Brazil

Brazilian assets rallied sharply after first-round election results showed Flávio Bolsonaro advancing to an Oct. 25 run-off against incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with a stronger-than-expected showing. Speculators on prediction market platform Kalshi now give Bolsonaro a more than 80% chance of winning the presidency, up from about 60% before Sunday's first round, while on Polymarket his odds jumped to 85% from 63%. Bolsonaro secured more than 47% of the votes and beat Lula's first round total by nearly 2 percentage points, despite pre-election polls that widely expected him to trail the incumbent in that initial tally. The iShares MSCI Brazil ETF was up more than 12% on Monday, U.S.-listed shares of Itau Unibanco gained 15%, Banco Bradesco surged 19%, and Brazil's local Bovespa index was up 8%. Investors broadly see Bolsonaro as more favorable to markets, as the candidate is promising greater fiscal discipline, with Brazil's deficit-to-GDP ratio at almost 10% in June.

MercadoLibre reported second-quarter 2026 gross merchandise volume of $21.9 billion, up 44% year over year and 36% on an FX-neutral basis, with items sold rising 45% to 795.4 million. Brazil remained the primary growth engine, posting 39% FX-neutral GMV growth and a 56% rise in items sold, while Mexico grew 26% FX-neutral despite tax reform and a weaker macroeconomic environment, and Argentina delivered 38% FX-neutral growth. Cross-border trade added another layer, with FX-neutral GMV up 60% and triple-digit growth in Argentina, Brazil and other markets, and the company's China fulfillment center saw volume rise 170% sequentially. Unique active buyers reached 89.3 million, with items sold per buyer up 14% overall. The Zacks Consensus Estimate implies 44.7% year-over-year sales growth for the current fiscal year but a 2.8% decline in earnings per share, and the stock carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

PTC agreed to be acquired by Schneider Electric for $205 per share, valuing the software company's equity at more than $22 billion, with the transaction expected to close by the third quarter of 2027. PTC shares surged 36% premarket on the news. Brazilian stocks rallied after right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro edged out incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva by around 2 percentage points in Sunday's election, sending the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF up 12% and U.S.-listed shares of Itau Unibanco and Banco Bradesco up more than 13% each. Wells Fargo gained 1% after a Morgan Stanley upgrade to overweight from equal weight, while DraftKings popped over 5% on a Bank of America upgrade to buy from neutral, with analyst Julie Hoover expecting prediction markets to generate $400 million in fees for 2027 and between $200 to $400 million in market making. Estee Lauder rose 2.8% after Barclays upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight, citing its growth and earnings profile over the next several years.

ING analyst Chris Turner says Brazilian assets are set to rally after Sunday's presidential vote, in which Flavio Bolsonaro took 47% of the popular vote against President Lula's 45%. The two will meet in a run-off on 25 October, and Turner expects markets to assume the remaining 8% of the vote leans toward the Bolsonaro camp, with investors having anticipated a much tighter first round. He argues that Bolsonaro's platform of fiscal austerity and deregulation should lift both the currency and the bond market, though he notes the stronger dollar and surging US Treasury yields make the external backdrop tougher for emerging market currencies than earlier this year. Turner projects USD/BRL could open near 5.10, but says a move back to the year's lows at 4.90 looks too aggressive right now.

Flávio Bolsonaro, a Brazilian senator, captured roughly 47% of valid votes in the first round of Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, October 4, far exceeding nearly all opinion polls, and will advance to the runoff on October 25 alongside Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, who took 44.9% with nearly all votes counted. The two candidates were the top vote-getters among all 12 contenders, in a campaign atmosphere dominated by anxiety over soaring living costs, corruption cases, and everyday insecurity. Flávio Bolsonaro is the son of Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right former president now serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after his election defeat in 2022. Pre-election polls had projected that President Lula would lead the first round by about 3 percentage points, making Bolsonaro's stronger-than-expected showing a major boost to his campaign and potentially helping to lift the real and Brazilian stocks further on hopes for the challenger's business-friendly policies.

