says he’s already hunting for bargains among Brazilian stocks that are near their cheapest since 2000. Gam UK Ltd. investment manager Tim Love has ratcheted up holdings of Brazil banks in his portfolio “on valuation grounds alone.” And Solitaire Aquila Ltd. portfolio manager Patrik Kauffmann said he sees an opportunity in beat-up bonds from oil producer Petrobras and state-development bank BNDES.
Their cautious optimism — while hardly the consensus — marks a shift in market sentiment in a nation battered by a sweeping corruption scandal and political infighting amid overall anemic appetite for risky assets worldwide. The benchmark index Friday continued its longest winning streak in two years, sending stocks up 12 percent in nine days. The real, the world’s worst performing currency in 2015, is on course to post its best weekly gain since February 2011.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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