Media Navel Gaze: August 24, 2015
The Week Unpeeled
Yikes! The summer turned nasty last week, with stock markets worldwide showing red almost everywhere as the indices hit 10-percent correction levels amid commentary that the six-year bull market may have run its course. The week-long slide was based on concerns about China's growth following its currency devaluation and sluggish economies elsewhere. The S&P 500, probably the broadest best measure, fell some 5.8 percent last week and is now down 4 percent for the year. Unclear if this is a breather or more to come but lots of ink sure to follow.
Elsewhere:
- Oil continued its descent with crude falling briefly below $40 per barrel and projections for the $30 range soon.
- Maybe it should wait after this week but the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz has recommended that public companies shed the quarterly reports, calling on the SEC to get rid of the practice which no doubt would make many CFOs happy;
- A top Bloomberg editor was dismissed last week when he broke the embargo on Fed minutes story;
- The Koreas traded threats;
- Female Viagra was approved; and
- Jared happened.
LatAm Gaze:
- LATAM: This week's steep selloff that pushed down the S&P 500 says more about the outlook for emerging markets than US companies; recessions in Latin American countries like Brazil and Chile is hurting commodity-related companies, and prompting traders to overlook improving US economic data.
- BRAZIL: Amid ongoing investigations into Brazil's Petrobras oil firm, Brazil's TSE electoral authority has called for an investigation of President Dilma Rousseff's 2014 re-election campaign, citing evidence that it may have been financed with money from a Petrobras corruption scheme.
- MEXICO: Mexico has completed its oil hedging program for next year, paying more than $1 billion to guarantee it will get at least $49 a barrel for about half of its exported crude in 2016.
