In September, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Brazil’s sovereign credit rating to junk status, becoming the first major ratings agency to do so. Even after the retreat, Brazilian stocks may have further to fall as the economic contract worsens.
Against the backdrop of ongoing concerns, more aggressive traders may turn to a bearish or inverse ETF option to capitalize on continued weakness in Brazilian equities. For instance, the ProShares UltraShort MSCI Brazil Capped ETF (NYSEArca: BZQ) takes the -2x or two times inverse of the daily performance of the MSCI Brazil 25/50 Index, which acts as the underlying index for EWZ.
“Broadly, the corporate study found some scary stuff: The net debt to EBITDA ratio of 141 companies ws 3.4x, and 2.0 to 2.5x is comfortable/manageable. In five sectors — construction, oil & gas, transportation, basic materials and utilities — a combination of weaker debt ratios and greater exposure to the slowing economy implies greater debt-payback risk compared to other sectors, Morgan Stanley writes,” according to Barron’s.
iShares MSCI Brazil Capped ETF
