Brazil’s Ibovespa Maintains Upward Trend; Tech-Stock Surge Continues on Wall Street

Latin American markets closed mixed on Friday, with Colombia’s Colcap index recovering after a two-day decline, while tech shares once again boosted the NYSE

Brazil's Ibovespa led the gains in Latin American markets on Friday.
By Bloomberg Línea
May 26, 2023 | 07:21 PM

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A roundup of Friday’s stock market results from across the Americas

🌎 Ibovespa closes with highest gains on mixed day for LatAm:

Latin America’s markets closed mixed on Friday, with Brazil’s Ibovespa (IBOVESPA) posting the highest gains, closing 0.77%, boosted by the shares of CVC (CVCB3), which soared 11.19%; Arezzo (ARZZ3), which gained 3.90%, and those of Grupo de Moda Soma (SOMA3), which rose 3.11%.

Colombia’s Colcap (COLCAP) recovered from two sessions of losses, Lima’s stock exchange (SPBLPGPT) climbed 0.01% while Chile’s IPSA index (IPSA) slipped 0.19%, dragged down by shares of Banco de Chile (CHILE), which dropped 1.81%, and Banco Santander (BSAN), which fell 1.62%, while the shares of Empresas CMPC (CMPC) fell 1.67% and those of Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM) 0.73%.

Argentina’s Merval remained closed on Friday due to a public holiday.

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🗽On Wall Street:

The frenzy surrounding artificial intelligence led another day of gains in the stock market on Friday as traders were also growing more confident a deal on the US debt limit would be reached.

The S&P 500 rose 1.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 added 2.6% as Marvell Technology Inc. said 2024 revenues would “at least double” from a year ago on a surge in demand from AI, echoing sentiments from rival chipmaker Nvidia Corp. earlier in the week.

Intel Corp (INTC) shares rose 5.84%, those of Amazon (AMZN) 4.44%, Salesforce (CRM) 2.63% and Microsoft (MSFT) 2.14%.

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The gains came as US negotiators also appeared to be moving closer to an agreement to raise the US debt limit and cap federal spending for two years. A US default could result in catastrophic damage, putting markets on edge. However, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he believed progress had been made last night.

“Today we are getting a boost from debt ceiling headlines plus continued AI enthusiasm,” said John Kolovos, chief technical strategist at Macro Risk Advisors.

Investors were demanding less of a premium to hold US Treasury bills seen most at risk of nonpayment if a deal isn’t reached in time. Securities expiring in early June — when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned the government could run out of money — are all yielding less than 6% on Friday.

Meanwhile, the rate-sensitive two-year Treasury drifted as traders considered how a debt deal could play into the Federal Reserve’s path forward on interest rates. The two-year yield hovered around 4.56% after a report on consumer spending showed the Fed still has more work to do to bring inflation back toward its target. The personal consumption expenditures price index, one of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauges, rose by a faster-than-expected 0.4% in April.

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“While we believe that there are good chances for a [debt] resolution before the FOMC meeting, any deal would almost certainly include some fiscal tightening, which should reduce the need for the Fed to hike rates,” said Brian Rose, senior US economist at UBS Chief Investment Office. “Going past the debt ceiling deadline would have serious consequences, and in that event there is almost no chance that the Fed would hike.”

In other corporate news, retailer Gap Inc. rallied 12% after reporting better-than-expected results. Workday Inc. jumped 10% after results at the application software company pointed to stable demand. And Ford Motor Co. rose 6.2% after striking a deal with Tesla Inc. to give its electric vehicle customers access to the Tesla Supercharger network.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Stoxx 600 rose with chipmakers including ASML Holding NV advancing for a second day. Glencore Plc gained after a report that its Viterra unit is in talks to merge with Bunge Ltd., one of the world’s largest crop merchants. And in Asia, the benchmark CSI 300 index ended little changed, bringing the week’s losses to 2.4% amid growth concerns.

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The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%, the euro was little changed at $1.0729, the British pound rose 0.3% to $1.2352 and the Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 140.57 per dollar.

🍝 For the dinner table debate:

One of the technological advances that currently generates most enthusiasm is artificial intelligence (AI) and the various uses that can be given to in diverse spheres. The workplace will undoubtedly be one about which fears are already emerging: AI is positioned as a strong replacement for jobs that may be repetitive, and it is likely that those who will be most affected -as they continue to be in various areas of labor activity globally- will be women.

Hakki Ozdenoren, an economist at Revelio Labs, considers that the gender distribution in different types of occupations reflects the “deep-rooted prejudices in society”, since it is common for women to be relegated to administrative or secretarial assistance roles. And it is precisely these positions that can be easily automated as technologies such as AI advance around the world.

In fact, Revelio Labs exposed the jobs that are most likely to be replaced by AI based on a study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, performing a breakdown by gender in order to identify where women were. Thus they found that typically the roles of bill and account collectors, payroll clerks or executive secretaries are mostly filled by the female population, with some positions exceeding 50% female occupancy.

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“Consequently, the impact of AI is skewed along gender lines,” Ozdenoren highlighted.

“Going forward, providing training opportunities will be key for women to navigate the changing employment landscape,” Ozdenoren said. “In doing so, we can capitalize on the potential of AI while leveraging their valuable skills and experience,” she said.

Paola Villar S., a content producer at Bloomberg Línea, and Carly Wanna and Isabelle Lee of Bloomberg News, contributed to this story.