Brazil

Brazil’s central bank said all board members supported a gradual start to their cycle of interest rate hikes, falling short of explicitly backing faster increases seen by financial markets going forward, Bloomberg News reported. “All members agreed to start the monetary policy tightening cycle gradually,” central bankers wrote in minutes to their Sept. 17-18 rate meeting, when they raised the benchmark Selic for the first time since 2022, to 10.75%.

Soccer-mad Brazilians have fallen hard for online sports betting, yielding a boom of interest from foreign gambling companies that may boost state coffers but also threatens to divert funds from consumer spending in other areas, Reuters reported. Latin America's largest economy has seen lower-than-expected growth in consumer spending in the country in recent months, a weakness some banks and think tanks are blaming on gambling. Such a linkage would echo data seen in some U.S. states touched by online gambling fever.

AgroGalaxy’s financial struggles reached a critical point and the company, a major player in Brazil’s agricultural input retail sector, filed for judicial recovery on Sept. 18, the Rio Times reported. The decision to file for judicial recovery came after months of financial turmoil. AgroGalaxy’s board of directors approved the filing, which was submitted to the court under confidential terms. Earlier in the day prior to the filing, a series of high-profile resignations rocked the company’s leadership structure.

Brazilian markets rallied on Thursday as the central bank’s unanimous decision to raise interest rates — and a statement viewed as hawkish — signaled its commitment to getting inflation back to target, Bloomberg News reported. The real trimmed gains after climbing as much as 1.2% versus the dollar, and swap rates jumped, after central bank officials raised the benchmark rate by 25 basis points late Wednesday, just hours after the Federal Reserve delivered its first cut in four years.

Brazilian airline Azul has moved closer to clinching a new deal with lessors as the company offers them equity to pay off some $600 million in debt, Reuters reported. Shares in the carrier jumped over 20% in Friday trading after Reuters first reported on the progress in negotiations. Azul's shares had slipped over 40% since August on media reports that it was considering filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it struggles with its debt load. The company has said it is focused on direct talks with creditors.

A recent flurry of judicial and economic rule changes has served as a reminder of just how unpredictable operating in Latin America can be, denting the region’s appeal for foreign investors already weary after years of sub-par returns, Bloomberg News reported.

Brazil Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said the government is worried a resurgence in extreme weather will spur inflation as central bankers are expected to lift the interest rate starting next week, Bloomberg News reported. The nation’s persistent dry spell can stoke food and energy price increases, Haddad told reporters in Brasilia on Wednesday. At the same time, such cost rises are not easily controlled with borrowing cost hikes, he said. “The central bank has the technical framework to make the best decision,” Haddad said.

Brazil’s annual inflation eased roughly in line with expectations in August, offering limited relief to a central bank that’s under pressure to lift interest rates to contain above-target price increases, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Tuesday showed prices rose 4.24% from a year earlier, just below the 4.27% median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. On the month, inflation stood at -0.02%. The robust pace of growth in Latin America’s largest economy has investors betting that a hike to the benchmark Selic from its current level of 10.5% is imminent next week.

In just a little over a decade, Nu Holdings Ltd. has gone from an obscure fintech startup in Sao Paulo to the most valuable bank in all of Latin America. It’s been a dizzying ascent, powered by a business model that Brazil’s uber-conservative banking titans never had much of a stomach for: lending to low-income families. Growth keeps coming at a breakneck pace — some 60% of all Brazilian adults now have Nubank’s app on their phone — and investors keep frantically bidding the stock higher, Bloomberg News reported.