The International Monetary Fund came to Argentina’s rescue on Thursday with a standby arrangement worth $50bn over three years, far more than envisaged by markets which are expected to welcome the move. The loan is subject to approval from the IMF board, the Financial Times reported. Its size surprised local media which had speculated would be closer to $30bn. “I thought it was going to be big but this far exceeds expectations.

When Pedro Parente quit last week as chief of executive of Brazil’s state-controlled Petrobras, Latin America’s largest oil company, he used his resignation to lament his countrymen’s apparent disdain for market dynamics, the Financial Times reported. Mr Parente, a champion of free-market policies, resigned after the Brazilian government gave in to truckers whose strike against an increase in fuel prices brought Brazil’s economy to its knees for 10 days.

Venezuela's central bank in April paid $172 million (£128.8 million) to U.S. bank Citigroup to recover part of the gold it had put up as guarantee in a swap operation, according to two sources familiar with the situation, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Sanctions levied by U.S. President Donald Trump last year bar U.S. banks from carrying out financing operations with Venezuela, meaning such swaps cannot be renewed. "Citibank got paid," said a local finance industry source familiar with the negotiation who asked not to be identified.

Three hedge funds that own defaulted Venezuelan bonds hired a Washington law firm to explore legal options for repayment, Bloomberg News reported. The group owns more than 15 percent of the $1.5 billion outstanding of Venezuela’s 2034 bonds, according to Mark Stancil, the attorney at Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber LLP who’s representing the investors. Stancil declined to name the companies. He helped represent hedge funds Aurelius Capital Management and Davidson Kempner Capital Management in their lawsuit against Argentina.

Shares of Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras plunged nearly 15 per cent in early trade on Thursday after the company’s overnight announcement of a surprise diesel price cut to pacify striking truckers, the Financial Times reported. The Brazilian bellwether stock was down 13.71 per cent at R$20.08 per share just before midday, dragging the benchmark Ibovespa index 1.81 per cent lower to 79,402.02 points.

For Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the easy part was winning a presidential race where the main opposition candidates were barred, their supporters boycotted the vote, and his government controlled every aspect of the contest, including counting votes, The Wall Street Journal reported. Now comes the hard part: Trying to pull his country out of the worst economic crisis in its history as it faces growing isolation from the international community. Mr.

The International Monetary Fund moved on Friday to formally begin negotiations on a bailout of Argentina, without any objection from the Trump administration, The Wall Street Journal reported. The crisis in Argentina has prompted the U.S. to once again embrace the type of multilateral and global institutions that have often come under heavy criticism from the Trump White House. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde presented the program Friday in Washington to the IMF’s executive board, where the U.S.

Bond fund managers often scoff at the big racy bets of equity investors, preferring the sweet sensation of a steady, diversified stream of coupon payments being made on time, the Financial Times reported. Michael Hasenstab is not like most bond investors.

A U.S. bankruptcy court is set to hear a dispute involving Brazilian telecoms company Oi SA and major shareholder Bratel Brasil SA, Bratel said on Wednesday, as investor discontent with Oi’s bankruptcy reorganization process shows no signs of abating, Reuters reported. On Friday, Bratel, a subsidiary of Portugal’s Pharol SGPS SA, which owns almost 28 percent of Oi’s common shares, said it had filed a legal complaint in the United States.

The pressure on the Argentine peso showed no sign of letting up on Friday, with the currency sinking to a new low even after the country bit the bullet and turned to the IMF for help in stabilising the economy, the Financial Times reported. The peso slumped 5.4 per cent to 24.00 in early trade, according to Thomson Reuters data. The country’s benchmark Merval stock market snapped a two-day winning streak to trade 2.8 per cent lower, while the country’s century bond slipped again to trade at just a little over 87 cents on the dollar.