With the first round of Brazil's presidential election taking place Sunday, Wall Street is gearing up with starkly different market predictions depending on the outcome of the neck-and-neck race between 80-year-old leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and 45-year-old right-winger Flavio Bolsonaro. In short, if Bolsonaro wins, Wall Street expects a rally in the country's bonds, currency and stocks. Kalshi markets now show Bolsonaro favored to win 60% to Lula's 39%, though prediction markets are prohibited in Brazil and may not reflect local sentiment. JPMorgan analysts say that if Brazil enters another period of reform, interest rates could decline to their neutral level, 6% in real terms and 10% in nominal terms, and they would be thinking about MSCI Brazil upside potential between 21% and 41%, with the forward P/E moving from a current 8.6 to as high as 13.3. JPMorgan also calls the currency outcome bimodal, with USD/BRL moving to 5.50 if Lula wins and 4.90 if Bolsonaro wins.

Petrobras said Friday it made another oil discovery in ultra-deep waters off Amapá state, strengthening indications of hydrocarbon potential along Brazil's Equatorial Margin. The find follows the company's August discovery, when Petrobras first identified the presence of oil and natural gas at the Morpho exploration well in Block FZA-M-59 in the Foz do Amazonas Basin; the oil found in August was of good quality, the company said. Petrobras said the new discovery expands knowledge about the exploration potential of the area and will provide additional information for assessing the petroleum systems and resource potential of the Foz do Amazonas sedimentary basin. The continued drilling of Morpho was aimed at evaluating deeper exploration intervals and led to this new discovery, the company added. Petrobras said recently it plans to drill three new wells in the area starting in January to determine the viability of commercial production in the environmentally-sensitive region.

CJ CheilJedang and ADM have agreed to form a new joint venture to secure a reliable, long-term source of feed-grade amino acids critical to the livestock industry, strengthening U.S. production, global supply chain resilience and U.S. food security. The joint venture will develop, manufacture and market fermentation-derived amino acids by combining CJ's fermentation production facilities in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and Piracicaba, Brazil, ADM's Decatur, Illinois, feed-grade amino acid plant, and CJ's Mexico, Brazil and U.S. sales offices, along with a license to CJ's intellectual property related to feed-grade amino acids for use by the joint venture within North and South America. CJ and ADM will give the JV exclusive rights to manufacture and sell feed-grade amino acids in the Americas, and CJ will be the majority owner. CJ will retain ownership of its intellectual property and its global fermentation businesses outside the scope of the joint venture, while ADM's other Decatur operations and its other global fermentation assets are not included in the transaction. The launch date for the proposed joint venture is subject to customary closing activities as well as regulatory approvals.

Petrobras' P-80 platform, also known as Búzios 9, has left the Tuas Boulevard Yard shipyard in Singapore and is heading toward the Búzios field in Brazil's pre-salt Santos Basin, the first of six giant units being developed by the company and expected to begin production in 2027. The P-80 is designed to produce up to 225,000 barrels of oil and process 12 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, placing it among the largest units of its kind in the global industry. Petrobras' director of engineering, technology and innovation, Renata Baruzzi, said the platform combines high production capacity with advanced technologies and digital solutions intended to enhance operational and energy efficiency. The P-82, next in the series and also scheduled to start production in 2027, is in the final stages of construction, and Petrobras is using a series-based construction approach across the six platforms to reduce costs and improve shipyard productivity. The P-80 process modules were manufactured in Brazil at the Seatrium BrasFELS shipyard in Angra dos Reis, while P-82 modules are being produced at the Seatrium Aracruz shipyard in Espírito Santo, with construction also taking place in China, Singapore and Indonesia. Petrobras operates Búzios in partnership with CNOOC, CNPC and Pré-Sal Petróleo SA (PPSA), and the field set monthly and daily natural gas export records in August, exceeding 10 million cubic meters per day on a monthly basis and reaching 14.1 million cubic meters per day on a daily basis.

