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Strategies & Market Trends : Telebras (TBH) & Brazil -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (1016)	2/12/1998 9:43:00 PM
From: md1derful	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

SF: Still appreciate your posts....buying leaps when the stock was 98, was a no-brainer...hanging on at these levels after this run-up, I haven't a clue why...except for your posts, which I appreciate!!

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (1016)	2/13/1998 2:21:00 AM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil shares close down as profit-takers pounce SAO PAULO, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Brazilian stocks closed sharply lower Thursday as profit-takers swooped in after several rising sessions on optimism regarding constitutional reforms and the sale of Telebras (TEL_p.SA), brokers said. biz.yahoo.com

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (1016)	2/13/1998 2:35:00 AM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil public sector needs further Reuters, Thursday, February 12, 1998 at 20:47 "The great challenge of the moment is how to reduce the public sector deficit, because without this it is difficult for us to have a sustainable (growth) path," he added. The government scored significant victories this week with the passage of two reform bills in Congress which give it a big boost in its drive to cut costs and ward off financial crisis. Both the pension reform bill and the civil service reform bill, which were passed in their first full votes this week, had been stuck in Congress for three years until the crisis in Asia put them at the top of the agenda once again. A reminder of how that crisis has weakened confidence in emerging markets came Wednesday, when Dutch financial services giant Internationale Nederlanden Groep NV (AMS:ING) unit ING Barings announced it would be closing down its equities brokerage operations as part of its global restructuring. The company said it would cut 200 staff in Latin America, a figure which was estimated to include 50 employees in Brazil,as part of a reorganization of its emerging markets equities operations around the world. By Joelle Diderich BRASILIA, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Brazil's government, fresh from two reform victories this week, will continue to focus on reducing the bloated public sector deficit to revive investor confidence in its economy, Finance Minister Pedro Malan said. "Obviously, we continue to have the same problems as ever, namely the public sector deficit and balance of payments deficit, which we will continue to address in 1998," Malan told a foreign correspondents' lunch on Thursday. But a senior Finance Ministry official downplayed the move, pointing out that strong currency flows into Brazil in the first weeks of 1998, including a large proportion of direct investment, suggest a degree of investor confidence is returning. "In terms of Brazil, I don't think there was a big fundamental change," said Economic Policy Secretary Jose Roberto Mendonca de Barros, who was also present at the lunch. "I think these funds will return in the medium-term." Both officials declined to comment on whether the high level of inflows could prompt the Central Bank to cut the prime lending rate, currently at an annualized 34.5 percent, earlier and more sharply than expected. Most analysts forecast the rate would decline gradually over the next few months after the government more than doubled it to about 43 percent to protect Brazil's currency, the real, from speculative attack in the wake of Asian devaluations. But markets Wednesday were aflutter with talk that the Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) planned to hold an extraordinary meeting ahead of its scheduled reunion on March 4. Officials at the bank denied the rumors. Malan limited himself to saying "We are on a downward trend, as already expressed in the monetary committee's meetings in December, January and February. Wait for March 4." He focused on the medium-term, saying that the government needed to continue finding ways cut the public sector deficit, in particular tax reform. The pension reform bill, if passed in a second vote in March, would generate savings of $1 billion in 1998 by imposing a minimum retirement age, Mendonca de Barros said. Even so, the government expects the social security system to go more than $5 billion in the red this year. The civil service reform is forecast to save the equivalent of one percent of gross domestic product in 1998, rising toward two percent in 1999, he said. Analysts forecast little progress on new bills such as tax reform this year, saying that the government will be loathe to pile on unpopular measures ahead of a general election in October. joelle.diderich@reuters.com))