TOP NEWS IN LATIN AMERICAN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Brazilian insurance broker Alper Consultoria e Corretora de Seguros SA bought specialized health insurance firm Ferf – Consultoria em Benefícios e Corretagem de Seguros e Riscos Ltda. The acquisition, Alper's second in less than a week, was for 35.2 million reais, and could reach 44 million reais if certain goals are met in the next few years, Valor Econômico reported.
* A majority of board members of the Mexican central bank said economic recovery will be gradual and prolonged, while some members foresee positive yet moderate growth rates for 2021 and 2022, minutes from the latest monetary policy decision show. Inflation stood at 3.15% in the year through December 2020, the INEGI statistics agency said.
➤ S&P 500 posted 2020 gains as COVID-19, oil price crash obliterated energy sector
The benchmark's Energy Sector index value plummeted 37.3% while outperformers such as the Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology indexes rose 32.1% and 42.2%, respectively.
➤ Markets look past US Capitol violence to stimulus prospects, reflation
The S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 all hit new highs Jan. 7 as investors bet that "the chaos will be short-lived," said Edward Moya of OANDA.
BANKING
* Moody's said the level of consumer indebtedness in Brazil, which has risen to a record 66.3% in 2020, is a credit negative for banks with significant unsecured consumer lending exposure, particularly Banco do Brasil SA, Banco Bradesco SA, Itaú Unibanco Holding SA, Banco Santander (Brasil) SA and Caixa Econômica Federal. These banks account for 75% of total consumer loans.
* The number of debit cards in Mexico grew 22% between the first and third quarters of 2020, reaching 153.4 million, El Economista reported, citing data from the central bank.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Mexico's Amis association of insurers said that the sector has enough capitalization and good support for products and risk management systems despite the rise of coronavirus cases in the country, El Economista reported, citing Amis Vice President Juan Patricio Riveroll. The impact of the pandemic on the sector is estimated at $854 million as of Jan. 4.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* Diego Bastourre, the finance secretary of Argentina's Ministry of Economy, will become one of the directors of the central bank, El Cronista reported.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Argentina will issue a 10-year bond worth $7.5 billion, and a 180-day bond worth 11.5 billion pesos, Reuters reported, citing the official gazette.
MARKETS
Click here for a summary of indexes on the MI platform.
Pablo Jiménez Arandia contributed to this report.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.