Global sugar prices remain elevated, most recently around 18.74 cents per pound based on futures contract figures at the end of September 2026, prompting analysts at CGS International Securities (Thailand) to take a positive view of sugar stocks. They said the recovery in sugar prices is clearly gaining momentum because of an El Niño phenomenon that has been more severe and prolonged than expected, hurting sugarcane cultivation and reducing sugar output in many countries. Brazil, the world's major sugar producer, is beginning to show signs of lower production, running counter to fairly strong demand growth in India and elsewhere. In addition, the baht's continued weakening, most recently moving in a range of 33.45 to 33.70 baht per dollar on 30 September 2026, is another supporting factor, since most revenue for sugar operators comes from exporting sugar abroad. The research team therefore sees an opportunity to invest in this group of stocks, mainly Buriram Sugar Public Company Limited, or BRR, Khon Kaen Sugar Industry Public Company Limited, or KSL, Khonburi Sugar Public Company Limited, or KBS, and Kaset Thai International Sugar Corporation Public Company Limited, or KTIS. Issara Thawiltermsap, managing director of Khonburi Sugar Public Company Limited, or KBS, said the upward trend in global sugar prices should be a positive factor for KBS's operations, because sugar and related businesses account for as much as about 80% of its revenue. But the benefit will become clear only from next year's sugarcane crushing period onward, since most of this year's sugar has already been sold and priced forward under contracts. The weaker baht also helps drive up revenue from sugar exports, because exports currently account for nearly 80% of revenue in the sugar group.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation has formed Arbex, a strategic joint venture with Suzano that combines Suzano's scale and capabilities with Kimberly-Clark's commercial capabilities and tissue-making knowledge to create a world-class global competitor in the hygiene and tissue business. Kimberly-Clark said the partnership is a strategic combination rather than an effort to move away from an existing problem or challenge, and management expects its clear focus on global personal care to help drive execution as Arbex moves forward. The company reported sequential improvements and double-digit gains across International Personal Care markets including India, Southeast Asia and Indonesia, with diaper market share gains of 390 basis points in Indonesia and 70 basis points in Brazil. KMB stock has lost 11.2% in the past three months compared with the industry's decline of 1.3%, and trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38 versus the industry's average of 18.52. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KMB's current fiscal-year earnings implies a year-over-year decline of 2.4%, while next fiscal year earnings imply growth of 2.1%.

Cheniere Energy's subsidiary Cheniere Marketing has entered into a 22-year LNG sale and purchase agreement with Petrobras, Brazil's largest oil and gas company, for approximately 0.8 million tons per annum of LNG on a free-on-board basis. The deal adds long-duration contracted volumes to Cheniere's portfolio and supports its strategy of expanding brownfield liquefaction capacity at existing facilities. Cheniere chairman, president and chief executive officer Jack Fusco said the agreement reinforces the company's position as a leading global LNG provider while providing additional commercial support and fixed-fee cash flow visibility to underpin further brownfield liquefaction capacity growth. For Petrobras, the 22-year SPA secures long-term supply visibility, while the FOB structure gives the buyer greater flexibility over LNG logistics and transportation. Both Cheniere Energy and Petrobras currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

ArcelorMittal SA is aiming to reach a final investment decision by the end of the year on a 5B-real ($961M) expansion of its Pecém steel mill in Brazil, according to Bloomberg News, citing Jorge Oliveira, Chief Executive Officer of the company's Brazilian operations. Speaking on the sidelines of a steel conference in São Paulo, Oliveira said the proposed project would add a hot-rolled coil production line with an annual capacity of 1.5M tons at the facility in the northeastern state of Ceará. The capital expenditure plan reflects ArcelorMittal's strategy to move up the value chain in South America by transforming Pecém's primary slab output into higher-margin rolled steel products. If approved by the board before year-end, construction would mark one of the largest industrial steel investments in the region in recent years.

China announced it will impose an additional 55% import tariff on Brazilian beef starting October 1, 2026, on top of the rates currently in effect, according to a disclosure by China's Ministry of Commerce on September 30. The measure is part of a policy China announced back in January to levy an extra 55% tariff on beef imports exceeding the quota from major exporting countries, including Brazil, in order to protect the domestic livestock industry and cattle farmers. China set this year's import quota for Brazil at 1.1 million tons, and China is Brazil's largest beef export market. Earlier, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva disclosed that Uruguay had allowed Brazil to use the portion of Uruguay's beef export quota to China that Uruguay had not used up, but industry sources said China has not approved Brazil's use of Uruguay's quota, either this year or next, and that China is unlikely to accept an arrangement Brazil negotiated directly with another country to use the leftover quota. Meanwhile, the Brazilian beef exporters association estimates that Brazil's total beef export volume in 2026 could fall 10% from the previous year, amid restrictions from China as well as the European Union's measures limiting meat imports from Brazil, and the industry is watching closely whether China will renew the beef import quota measure for 2027, with clarity expected by the end of this year.

