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Brazilian prosecutors will present formal charges Friday against the chief executive of Latin America's largest engineering firm and other senior executives detained last month in a landmark investigation meant to show the country's elite are not above the law. Marcelo Odebrecht, the third-generation chief executive of the family-run Brazilian conglomerate, could face charges of corruption... Continue Reading →
Fitch Ratings said on Thursday it will reevaluate Brazil's fiscal trends, which are key for its decision on whether to downgrade the country's credit ratings, after the government slashed its budget savings targets for this year and next. Brazil's new fiscal savings goals are below what Fitch had estimated in April, when it decided to... Continue Reading →
The administration of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has shifted into overdrive to diffuse what could become the biggest risk for an impeachment against her -- accusations she doctored her budget results last year. Attorney-General Luis Inacio Adams has filed a 1000-page defense and personally met with the nine members of the audit court, appointed by... Continue Reading →
Finance Minister Joaquim Levy’s proposal to reduce Brazil’s budget savings reflects the hard reality that a contracting economy has forced the government to scale back its ambitions for fiscal retrenchment. Levy said he is targeting a fiscal surplus that excludes interest payments equal to 0.15 percent of gross domestic product this year, a sharp reduction... Continue Reading →
Morgan Stanley has been pretty pessimistic about oil prices in 2015, drawing comparisons to the some of the worst oil slumps of the past three decades. The current downturn could even rival the iconic price crash of 1986, analysts had warned—but definitely no worse. This week, a revision: It could be much worse. Read More
The Swiss Attorney General's office said on Wednesday it has widened a corruption investigation into Brazilian oil firm Petrobras to include Latin America's largest engineering and construction company, Odebrecht SA, and its subsidiaries. Swiss authorities have been collaborating with Brazil on the Petrobras probe since at least March. Their help with an ongoing Brazilian investigation... Continue Reading →
When Brazil revises its 2015 budget estimates Wednesday afternoon, the question investors will be asking is how much more spending can be cut without deepening an economic recession. Tax revenue has dropped below government estimates this year as the economy slows amid austerity measures designed to mend the worst budget deficit on record, and rate... Continue Reading →
Reuters - Swiss Petrobras investigation widens to include Odebrecht GENEVA, JULY 22 The Swiss Attorney General's office has widened a corruption investigation into Brazilian oil firm Petrobras to include construction company Odebrecht SA and other associated entities, it said on Wednesday, confirming a report in the Neue Zuercher Zeitung newspaper. "Subsidiaries of Odebrecht are suspected... Continue Reading →
Halliburton Co.’s takeover of Baker Hughes Inc. is facing resistance from U.S. enforcement officials who are concerned the tie-up could hurt competition, according to a person familiar with the matter. Justice Department lawyers reviewing the proposed $34.6 billiontransaction are worried that the oilfield services industry would become too concentrated after a combination of its No.... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s June current account deficit was wider than economists forecast, as imports fall amid an economic slowdown. The deficit in the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, narrowed in June to $2.5 billion from a revised $3.3 billion a month earlier, the central bank said in a report distributed today... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 