Economy

Market roundup: Can retail keep up the pace?

Brazilian retail has grown in each of the past four months, but the sector is losing steam. And inflation spells a negative omen for store owners

retail Clothing stores were among the best-performing in April. Photo: Edinaldo Maciel/Shutterstock
Clothing stores were among the best-performing in April. Photo: Edinaldo Maciel/Shutterstock

Hello and welcome back to our market roundup, when we sum up the most important goings-on in Brazilian markets.

🔔 The dashboard: The Ibovespa benchmark stock index was down 5 percent this week. The Brazilian Real, meanwhile, lost 4.3 percent against the U.S. Dollar. Investors were jittery after the government announced its plan to lower state-level fuel taxes and compensate local administrations’ financial losses.

  • Biggest gains: Qualicorp (insurance), +4.01 percent.
  • Biggest drops: Positivo (technology), -20.2 percent. Last week, Positivo posted the biggest gains in the Brazilian stock market.

Retail results better than expected — but trouble is ahead

Brazil’s official statistics agency IBGE published retail results for April this week. Sales were up by 0.9 percent on a monthly basis, massively outperforming the 0.4-percent markets expected. 

Goldman Sachs said in a report to clients that the good numbers reflect the reopening of the economy after...

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