Emerging Markets

Kenya Moved Three Railway Loans Out of Dollars and Into Yuan

The yuan now accounts for 11.7% of Kenya's external debt, more than double a year earlier, after three railway loans from China Ex…

West Africa’s Shared Stock Market Just Passed US$35 Billion for the First Time

The BRVM, the single exchange serving eight West African states, closed above 20 trillion CFA francs on 20 August after a rally of…

Bitcoin Jumps to US$73,033 as Treasury Buybacks Lift Crypto

Bitcoin closed at US$73,033, up 5.44%, after a US Treasury buyback plan and a short squeeze. Here is the Latin America read on the…

Gold & Silver Wrap: Mexico, Peru Read the Rally

Gold held firm and silver jumped on Thursday, August 20, 2026, as a softer dollar met steady safe-haven demand. Here is the Latin …

Copper Slips as Chile Supply, China Demand Weigh

Copper futures eased on Thursday, August 20 as investors weighed strained Chilean output against softer global factory signals. Th…

Lithium Wrap: Chile SQM Jumps 4.07% on Thursday

SQM added 4.07% while Albemarle dipped 0.07% and LIT closed flat. Chinese lithium carbonate eased 0.43% to 151,000 CNY/tonne, stil…

Zinc Wrap: Peru, Brazil Miners Rise on Supply Tightness

Zinc proxies Nexa and Buenaventura moved as supply tightening and low inventories supported prices near multi-year highs on Thursd…

Iron Ore Wrap: Vale Rises While China Steel Falters

Iron ore steadied near US$95 on Thursday; Vale's US shares rose 2.37% while CSN Mineração fell. China's steel output is up but dem…

LatAm Steel: Gerdau Falls as China Glut Bites

A dive into Thursday's LatAm steel moves: Gerdau slid, CSN edged up, Ternium held firm. How Chinese steel, tariffs, and autos are …

Oil Wrap: USO up 2.77% on Hormuz Supply Risk

WTI-tracking USO closed at US$134.54, up 2.77%, as Middle East chokepoint risk outweighed regional news on Brazil pre-salt, Guyana…

Grains Wrap: Wheat Leads, Soy and Corn Firm

Wheat led grains higher on Thursday as Black Sea jitters and fresh Chinese buying offset large South American harvests. Brazil and…

Brazil’s Financial Morning Call for Friday, August 21, 2026

Copom bets set the tone for B3's open as Brazil has a quiet data Friday. Watch rate-sensitive names, the real, and global PMI risk…

Snow Has Hit 26,000 Bolivian Families, and a River Took Out a Yungas Town

Snowfall and cold have affected 26,202 families across Potosi, Oruro and La Paz, while a river burst its banks at Quime in the La …

Chile Wants Six Million Tonnes of Copper. Right Now It Is Producing Less Each Year

Chile is converging on a target of six million tonnes of copper a year. Its own agency forecasts 5.27 million this year, and no mo…

One Infected Cow in Sonora Lands Days Before the US Reopens Its Cattle Border

Mexico confirmed its first screwworm case in Sonora in 46 years, days before the United States was due to reopen cattle imports at…

Prosecutors Raided the Maker of Baly, Brazil’s Cheapest Energy Drink

Prosecutors in Santa Catarina allege R$500 million (about US$96 million) in improper ICMS credits and money laundering. The compan…

OXXO Is 292 Shops Away From Its 25,000th Store in Mexico

FEMSA ended June 2026 with 24,708 OXXO stores in Mexico, 292 short of 25,000, after opening 832 net shops in a year. The post OXXO…

Colombia’s Own Economists Have Given Up on Cheaper Money This Year

Analysts now expect Colombian inflation to end 2026 at 6.6%, and the policy rate to stay at 12% through December. The post Colombi…

Chile’s Main Stock Index Changes Hands, and Gains a Member on 1 September

The IPSA moves to MSCI methodology on 1 September, dropping its fixed 30-stock limit and adding Pampa Investments as a 31st member…

A Spanish Builder Walked Off Chile’s Bridges and Left 50 Small Firms Unpaid

Spanish builder Tapusa abandoned bridge and corridor works in Gran Concepcion, leaving more than 50 local firms owed roughly CLP 3…

Brazil’s Airlines Have Just Had Their Busiest Seven Months Ever

Brazilian airlines carried 59 million domestic passengers from January to July 2026, the highest for the period in 26 years, plus …

Brazil’s Police Opened Five Big Money Cases in a Single Day

Five separate cases, more than R$1 billion (about US$200 million) in suspected fraud, and three different kinds of Brazilian polic…

Chile’s Foreign Minister Spent Five Days in China Talking About Artificial Intelligence

Chile's foreign minister spent five days in China discussing artificial intelligence and the digital economy — and signed no techn…

Is Peru’s Business Confidence Really at a 15-Year High? Not Quite

The number is good either way. It is just not as good as the headline, and the series is not old enough to support it. The post Is…