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

To: wl9839 who wrote (15227)	5/11/1999 8:26:00 PM
From: md1derful	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

WJ and SF: Well, as mentionned before..we all need a tee-shirt or something which says "I survived TBR"...golly some of us should get purple hearts for all of this torture..(OT) Thanks again for the help on csco..tmx looks like a short term top...should have shorted yesterday..see where base is and then jump right back in..still long lots of ubb..may still add to position with pull back.

To: wl9839 who wrote (15227)	5/12/1999 12:59:00 AM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

INTERVIEW - Brazil Congress to delay tax reform Reuters, Tuesday, May 11, 1999 at 17:51 By Vanessa Viola BRASILIA, May 11 (Reuters) - Brazil's Congress is unlikely to approve a long-awaited reform to streamline the tax system this year, but the delay should not affect the government's fiscal adjustment efforts, a senior politician said. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has made tax reform and a separate bill to simplify the complex rules governing political parties the priorities of his second four-year term, which began in January. But tax reform would be harder to pass than, for example, a bill to curb public spending submitted last month, said Dep. Arnaldo Madeira, the government's chief whip. "I think it's really difficult (to approve the tax reform) this year in both houses, as the subject is much more complex and involves much more discussion," Madeira told Reuters in an interview. But he added this would not hurt the government's efforts to keep its spending under control, a key condition for the release of credits from a $41.5 billion rescue package put together by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Lawmakers in March completed approval of a sweeping fiscal austerity plan in exchange for IMF-sponsored loans to support the economy after a devastating currency devaluation in January. "What we had to vote on for the fiscal adjustment, we have already voted. What is lacking are medium- and long-term measures, like tax reform and the regulation of civil service and social security reforms," said Madeira. The civil service and pension reforms were approved late last year after being stuck in Congress for close to four years amid stiff opposition. Lawmakers should vote in the next two weeks on two projects which complement the civil service reform, said Madeira. One defines rules for firing public sector workers and the other streamlines the career structure for civil servants. A further three projects linked to social security reform would probably take longer to approve as they were more complex, he predicted. Madeira objected to criticism that Congress has stopped work on eagerly awaited reforms due to a Senate inquiry into a currency scandal involving the Central Bank. "We have voted on important issues and we are working on bringing others to the floor. Nothing has stopped here," he said. He noted that the Chamber of Deputies was due to install this week a commission to study the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, submitted by the government last month. The project is a key part of the government's attempts to make long-term fiscal savings in the wake of the currency crisis, which erupted largely due to concerns that public spending was running out of control. The lower house panel would study the proposed law during 40 sessions before delivering its report to the floor of the house, which was expected to vote on the bill in the second half of the year. Unlike the tax reform bill, however, the fiscal bill is not a constitutional amendment and as such requires only a simple majority in both houses for approval. "I think it's perfectly possible that Congress will approve this by the end of the year," said Madeira. Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service

To: wl9839 who wrote (15227)	5/12/1999 1:03:00 AM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil lengthens domestic debt, reduces yields Reuters, Tuesday, May 11, 1999 at 17:59 SAO PAULO, May 11 (Reuters) - Brazil sold 500 million reais of 182-day Treasury Letters (LTN) at sharply lower yields on Tuesday, in an effort to extend the maturity on its profile of domestic debt and slash once-soaring financing costs. The Treasury sold 182-day LTNs for the first time in a year and for the first time since a currency crisis hit in January. The maturity on the securities is double the maturity on recently-sold notes. The Treasury will pay a maximum yield of 23.84 percent on the fixed-rate notes, reflecting market consensus that interest rates will continue to drop. That compares with the 27.14 percent yields it is paying on 91-day LTNs sold last week. "The market is much more optimistic and I think that from here on out, rates are going to fall a lot faster than predicted," said Erico Capelo, head of fixed-income investments at Lloyds Asset Management. The Central Bank hiked interest rates up to 45 percent following a steep currency devaluation in mid-January. The government was forced to pay a crippling floating rate on its domestic debt during the crisis. The government has since cut its key Selic market rate to 29.5 percent, enabling it to switch to fixed-rate debt and generally extend maturities and reduce yields. The Treasury also sold through the Central Bank on Tuesday 1 billion reais in 91-day LTNs and 2 billion reais of 371-day floating-rate Financial Treasury Letters (LFT) for increasingly lower yields. The Treasury will pay a maximum yield of 24.87 percent on the 91-day LTNs which will expire on Aug. 11. On the 371-day LFTs, the Treasury will pay a maximum yield of 0.11 percentage point over the average Selic for the period. The securities will mature on May 17, 2000. Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service

To: wl9839 who wrote (15227)	5/12/1999 1:04:00 AM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil shares close down 1.2 pct on profit-taking Reuters, Tuesday, May 11, 1999 at 20:04 SAO PAULO, May 11 (Reuters) - Brazilian shares ended down 1.2 percent on Tuesday amid a wave of profit taking following four straight days of gains that pushed stocks to their highest level in 18 months. "It was profit taking," a trader at a local brokerage said. "We saw 9 percent gains so far this month and this is only the 11th, it was exaggerated." Sao Paulo's benchmark index (INDEX:$BVSP.X) of the most heavily-traded shares closed down at 12,267 points. Eletrobras preferred (SAO:ELET6) led a general decline in blue-chip stocks, ending off 3.1 percent at 40.70 reais. Trading slacked off somewhat with 695 million reais of volume, compared with close to 1 billion reais in trades in recent sessions. Still, volume was significantly higher than the 500 million reais in daily average trade in March. Leading Brazilian retailer Pao de Acucar preferred (SAO:PCAR4) went against the trend Tuesday, ending up 2.3 percent at 31 reais after announcing its first quarter results. The company posted a loss of 78.9 million reais due to the currency devaluation compared with a net profit of 32.5 million reais in the year-earlier period. The ADR (NYSE:CBD) also ended up 1/2 at 18 5/8. Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service

To: wl9839 who wrote (15227)	5/12/1999 1:06:00 AM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

Brazil Senate approves payroll spending curb ReutersPlus, Tuesday, May 11, 1999 at 20:04 The law has already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies and must be sanctioned by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso to come into effect. Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service

To: wl9839 who wrote (15227)	5/12/1999 1:14:00 AM
From: Steve Fancy	Respond to of 22640

Brazil real weakens 0.5 pct to end at 1.656/dollar ReutersPlus, Tuesday, May 11, 1999 at 16:20 SAO PAULO, May 11 (Reuters) - Brazil's currency, the real <BRBY>, weakened 0.5 percent on Tuesday to end at 1.656 per dollar amid reports that the Central Bank was buying greenbacks to keep the real from firming too fast, traders said. Both the foreign exchange market and the stock market also suffered some profit-taking after posting strong gains in recent sessions, traders said. The Central Bank refused to comment on speculation that it bought dollars to prevent further gains in the local currency, which had firmed 9 percent in two weeks to its highest since Jan. 20. "The Central Bank must have bought $200 million in the market today," a forex trader at a local bank said. Growing optimism that Brazil has seen the worst of a currency crisis, which hit in mid-January has fueled a fresh wave of foreign investments in stock funds and bolstered the real. The benchmark stock index slumped a tad on Tuesday, however. The Central Bank has repeatedly intervened in the forex market buying or selling dollars to prevent sharp changes in the rate, according to traders. Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service