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Brazil's Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo pledged on Wednesday to punish any investigators found to have broken the law by using unauthorized bugs or leaking documents to the press while probing corruption at state-run oil firm Petrobras. The landmark probe that has jailed powerful engineering executives and implicated dozens of politicians is coming under scrutiny... Continue Reading →
Itau Unibanco SA is now forecasting Brazil’s economy will contract for a second consecutive year as unemployment continues to rise and the government struggles to contain above-target inflation. Brazil’s largest bank reduced its forecast for next year’s gross domestic product to a 0.2 percent contraction from 0.3 percent growth. It also predicts this year’s recession... Continue Reading →
While the bank said Wednesday that Brazil’s real and the Colombian peso are the most vulnerable, Morgan Stanley is becoming increasingly concerned about the Mexican and Chilean pesos, which it previously expected to outperform. So far this year Latin American currencies have lost 10 percent, a Bloomberg index shows. Read More
A visit to Brazil by officials from Moody’s Investors Service raised the specter of a credit-rating cut for Latin America’s largest economy, sending stocks and the currency lower. Brazil is rated two levels above high-yield junk with a negative outlook by both Fitch Ratings and Moody’s. Standard & Poor’s cut the country’s rating to the... Continue Reading →
Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Total SA weren’t among the nine bidders that presented offers in final stage of Mexico’s first oil auction Wednesday, the National Hydrocarbons Commission announced in Mexico City. There were no bidders for the first block auctioned.
Market sources report that Petrobras is negotiating the sale of its gas pipeline transportation assets, Trasportadora Associada de Gás - TAG. The company is offering two models - sale of 49% minority stake and operate or sale of 80% majority stake and let buyer operate. market sources say that the 80% sale has interested parties while... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s real fell for a second straight day amid speculation the nation will struggle to avoid a credit-rating downgrade as efforts to pare budget deficits face opposition from lawmakers. Read More
BHP Billiton Ltd.’s $20 billion foray into U.S. shale gas continues to sour as the world’s biggest mining company revealed it plans a further impairment charge. It will take a $2.8 billion writedown, most of it on the Hawkville field in Texas, Melbourne-based BHP said Wednesday. That brings BHP’s pretax charges on its U.S. shale... Continue Reading →
Standard & Poor's reiterated a negative outlook for Brazil's Petrobras on Tuesday, signaling the state-run oil company might soon lose its investment-grade rating despite its recent efforts to cut debt and restore investor confidence. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, has slashed its long-term spending plan to an eight-year low as it... Continue Reading →
Brazil's oil-exploration and local-content policies harm oil producer Petróleo Brasileiro SA and the nation as a whole, a government-appointed member of the state-run company's board said on Tuesday in a rare show of board-member independence. The comments were made by Roberto Castello Branco, who was named earlier this year by President Dilma Rousseff's administration to... Continue Reading →
