Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Tony van Werkhooven who wrote (11815)	1/15/1999 12:07:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Thanks Tony, evertime I think I understand a GMT time and look for something, they come in at a different time. I doubt it's midnight, so the results should already be out? Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. sf

To: Tony van Werkhooven who wrote (11815)	1/15/1999 12:10:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Heavy volume on UBB and TNE. I think these two are going to outperform over the short term. I'd like to be right for once. sf

To: Tony van Werkhooven who wrote (11815)	1/15/1999 12:14:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil Cardoso Cuts Short Vacation, Returning To Brasilia Dow Jones Newswires BRASILIA -- Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso on Friday cut short a vacation at his family farm in the state of Minas Gerais and returned to Brasilia, the Presidential press office said Friday. A spokeswoman at the Presidential Palace said Cardoso was returning to his official residence, the Alvorada Palace. She couldn't provide details about his agenda. This is the second time in three days that Cardoso has interrupted his long-planned summer holiday due to abrupt shifts in foreign exchange policy and market turmoil.

To: Tony van Werkhooven who wrote (11815)	1/15/1999 12:15:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Glad the pres is coming back from vacation...sure would like to hear some official Cardoso comments on this situation. sf

To: Tony van Werkhooven who wrote (11815)	1/15/1999 12:16:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

IMF Will Hold Weekend Talks With Brazil's Malan, Lopes Dow Jones Newswires WASHINGTON -- The International Monetary Fund will hold a series of discussions over the weekend with Brazilian Finance Minister Pedro Malan and Francisco Lopes, the newly-appointed central bank president, a spokesman said Friday. Brazilian authorities confirmed earlier Friday that Malan and Lopez will travel to Washington late Friday. No details were provided of schedules or agendas. It is expected the Brazilian delegation will meet with representatives from the World Bank and the U.S. Treasury Department, although there is no official confirmation of this as yet. The IMF spokesman said the fund is yet to formulate its public response to the Brazilian government's decision earlier Friday to abandon its latest real trading band, effectively floating the currency at least for one day. A statement will be issued Monday outlining a new exchange rate regime, a delay that likely reflects the input that will sought from the IMF, the World Bank and Treasury over the weekend by Malan and Lopes. -By Damian Milverton, +202-862-9272; damian.milverton@dowjones.com (Corrected 1614GMT) (The story that ran at 1551GMT (10:51 a.m. EST) incorrectly gave the name of the new Brazil Central Bank president as Fernando Lopes.)

To: Tony van Werkhooven who wrote (11815)	1/15/1999 12:22:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Internal debt cost increases by R$5.9bn São Paulo, 15 - The real devaluation of 8.96% should boost Brazil's internal debt cost by R$5.9bn. The reason is that some R$ 67m, which corresponds to 21% of the securities federal debt, were indexed to foreign exchange. It means that, in one single day -- when the government decided to change the foreign exchange outer band ceiling and floor limits -- Brazil's debt cost grew above the result expected with the fiscal austerity program announced by the government, which estimates savings of R$5.4bn. The Central Bank Economic Department director, Altamir Lopes, admitted that the debt cost could indeed rise, but he alleged the impact has not as yet been calculated. Lopes also stressed Brazil could request the revision of goals agreed with the International Monetary Fund, in the face of an eventual increase. (O Estado de S. Paulo/ Jornal da Tarde)

To: Tony van Werkhooven who wrote (11815)	1/15/1999 12:23:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

So where are we at now...20%? Some ugly numbers. Tony, what's your take on how this might affect UBB? sf

To: Tony van Werkhooven who wrote (11815)	1/15/1999 12:30:00 PM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 22640

IMF's Fischer Says Brazil Will Achieve IMF's Fiscal Targets IMF's Fischer Says Brazil Will Achieve IMF's Fiscal Targets Cambridge, Massachusetts, Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- A senior International Monetary Fund official expressed confidence that Brazil, which floated its currency today, will achieve the fiscal targets it agreed to when it accepted an IMF-led economic bailout. ''Brazil will in fact achieve the targets agreed with the IMF because they have put compensative measures in place,'' Stanley Fischer, first deputy managing director at the IMF, without elaborating. He spoke at a Harvard University forum on Russia. Fischer's comments came as world stock markets rose after Brazil scrapped a two-day-old trading band it was defending and allowed the market to set the value of its currency, the real. The real fell 12.2 percent to 1.48 after plunging as low as 1.525 to the dollar. Brazilian stocks, which dropped over the last two days, were up 28.63 percent in recent trading. Bonds also rose, reversing an early decline. Though Fischer said it was too early to judge Brazil's action today, he said exchange rate strategies deserve study. ''A country with a flexible exchange rate may get hit very hard by international crises,'' Fischer said. ''It's a very delicate issue.'' ''The question is how actively you can make it more flexible'' without destabilizing your economy, he said. That question ''is absolutely top of the agenda'' in IMF discussions with Brazil, he said. Brazil's devaluation wasn't part of that country's $41.5 billion IMF-led rescue plan. That plan called for tax increases and spending cuts to reduce the country's $64 billion budget deficit in half this year. The full slate of measures has yet to be approved by Brazil's Congress. ''The failure to implement fiscal policy in Brazil so far ... was not something that was predictable,'' when the IMF agreed to the plan, Fischer said. ''The difficulties that emerged subsequently, particularly the most recent difficulty with Minas Gerais, were not anticipated,'' nor could they reasonably have been anticipated, he added. Minas Gerais said last week it had no money to make 78 million reais ($60 million) in monthly payments on 18.5 billion in reais it owes the central government, scaring investors who feared other states would balk on payments, too. 'Strong Determination' Earlier this week, IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus said Brazilian authorities had reaffirmed their ''strong determination'' to carry out the economic reforms the IMF set as conditions for a $41.5 billion aid package. The IMF bailout, drawn up in November, was designed to contain capital flight and shore up investor confidence. The IMF, which has already disbursed $4.8 billion of the $18 billion it set aside for Brazil, plans to send a team to the country next month before deciding on giving more money. Standard & Poor's said the real's devaluation probably wouldn't accomplish the government's aim of reducing interest rates and reviving the economy, which is forecast to shrink as much as 4 percent this year by private economists. The New York-based rating company yesterday reduced Brazil's long-term foreign currency rating one notch to ''B+'' from ''BB-,'' making it the lowest rated country in South America, along with Argentina. The IMF's reputation is on the line with its program for Brazil as Fischer and other finance officials from industrial nations, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, said setting aside $41.5 billion for Brazil -- $37 billion available in the first 12 months -- would avert global economic instability and sustain growth in more developed economies. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © Copyright 1999, Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved. latinvestor.com