U.S. Shares Recover; Argentina Leads LatAm Losses

Bitcoin goes for a rollercoaster ride, falling below $33,000 before closing with a 5.1% hike

Markets Wrap
January 24, 2022 | 07:00 PM

The results from Monday’s trading across the region

🗽 On Wall Street:

U.S. markets recovered from losses of up to 4% clocked up during the day’s trading to close with gains on Monday.

Market jitters continue ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting this week as tensions rise between Russia and the West regarding a possible invasion of Ukraine.

The S&P 500 (SPX) closed with nominal gains of 028%, with the Dow Jones Industrial Index (INDU) up 0.29%, while the Nasdaq Composite (CCMPDL), affected by the behavior of tech shares that are more vulnerable to interest rate rises, gained 0.63%.

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“Market expectations going into the Fed’s January FOMC policy decision have violently swung from a gradual tightening to an aggressive hawk until inflation drops,” Edward Moya, an analyst at Oanda, said in an emailed note.

🔑 Key Movements of the Day:

Bitcoin (XBT) went on a rollercoaster ride after falling below $33,000 at 16:04 New York time, before pulling back to above $37,000, making for a daily increase of 5.1%.

On a weekly change however, the crypto currency has lost 13.8% as the assets are affected by expectations of an interest rate rise by the Fed in the next couple of months.

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“Bitcoin plummeted to $34,000 over the weekend as its correlation to the US stock market strengthens. The rapidly changing Federal Reserve policy in response to rising inflation has caused extreme fear in both legacy and crypto markets,” said Marcus Sotirious, an analyst at Global Block, a UK-based digital assets brokerage.

Ether (XET), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, also recovered and posted a daily gain of 1.4% to $2,452.46.

📉 A Bad Day:

Today was a day to forget for Latin American stock markets and there was no leader, in line with the performance of global markets and the trend of most of the day in the United States. The Argentine stock exchange (MERVAL) was the most affected in the region, losing 3.13%.

In addition to catching the international mood, investors are also keeping an eye on the Argentine government’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

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The market expects a disbursement to be made this Friday. The interest payment due in January is more than $700 million, according to data from Argentina’s Congressional Budget.

The second worst performer was the Chilean stock market (IPSA), after the main stock market index closed with a loss of 3.05%. The Chilean market said goodbye to the positive effect of last Friday, after President-elect Gabriel Boric moderated his tone and appointed Mario Marcel, current president of the Central Bank, as the head of the Finance Ministry.

The worst performance was seen by mining companies and communication service providers, with the shares of Enel Américas (ENELAM), CMPC (CMPC) and Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM/B) ending the session with the sharpest losses.

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Brazil’s Ibovespa (IBOV), the region’s largest by capitalization, dropped 0.92% on Monday.

🍝 For the Dinner Table Conversation:

The decisive days to define the South American teams that will go to the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup will start at the end of this week, but there is a competition that has already begun. The tech wave in sports marketing continues to grow and Rappi and Binance, two of the stars in each of their sectors, announced their arrival as sponsors of the Colombian and Argentine national teams respectively.

Rappi said the sponsorship deals reaffirms its support for soccer and explained that the contract will initially be valid for this year. The brand, which had already sponsored McClaren cars during the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix in Formula 1, will be visible in the stadiums where the team plays.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it will be the main global sponsor of the AFA’s national teams, the Official Fan Token of the AFA and sponsor of the Professional Soccer League, in an agreement that last five years.

Argentina is one of the teams that has already qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and, with Lionel Messi as captain, is emerging as one of the main candidates to bring the cup home.