In Brazil, the pace of rate cuts is slowing as more signs that the crisis is backing off have emerged, report Joshua Goodman and Andrew Soliani for Bloomberg. The country recently experienced its deepest quarterly contraction on record, but companies are now re-hiring workers and car sales jumped 17% in March.
In Mexico, the deadly influenza has reduced consumer shopping, reports Ken Jones for The Wall Street Journal. For a couple of weeks and possibly longer, if the flu drags on indefinitely, the travel, tourism and entertainment sectors could be negatively affected.
Retail sales were down 8.6% in February compared to the same month last year. Economists had previously projected a 3.3% contraction in the economy.
- iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index (ILF): up 18% year-to-date
- iShares MSCI Mexico Investable Mkt Idx (EWW): down 1.2% year-to-date
Max Chen contributed to this article.