EWZS News and Press, iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap ETF From 11/08/22

Summary Central banks across emerging markets have reacted to elevated inflation by significantly tightening monetary policy, in some cases, well ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. After largely synchronized rate-hiking cycles across EM, monetary poli...

Summary Global climate adjustment is falling behind in meeting the targets of limiting temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. Developing economies vulnerable to climate change are likely to undertake concerted calls for "loss and damag...

Summary Brazil can no longer be considered an ascendant power in the global soybean market; Brazil is dominant. Brazil overtook U.S. soybean production in the 2017/2018 crop year, and in 2021/2022, surpassed U.S. production by 13.3 million metric tons. Although North American ...

Summary An ideological shift in a divided country. Brazil is South America’s leading economy and a supermarket for the world. How far will President Lula push the socialist agenda? Is socialism bullish or bearish for small-cap companies trying to survive? EWZS i...

Summary EWZS invests in small-cap Brazilian equities. The fund has performed relatively well in 2022, but I think the outperformance will start to become short-lived. The fund is probably fairly valued, however, it could be argued that EWZS' earnings multiple could fall, espec...

Summary The energy transition has assumed a growing role within the strategies of oil and gas companies. Although this push began with global integrated oil companies (IOCs), the movement has gained steam among companies in our Latin American national oil companies (NOCs) peer gro...

Summary Lula claims third term as president, narrowly defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Political divides remain deep, but the government appears balanced by a newly elected pro-market Congress. Brazilian consumption is on solid footing with upbeat gross domestic product (GD...

Summary Brazil’s newly elected president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will have to walk a narrow path of expenditures given the budget constraints. The country has made some important achievements in the last few years to protect itself from the likes of the Lava Jato (C...

Summary Brazilian real and Mexican peso are the only major currencies that have outperformed the strong US dollar YTD September 30, 2022. Brazilian real has benefitted from its strong exports earlier this year, thanks to the strong demand and higher commodity prices, e.g., price r...

Summary Growth dynamics surprised most of the region positively, favored by the return of services and employment to pre-pandemic levels, as well as external conditions that remained favorable until recently. The region is generally more resilient than in previous times ...