Brazilian financial-market infrastructure provider CSD BR has moved to integrate the XRP Ledger into its regulated securities infrastructure, according to a local media outlet. The move would connect the XRP Ledger to Brazil's securities market, which the report values at $4 trillion. CSD BR is the country's financial-market infrastructure provider, and the integration targets its regulated securities operations. The report did not specify a timeline or the terms of the integration.

Bradesco has completed the first pilot transaction using Bank of America's Cross-Border Real-Time Payments solution, Bank of America announced. The payment was initiated through Bradesco's existing Swift connectivity and delivered in Hong Kong dollars to a local beneficiary through Hong Kong's Faster Payment System. Bank of America's solution, announced in June 2026, is designed for high-volume, low-value payments and provides real-time tracking, full-principal delivery and payment certainty, with future availability through the CashPro digital banking platform. Christian Stolcke, head of Global Financial Institutions, Nonbank Financial Institutions and Governments in Global Payments Solutions at Bank of America, said the pilot shows how the bank can connect existing channels to real-time payment capabilities in markets around the world. Daniel Stanton, Payments Product Head in GPS at Bank of America, said completing the first transaction demonstrates the practical application of the solution and is an important step as the capability expands to more countries, currencies and client payment types. Building on the collaboration, Bradesco and Bank of America are also piloting a separate U.S. payment route through Swift to improve the speed, predictability and transparency of consumer and small-business international payments.

BP Plc is considering options for its Brazilian biofuels business, including a possible sale. According to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter, deliberations are in the early stages and no final decision has been made, as BP no longer considers the business core to its future strategy. BP took control of the business in 2024 by purchasing a 50% stake for $1.4 billion. BP declined to comment to Bloomberg.

Petrobras does not currently plan to increase its stake in Braskem or inject additional capital unless other shareholders also contribute, CEO Magda Chambriard said on the sidelines of the ROG.e oil conference in Rio de Janeiro. Her remarks, reported by Bloomberg, clarify Petrobras' position as Braskem negotiates with creditors over roughly $11 billion of debt. Creditors have requested approximately $3 billion of fresh capital from the company's controlling shareholders as part of the restructuring discussions. Petrobras holds about 47% of Braskem's voting capital and has long-term commercial agreements to supply petrochemical naphtha and other products, giving it an interest in a restructuring that preserves its investment without overburdening its own balance sheet. The cautious stance comes as Petrobras pursues other capital priorities, including production-sharing contracts for eight offshore blocks in Ivory Coast through Petrobras Netherlands B.V. with a 90% interest alongside Petroci Holding's 10%, a two-year memorandum of understanding with Mozambique's Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, and plans to drill three new wells in the Foz do Amazonas region in January after authorization from Brazil's environmental agency Ibama.

Better Collective shares plunged 24% to around DKK53.5 on Monday, their lowest level since early 2020, after Brazil imposed a nationwide ban on fixed-odds betting and online gaming. The selloff followed the sports-media company's announcement that it was suspending its €40 million share-buyback program and withdrawing its 2027-2028 financial targets. Brazil's government introduced a provisional measure on Friday banning the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds betting, including sports betting and online gaming, effective immediately with licensed platforms to shut down after a 10-day transition period. Better Collective revised its 2026 outlook assuming no further betting and casino revenue from Brazil, now expecting organic revenue growth of 3%-8% versus 7%-12% previously, while EBITDA before special items is expected to decline 7% to grow as much as 3%, against prior guidance for 8%-18% growth. The company said its Brazilian business had been trending toward about €45 million of revenue in 2026, roughly 12% of current analyst consensus for group revenue, with around €15 million expected in the remainder of the year.

Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes and Sportingbet, has cut its online sales outlook and said earnings will land at the lower end of guidance after Brazil moved to ban online gambling. The FTSE 250 firm said it was disappointed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's sudden decision on Friday to sign an order prohibiting all sports betting and online casinos, a move made without consultation of industry stakeholders. Entain said it will comply with the provisional ban, which must secure congressional approval within 120 days to become permanent. As a result, the group downgraded its full-year online net gaming revenues outlook to between 4% and 6% and said underlying earnings are now expected at the lower end of its guidance range of between £910 million and £960 million. Brazil was expected to account for around 5% of Entain's total online net gaming revenues this year, though the company said the earnings contribution was forecast to be modest given the challenging and highly competitive operating environment there. Earlier this month, Entain revealed around 400 jobs were being cut worldwide as it blamed increased gambling taxes, and said a consultation could see a fifth of its 2,000-strong customer care jobs go across 11 countries including the UK.

