RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The commercial dollar closed Wednesday (17) at R$5.524, up R$0.024 (+0.45%). The quotation fell during most of the morning, reaching R$5.47 at the day’s lowest, around 10:00 AM. However, it reversed the trend from the end of the morning and settled between R$5.52 and R$5.53 in the final trading hours.
Despite yesterday’s high, the North American currency is down 2.16% in the month. In 2021, appreciation reaches 6.46%.
The day was also turbulent in the stock market. The Ibovespa index, of the B3, closed at 102,948 points, down 1.39%. The indicator is at its lowest level since November 12 last year, when the global market was still under tension from the U.S. presidential election results.
In the foreign exchange market, the day was marked by a widespread rise in the dollar, up against emerging countries’ currencies, with a significant appreciation against the Chilean peso and the Turkish lira.
The disclosure that economic activity and inflation in several developed countries are rising higher than expected reinforces the expectation of rising interest rates in developed economies, which encourages the flight of resources from emerging countries such as Brazil.
Domestically, uncertainties surrounding the progress of the Court-ordered debt PEC in the Senate have increased pessimism in the financial market. Despite the proposal to release R$91.6 (US$17) billion outside the spending cap in 2022, economic analysts believe that this solution generates less impact on public accounts than a potential decree of public calamity releasing extraordinary funds (unforeseen expenses outside the spending cap) in next year’s budget.