São Paulo’s stock exchange gets its own Charging Bull

The old center of São Paulo gained a new landmark today with the inauguration of a bull sculpture outside the city’s stock exchange, imitating the Charging Bull statue that sits in New York City’s financial district and represents aggressive investor optimism and financial prosperity.

The sculpture was designed by Brazilian artist Rafael Brancatelli and famous investor Pablo Spyer. Located outside the headquarters of the B3 stock exchange, the five-meter-long object is made from metal tubes and fiberglass and will have pride of place in São Paulo’s old financial sector, still busy with the coming and going of brokers on the trading floor.

Bringing the stock exchange from the professionals to the city’s passers-by is also somewhat of a metaphor for the shift in retail investing in Brazil. São Paulo’s stock exchange had 500,000 investors in 2016 but now has over 4 million, on the back of lower interest rates and the popularity of investments and trading tips on social media. 

Mr. Spyer himself is also a symbol of this new era. A few years ago, he began posting irreverent market briefings on social media, using approachable language, and even developing his own catchphrases, dishing out Tourinho de Ouro (Little Golden Bull) awards whenever the B3’s benchmark stock index broke historic records. His success earned him his own TV show and a partner position at XP, Inc, Brazil’s biggest brokerage firm. 

“I’m honored to be a part of this moment. The golden bull (…) is a gift to all Brazilians”, he wrote on Twitter. 

On the day the São Paulo stock market bull was inaugurated, however, the Ibovespa index dropped 1.82 percent to one of its lowest points of the year

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