Petrobras announced on September 17 that it had signed production-sharing contracts for eight offshore exploration blocks in Ivory Coast, taking a 90% operating stake in each block while state-owned Petroci holds the remaining 10%. The Brazilian energy giant is looking to replenish reserves beyond Brazil, since production from its pre-salt fields is expected to peak around the middle of the next decade, and it will need to add about 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent to its reserves through 2050 to maintain current production levels. Petrobras has earmarked $7.1 billion specifically for exploration over the next five years and plans to make Africa its main exploratory region outside Brazil, following earlier pursuits in Ghana, Namibia, and Sao Tome and Principe. The Ivory Coast blocks are still exploration assets rather than producing fields, so they add no immediate revenue or earnings, and even a discovery would take years of development before material production could begin. The 90% stake gives Petrobras substantial control over exploration and potential development decisions, but also leaves it responsible for most of the exploration expenditure and execution risk.

Federal Deputy Célia Xakriabá publicly welcomed the Minas Gerais state government's decision on Thursday, the 24th, to suspend five environmental operating licenses held by Sigma Lithium. The permits were suspended by the State Environmental Foundation, known as Feam, in compliance with a Federal Court injunction issued on September 4th that nullified the environmental licenses and mandated a total halt to all extraction and pit activities at the Grota do Cirilo project. The suspension follows a formal criminal complaint filed last week by Deputy Xakriabá and fellow Federal Deputy Duda Salabert with the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Police, demanding urgent intervention over evidence that Sigma unlawfully maintained mining operations in defiance of the federal injunction. The congresswoman also criticized Sigma's prominent presence at New York Climate Week, where a company executive is scheduled to ring the Nasdaq closing bell, calling it a severe contradiction for a mining company to present itself as a pillar of the sustainable economy while local communities report human rights violations and defiance of judicial orders. The Baú and Piauí Poço Dantas Quilombola communities in the municipalities of Araçuaí and Itinga, within the Jequitinhonha Valley, continue to report severe environmental degradation and mobility restrictions caused by the Grota do Cirilo operational footprint, and Sigma is alleged to have breached a separate injunction tied to a Conduct Adjustment Agreement requiring vital road access for local families.

Nu Holdings' total credit portfolio reached $39.4 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up 37% year over year and 5% sequentially, with growth spread across all lending lines. Within that total, credit card balances rose 35% to $26 billion, unsecured lending jumped 45% to $10.3 billion and secured lending increased 30% to $3.1 billion. Net interest income rose 9% sequentially to $3.7 billion and net interest margin expanded 180 basis points to 22.9%, while cost of credit fell 9% sequentially to $1.7 billion. On credit quality, the 15-90 day NPL ratio improved 16 basis points to 4.8%, but 90-plus-day delinquencies increased 35 basis points to 6.9%, which management attributed largely to seasonal migration of loans that became delinquent in the first quarter. Management said the added risk-taking was intentional, with planned risk expansion adding 24 basis points to early delinquencies while seasonality reduced the ratio by 37 basis points, and coverage was maintained at 244% of 90-plus-day nonperforming loans.

Largo Inc. announced a strategic shift toward higher-margin products, reporting that recent sales of copper-platinum group metal concentrates generated approximately US$4.7 million in revenue at an operating profit margin above 90%, making it the company's highest-margin product. The company is evaluating an expansion that could potentially approximately double copper-PGM concentrate production capacity during 2027, while targeting current output of approximately 300 to 380 tonnes per month. On the vanadium side, an optimization study indicated capacity to raise high-purity production to approximately 68% of total vanadium production, with overall vanadium pentoxide output expected to trend toward approximately 876 tonnes per month, the low end of current guidance, versus approximately 1,000 tonnes per month at the upper end. Largo has produced and shipped its first high-purity vanadium pentoxide material for the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency and is completing production of its second shipment. Separately, Largo executed a definitive debt-restructuring agreement with Banco do Brasil, its largest creditor, which together with a previously executed agreement with Caixa Econômica Federal covers approximately 48% of its approximately US$82 million in commercial bank senior debt.

