By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Wednesday saw the U.S. dollar fell below the R$4.00/US$1 level to its lowest rate of the year in relation to the Brazilian real and the country’s main stock market rise, despite a visit from Moody’s representatives in Brasilia to review the country’s risk level. The consensus among market analysts is that the risk agency will downgrade Brazil’s rating to junk status in the very near future.
The U.S. dollar closed on Wednesday at R$3.90/US$1, down by 1.7 percent while the São Paulo Stock Market (Bovespa) closed up by 2.82 percent at 39,685 points, after falling by more than 4.85 percent on Tuesday.
The positive performance of the stock market was due to the optimism surrounding the hike in oil prices. Brent oil prices rose to above US$35/barrel on Wednesday after falling to below US$30/barrel in the last few weeks.
The U.S. currency on the other hand, now has an accumulated appreciation in relation to the Brazilian real in 2016 of 0.75 percent.
Representatives from Moody’s met with Brazil’s Finance Minister, Nelson Barbosa, for more than two hours on Wednesday, after meeting with the country’s Central Bank president, Alexandre Tombini on Tuesday. The risk analysts wanted to know the steps to be taken by the Brazilian government to put the country back on a positive economic path.
Among the three largest risk agencies in the world, Moody’s is the only one that has not yet downgraded Brazil’s rating. The other two, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Group, downgraded Brazil’s status in September and December of 2015, respectively.