How is Brazil responding to global volatility?

Jeff Casson, manager of the Martin Currie Latin America fund, travels to Brazil to see what effect the volatility in world markets is having on the region.

Although Brazil’s corporate outlook is still broadly positive, worldwide economic uncertainty has narrowed the options for the country’s policymakers. Counter-intuitively, however, a small drop in global demand could be helpful for the country. The recent turmoil in the world’s markets, driven in part by concerns over Europe’s debt crisis, has engendered much comment. Opinions range from the belief the world is on the edge of another economic catastrophe to the view fundamentals are showing a much healthier environment than in 2008. Obviously, the onus on any bottom-up stockpicker is to ...