ExxonMobil said it believes the next wave of large oil and natural gas discoveries in South America's northern equatorial margin will occur in Brazil, following the giant success in Guyana and, to a lesser extent, Suriname. "The next chapter is going to be written in Brazil, and we want to be a part of it," Exxon senior VP of deepwater Hunter Farris said at the ROG.e 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro, pointing to the company's achievements in Guyana. Exxon once operated key assets in Brazil's pre-salt areas without making a commercial discovery, but in June 2025 it partnered with Petrobras to acquire exploration rights for 10 deepwater blocks in the Foz do Amazonas basin. Petrobras expects to begin a closely watched appraisal program in the Foz do Amazonas early next year to start work on three new wells, after recently identifying the presence of oil and gas in the Morpho exploration well and receiving authorization from Brazil's Ibama environmental agency to start drilling. "Morpho was indeed a positive response, something we waited for over a decade, but we will need all three wells to make a correct assessment," Petrobras exploration and production director Sylvia Anjos told the conference.

Bravo Mining Corp. announced the results of an independent Pre-Feasibility Study for its 100% owned Luanga palladium, platinum, rhodium, gold and nickel deposit in Brazil's Carajás Mineral Province, with the Base Case vertically integrated operation delivering an after-tax net present value of US$1.45 billion at an 8% discount rate and an after-tax internal rate of return of 35.1%, with a post-tax payback of 2.0 years. The Base Case carries pre-production capital expenditures of US$784.9 million and life-of-mine sustaining capital of US$98.2 million, an NPV-to-CAPEX ratio of 1.65x, an average life-of-mine C1 cash cost of US$478 per ounce of 4E PGM and an all-in sustaining cost of US$706 per ounce of 4E PGM. The study declares a maiden Proven and Probable Mineral Reserve of 86.7 million tonnes grading 2.77 grams per tonne palladium equivalent for 7,731 thousand ounces of contained palladium equivalent, a 55% conversion ratio by tonnes from the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource, supporting a 10-year life of mine with average annual payable production of 208.9 thousand ounces of palladium, 150.7 thousand ounces of platinum, 16.1 thousand ounces of rhodium, 18.1 thousand ounces of gold and 9.8 thousand tonnes of nickel. The Base Case envisages a new Bravo-owned smelter within the Barcarena Export Processing Zone, roughly 600 kilometres from the mine, producing a saleable metal alloy, with Bravo Metals authorized by Brazil's National Council for Export Processing Zones to establish the project there. Bravo reported cash and cash equivalents of approximately US$94.1 million as of June 30, 2026, and is targeting an updated Mineral Resource in the first quarter of 2027 while advancing permitting and a Definitive Feasibility Study.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Uruguay has authorized Brazil to use the surplus from its beef export quota to China. Lula wrote on X that he expressed gratitude for the authorization after meeting with Uruguayan counterpart Yamandu Orsi in New York. Uruguay's foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment. China in January imposed an added 55% tariff on beef imports that exceed quota levels from key suppliers, including Brazil, to protect its domestic cattle industry. From November to June, Brazil had already shipped 98.5% of its 1.1 million metric ton quota, StoneX said in a July report, adding the quota would be filled by August. Brazil's total beef export volumes are expected to drop 10% year-on-year in 2026, industry group Abiec estimated earlier this year, amid restrictions imposed by Beijing and a recent curb on Brazilian meat exports to the European Union.

Petrobras said it received R$448 million, or $85 million, under a federal gasoline subsidy program, pushing its cumulative receipts from government fuel-support measures to R$9.9 billion, roughly $1.9 billion. The latest payment covers gasoline sold between July 16 and July 31 under Provisional Measure 1,358, and the R$9.9 billion total includes subsidies paid to Petrobras for diesel, gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas. That gasoline program has since expired, with Provisional Measure 1,358 ceasing to be effective on September 9, prompting Petrobras to discontinue a R$0.44-per-liter gasoline discount from September 10. Petrobras said its board approved participation in a new diesel subsidy under Provisional Measure 1,391, which covers producers and importers of road diesel and provides R$1.00 per liter of diesel A for 30 days, with the possibility of extending the measure for another 30 days. The new program can operate alongside an earlier diesel subsidy under Provisional Measure 1,363, which provides R$1.12 per liter, and Petrobras said benefits under the two programs are cumulative. Petrobras has already adjusted its diesel pricing, raising its diesel A sales price to distributors by R$1.00 per liter from September 17 while applying an equivalent subsidy-backed discount, leaving the effective price impact offset by the government support.

