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

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (1144)	3/9/1998 6:09:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

WEEKAHEAD - Brazil seen leading Latin stocks By Jason Webb BUENOS AIRES, March 9 (Reuters) - Brazil was seen leading a pack of generally subdued Latin American bourses this week, as the Sao Paulo market celebrates the brighter reelection prospects of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. biz.yahoo.com

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (1144)	3/9/1998 6:11:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil's Bovespa seen up 16.7 pct by year's end SAO PAULO, March 9 (Reuters) - Brazilian shares should rise 16.7 percent in U.S. dollar terms from current levels by year's end as cuts in domestic interest rates prompt investors to shift cash into equities, Caspian Securities said. biz.yahoo.com

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (1144)	3/9/1998 6:16:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil's Central Bank lowers its reais mini-band Reuters, Monday, March 09, 1998 at 08:46 SAO PAULO, March 9 (Reuters) - Brazil's Central Bank lowered its mini-band on the real currency by buying dollars at 1.1320 and selling at 1.1370 reais per dollar in the commercial foreign exchange market, dealers said. The previous mini-band was set on Wednesday at between 1.1310 and 1.1360 reais per dollar. Monday's auction was the second time this month the bank has nudged the mini-band lower and represents a 0.09 percent decline from the previous mini-band. The Central Bank usually changes the mini-band five to seven times each month. So far this month, the Central Bank has shifted the mini-band 0.18 percent lower. In the last six months, the Central Bank has lowered the mini-band between 0.59 percent and 0.63 percent each month. Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (1144)	3/9/1998 6:18:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil shares close firmer in slow Monday trade Reuters, Monday, March 09, 1998 at 16:36 SAO PAULO, March 9 (Reuters) - Brazilian stocks closed firmer Monday aided by brightened prospects over the weekend that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso may be reelected this year, brokers said. The 51-share Bovespa index (INDEX:$BVSP.X) closed 0.07 percent higher to end at 11,167 points on modest turnover of 654.8 million reais ($595.3 million). "The PMDB party's meeting over the weekend favoring Cardoso as a presidential candidate supported prices today, although the overall market was very slow," one local trader said. Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (1144)	3/9/1998 6:21:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

BRAZIL CONGRESS WEEK-Way is clear for reform votes Reuters, Monday, March 09, 1998 at 17:12 By William Schomberg BRASILIA, March 9 (Reuters) - Brazil's Congress was expected to get back to the business of reforms this week with the government's key civil service and pension bills dominating the agenda, officials said Monday. There has been little progress on the long-awaited constitutional reforms since mid-February. First it was Carnival, then the build-up to Sunday's tempestuous convention of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party -- which voted to support President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's re-election bid -- that got in the way. Congress has also been distracted by a scandal involving a lawmaker whose luxury apartment block collapsed in Rio, killing eight people. Deputy Sergio Naya was due to testify to a parliamenary committee mulling his expulsion Thursday. While the Naya case was likely to dominate the headlines, this week should see a second and final full vote on the civil service reform bill in the Senate. The government enjoys a comfortable majority in the upper house and the bill is expected to be approved Wednesday without difficulties. "It's going to be easy," said an aide to Senator Romero Juca who is in charge of the bill. Once through the Senate, the bill only needs approval in a joint session of both houses of Congress -- a formality -- before finally ending its three-year saga in parliament. The reform will allow overstaffed states and municipalities to cut jobs currently protected by the constitution; set a ceiling on public sector pay and pensions; and allow for a wide-ranging restructuring of the civil service. Officials have said the bill could lead to savings of $9.0 billion a year once fully implemented, a big contribution to the government's attempts to narrow a budget deficit running at nearly six percent of gross domestic product. Also this week, the government is hoping to make progress on its pension reform bill in the Chamber of Deputies. It too has been stuck in Congress since 1995 but is close to finally being approved. The lower house was set to resume voting on a battery of proposed amendments to the bill Tuesday. The government managed to defeat a handful of amendments on minor points of the reform last week. Of those left, only two amendments are seen as a threat to the thrust of the bill -- one would scrap the introduction of minimum retirement ages while the other would allow civil servants to continue receiving pensions as high as their salaries. An aide to Deputy Arnaldo Madeira, who is in charge of the reform bill in the lower house, said those two amendments might not be voted until next week. The government needs a three-fifths majority to kill the amendments. Only once they have all been voted can the Chamber of Deputies hold a second and full vote on the reform, probably in early April. Then there will be another round of voting on proposed amendments. If no major changes are made to the bill, the reform would finally clear Congress. Another bill attracting investor interest - which would make it easier to reform the tax and political party systems during a special, one-year period in 1999 - might be put to a committee-level vote this week, a congressional official said. william.schomberg@reuters.com)) Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service