Media Navel Gaze: October 10, 2016
Complete shock and awe ahead of the second presidential debate after recordings surfaced Friday of Donald Trump – from 10 years ago -- in what he called “locker-room banter” about women but what most others called crude, lewd and completely unacceptable for anyone especially a candidate running for the highest office. Trump did apologize but that did not stop many key Republications from pulling support and most everyone condemning the comments, including Tic Tac, which probably got more publicity than expected, including coverage on Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live for its odd Tweet on the matter.
Elsewhere:
- Hurricane Matthew had been dominating headlines until the Trump Tempest below into town and the severe storm settled a bit even though it caused billions in damages and several deaths;
- The US added 156,000 new jobs in September and the unemployment rate edged up to 5.0 percent from 4.9 percent, illustrating that the labor market continues to expand but probably too slow and steady;
- The Dow moved just slightly lower last week to end Friday at 18,240;
- We learned of another NSA arrest for potential breach of codes to foreign networks, the second (this time in August) with a contractor; and
- Google introduced a phone named Pixal, which probably has more to do with VR and potentially AR than placing digits.
LatAm Gaze:
- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to end the country's civil war against the FARC guerrilla group that killed more than 220,000 people.
- Citigroup agreed to sell its consumer business in Argentina to Banco Santander Rio for an undisclosed amount, as well as some of its Brazilian retail banking assets to Itaú Unibanco Holding SA, following plans to exit retail banking and credit card operations in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia to cut costs.
- Mexico's annual inflation accelerated in September to nearly the central bank's 3 percent target level, just days after its governor warned there could be higher interest rates if inflation continues beyond that goal. Meanwhile, Brazil's inflation eased in September, fueling expectations that the central bank may reduce interest rates soon.
- Mexican Finance Minister José Antonio Meade warned on Saturday that adopting protectionist measures, like the trade restrictions proposed by Donald Trump's platform, would hurt both the U.S. and Mexican economies.
- End of Week Market Updates
- Merval (Argentina): + 2.76%
- Bovespa (Brazil): + 4.70%
- IPSA (Chile): + 1.50%
- IGBC (Colombia): + 1.19%
- IPC (Mexico): + 0.74%
- BVL (Perú): - 1.55%