Sempra's infrastructure subsidiary announced a 20-year sales and purchase agreement with Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras on September 14, covering approximately 0.8 million tonnes annually of liquefied natural gas. Supply will come from the subsidiary's contracted liquefaction capacity at Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 in Texas, where trains 3 and 4 are expected to begin commercial operations in 2030 and 2031, respectively. The annual commitment equals approximately 6.2% of Phase 2's planned 13-million-tonne annual capacity, and Petrobras becomes the subsidiary's first South American LNG customer. Phase 2 reached a positive final investment decision in September 2025, with Bechtel Energy Inc. receiving full notice to proceed; estimated project-level incremental capital expenditure was approximately $12 billion, plus $2 billion for shared facilities. Sempra has agreed to sell a 45% interest in Sempra Infrastructure Partners, retaining 25% after closing, with the transaction expected to close in the third quarter of 2026. The announcement did not disclose the pricing formula, expected contract margin, or detailed payment and termination provisions.

PicS N.V. outperformed its previous guidance across all profitability metrics in its recently reported second quarter. The company's total account base rose to 70.4 million, a 10% jump from the prior year, while its client base reached 45.4 million active users, up 9% annually and 2% sequentially. Adjusted earnings before tax, excluding stock-based compensation costs, came in at R$291 million, a 2.1% outperformance versus the company's R$285 million guidance, and adjusted net income stood 15.5% higher than the R$245 million projection at R$283 million. The total credit portfolio jumped to R$31.9 billion, exceeding management's guidance by 3%, driven by a higher number of mature credit card cohorts, accelerated origination within secured and partly secured categories, and measured expansion into higher risk areas such as newer platform credit and private payroll lending. Managerial revenue rose to R$3,730 million, topping guidance by 3.6%, net interest income reached R$2,002 million, 5.4% above projections, and total deposits climbed to R$35.8 billion, a 45% yearly jump and 10% quarterly rise. Non-performing loans more than 90 days overdue increased to 9.8% of the credit portfolio, up 93 basis points sequentially, while Stage 3 exposure reached 12.9% of the total credit portfolio and funding costs concluded the quarter at 96% over CDI.

Alphabet backed its biggest carbon-removal project yet through Terradot, Reuters reported Wednesday, even as its shares slipped approximately 0.9% to $341.72. Terradot plans to deploy enhanced-weathering material across more than 200,000 hectares of rice fields in Brazil, targeting one million metric tons of methane-abatement credits by 2030 and another one million tons of carbon-removal credits by 2040, a removal target roughly ten times the scale of earlier rock-weathering projects. Google already owns an equity stake in Terradot, giving it exposure not just as a buyer of credits but as a financial backer of the technology itself. A 2024 Terradot transaction implied a removal cost of about $300 per ton, while developers see roughly $100 as a level that could unlock much broader adoption, though pricing for Google's latest agreement has not been disclosed. Alphabet's $341.72 share price stands 34.54% above its GF Value estimate of $253.99, putting more pressure on Google's massive AI and infrastructure spending to translate into durable growth.

Vallourec has secured the entire carbon-steel line pipe and external coating scope for Petrobras's Sepia 2 offshore development in Brazil's Santos Basin, covering roughly 130 kilometers of rigid risers and flowlines. The contract, awarded by Subsea7, represents more than 15,000 tonnes of carbon-steel seamless line pipe designed for highly corrosive environments, with Vallourec also applying thermal insulation coating through one integrated offer. Vallourec shares rose around 6% on the announcement. The pipes will be manufactured at Vallourec's Jeceaba plant in Minas Gerais, while the thermal insulation coating will be applied at its Serra facility in Espírito Santo. Sepia 2 sits around 280 kilometers off the Brazilian coast in ultra-deep water, with 15 wells connected to a new floating production, storage and offloading vessel at depths of roughly 2,170 meters. No financial value was disclosed, but the order adds to recent offshore wins including Petrobras-linked projects at Atapu and Búzios, and follows a 2025 agreement with Petrobras that could generate up to $1 billion of revenue from offshore OCTG products and services between 2026 and 2029.

