Latin America

BBC's travel program Fast Track had a story about how Santiago has been working hard since the earthquake to (re)build its position as a cool global city. I have never been to Santiago (let alone Chile) so I cannot say whether there is any…

Often when global investors think about high yielding Latam debt, Brazil is the first country to come to mind.  And for good reason.  Brazil’s local currency debt offers among the highest yields in the world.  On a 2-year…

Gray Newman of Morgan Stanley is the third analyst this week who has been making Mexico-bullish noises due to the Chinese peg move.  In his recent research piece called "Latin America: The Renminbi Impact" he says we have…

Ideas that China will allow greater flexibility in the yuan, which for many means appreciation, will have positive impact on Latam currencies.   The Mexican peso and Brazilian real are leading the advance with about 0.66% gain…

Highlights The US dollar was stronger vs. the majors, as the euro was unable to hang on to its recent gains above 1.24.  Euro selling accelerated after news of German regulator BaFin banning some short sales (see below).  Euro…

Within the euro-zone, Portugal comes in at #6. Spain and Ireland are not in the top ten. Source: CMA Sovereign Risk Monitor

Given the fact that I have just finished writing two articles on Wien’s predictions for 2010, I thought it relevant to look back at the last three years of Wien’s surprises to just before the housing crisis.  I posted the 2009 predictions…

The last I had heard about a prospective Gulf currency union came yesterday morning in a note by Marc Chandler who is the Chief Strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman’s FX group.  He indicated that he was more optimistic about a Gulf…

This is probably my fourth post on the tangled web woven by securitization, which puts a considerable distance between home owners and mortgagees which own a mortgage.  The issue is causing huge problems in bankruptcy and foreclosure…

We are starting to get a sense of who the winners and losers of the Great Unraveling are. Spain is definitely a loser. Just think, a few years ago Spain was the envy of Western Europe with a dynamic and booming property market and…