SΓ£o Paulo stock exchange reverses losses and closes higher on US-Iran negotiation signals
The SΓ£o Paulo stock exchange reversed its losses in the final minutes of trading and closed Tuesday with a slight gain of 0.05%, lifted by President Donald Trump's statement that he is in "heated negotiations" with Iran just hours before his ultimatum for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz expired.
Brazilian financial markets posted one of their best sessions of the year on Monday after President Donald Trump announced a five-day postponement of strikes against Iran's energy infrastructure, citing βproductive conversationsβ with Tehran.
Brazil's nominal public sector deficit reached 9.41% of gross domestic product in the twelve months to March 2026, nearly one percentage point higher than the previous period, according to data published on Thursday by the Central Bank. The combined shortfall of all public administrations β central government, states, and municipalities β stood at 1.21 trillion reais, equivalent to around $244 billion, in one of the highest readings in recent years for Latin America's largest economy.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro returned to his home in Brasilia on Friday after being discharged from hospital following a two-week stay for acute bilateral pneumonia. Bolsonaro, 71, will serve at least 90 days of his 27-year prison sentence under house arrest, following a decision by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Paraguay's President Santiago PeΓ±a met on Sunday in Campo Grande, the capital of Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state, with business leaders from the state's Federation of Industries (FIEMS) to promote investment opportunities in his country. The meeting, organized at the association's request, brought together representatives from sectors including bioenergy, food, construction and logistics.
According to a report by AgΓͺncia Brasil, industry specialists and oil-sector groups say what they describe as abusive fuel price increases in Brazil are not explained by international volatility alone. The report cites cases of gasoline being sold for R$9 a liter at some stations in SΓ£o Paulo and links part of the distortion to the loss of state control over the distribution chain after the privatization of BR Distribuidora.
Uruguayan President YamandΓΊ Orsi made a day trip to SΓ£o Paulo on Tuesday to meet Brazilian business leaders interested in investing in Uruguay, in an agenda Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin described as an opportunity to "move to a new phase in the levels of commercial development and Brazilian investments" in the South American country. The official delegation included Lubetkin himself, Economy and Finance Minister Gabriel Oddone, Uruguay's ambassador to Brazil Rodolfo Nin Novoa, and the executive director of investment promotion agency Uruguay XXI, Mariana Ferreira.
The association agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) enters provisionally into force on Friday May 1, after more than a quarter-century of negotiations, in what constitutes one of the world's most ambitious trade deals and the largest reciprocal opening ever finalised by the South American bloc. The final signing took place on January 17 in AsunciΓ³n and, although final ratification by the European Court of Justice and subsequent approval by the European Parliament remain pending, provisional entry into force allows the immediate start of tariff reductions covering 95% of Mercosur products and 91% of EU products.
A delegation from the United Kingdomβs Royal College of Defense Studies (RCDS) visited Chile the week of 18 May as part of its annual tour of Latin America, aimed at strengthening strategic analysis and global understanding of challenges related to security, defense and international cooperation.
The Capricorn Bioceanic Corridor, one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects underway in South America, is moving through its final stretch on the border between Paraguay and Brazil, with just twenty-one metres remaining to complete the physical link of the so-called Bioceanic Bridge, according to Paraguayan government authorities cited in late May 2026. The structure, built over the Paraguay River, will connect the cities of Carmelo Peralta, in the department of Alto Paraguay, and Puerto Murtinho, in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, and constitutes one of the central pieces of a logistics corridor that will link the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific across four South American countries.