Terradot and Google announced a megaton-scale climate project in Southern Brazil that pairs methane avoidance in rice farming with permanent carbon dioxide removal, marking Google's largest carbon removal purchase to date. Google will purchase 1M tonnes of near-term methane impact by 2030 and 1M tonnes of carbon removal impact by 2040, delivering 1M tonnes of impact by 2030. The project is the largest enhanced rock weathering project ever undertaken and the first of any kind to combine near-term methane elimination with durable carbon removal at this scale. Terradot will help rice farmers across more than 200,000 hectares starting in Rio Grande do Sul adopt Alternate Wetting and Drying, an irrigation practice that periodically drains flooded paddies to cut water use and sharply reduce methane, while spreading naturally sourced crushed volcanic rock on farmland to generate durable carbon removal. Terradot CEO James Kanoff said the project eliminates the trade-off between moving fast on near-term warming and removing carbon permanently, and Google Head of Carbon Removal Randy Spock said the agreement is built to be a template rather than a one-off. As part of the project, Google is providing an R&D grant to Terradot and to Stanford Doerr School's Soil & Environmental Biogeochemistry Lab to strengthen the scientific foundation of AWD as a methane mitigation strategy.

French auto giant Renault and Chinese peer Geely Automobile announced on the 15th that they will invest a further 319 million euros in Brazil through their joint venture, strengthening their partnership in that market. With this new investment, the two companies' total investment in Brazil from 2025 to 2027 will reach 899 million euros. According to Renault, the agreement will allow Geely to use Renault's existing plants and dealership network, while Renault will be able to raise utilization at its assembly plants and add large vehicles to its lineup. Under the new investment plan, Renault will begin producing its flex-fuel-capable four-wheel-drive hybrid system, Hybrid E-Tech, in Brazil starting in 2027. In Brazil, rival Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD is steadily building a foothold with affordable EVs and plug-in hybrids.

Largo Inc. announced a debt-restructuring agreement with Caixa Econômica Federal and its first sales of copper-platinum group metals concentrate. The definitive agreement with Caixa Econômica Federal was signed on September 11, 2026, following the binding term sheet announced on August 20, and Largo expects to enter similar agreements with its remaining Brazilian bank lenders. Separately, Largo extended the maturity of a $6.0 million promissory note with ARG International AG to February 2028 from February 2027, subject to a fee equal to 1% of the principal amount. The initial copper-PGM concentrate sales, made through agreements with two trading companies and a European smelter, are expected to generate approximately $4.7 million in cash proceeds during September 2026, while the first shipment under Largo's contract with the US Defense Logistics Agency is expected to arrive at a US port in late September. Largo also said its 2026 vanadium production is now expected to be at the lower end of its previously announced guidance range as it temporarily reduces mining activity and processes existing stockpiles, and it announced that Jim Bannantine will lead its commercial department while Francesco D'Alessio leaves to take a chief executive position elsewhere.

Brazil's consumer price index for August, released on the 11th by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, rose 4.22% from a year earlier, slowing from 4.44% in July. It also came in below the 4.27% forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, remaining within the central bank's target range of 3% plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. On a month-on-month basis, prices fell 0.32%, a steeper decline than the market's expected 0.29% drop and the largest negative reading since August 2022. Housing costs fell the most, down 1.87%, with lower electricity rates the main drag, while transport costs fell 0.86% and food and beverages fell 0.34%. Following the release, expectations grew that the central bank will cut rates again at next week's policy meeting. The central bank has so far delivered 25-basis-point cuts at four consecutive meetings, bringing its policy rate down to 14%.

Mercado Pago, the fintech arm of MercadoLibre, is pressing ahead with credit card expansion even as Brazil's central bank warns about rising household debt, Reuters reported. Speaking on the sidelines of a financial industry event in Brasilia, Mercado Pago Vice President Ignacio Estivariz said the company's underwriting models remain robust and its loan portfolio healthy, adding that the firm has no problem slowing down at the right moment and constantly monitors portfolio health to set its pace of growth. The company issued 2.6 million credit cards in the second quarter, up from 1.6 million a year earlier, in the exact segments Brazilian policymakers are watching most closely, credit card balances and unsecured consumer loans. Mercado Pago now generates roughly 40% of MercadoLibre's total revenue, and analysts project the fintech segment to reach about $18.1 billion in 2026 revenue, up nearly 44% year over year. Its credit portfolio reached $11 billion by the third quarter of 2025, up 83% year over year, with credit cards accounting for 44% of the book.