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Brazilian stocks jumped on Friday as Rio de Janeiro’s successful 2016 Olympics bid boosted expectations for development in Latin America’s largest economy.

Airlines were among the biggest gainers with investors seeing a potential increase in air traffic as Rio was set to become the first South American city to host the summer games.

Tam j3.52 percent to 23.81 reais per share as rival GOL sprang 3.03 percent to 18.34 reais.

The benchmark Bovespa index .BVSP was up 1.18 percent to 61,171.99 after falling early due to profit-taking and investor wariness over disappointing payroll data in the United States.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idCNN0233502020091002?rpc=44

The dollar advanced against the currencies of six major U.S. trading partners as a government report showed employers eliminated fewer jobs in July than economists forecast.

The yen dropped against all of its major counterparts as the payroll report indicated a recovery in the world’s largest economy, encouraging Japanese investors to buy higher-yielding assets overseas.

The dollar climbed 0.4 percent to $1.4283 per euro at 9:45 a.m. in New York, from $1.4345 yesterday. The U.S. currency gained 1.4 percent to 96.78 yen from 95.46. The euro advanced 1.3 percent to 138.25 yen from 136.94.

Futures on the Chicago Board of Trade indicated a 74 percent chance that the Fed will increase the target lending rate from its range of zero to 0.25 percent by its January meeting, compared with 66 percent odds a month ago.

The worst U.S. economic slump since the Great Depression abated in the second quarter as government spending programs started to kick in, while the sharpest pullback by consumers since 1980 augured a muted recovery.

Gross domestic product shrank at a better-than-forecast 1 percent annual pace after a 6.4 percent drop the prior three months, Commerce Department figures showed yesterday in Washington. A survey of purchasing managers showed separately that business contracted less than estimated in July.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, fell at a 1.2 percent pace following a 0.6 percent increase in the prior quarter. It was forecast to drop 0.5 percent, according to the survey median. Purchases slid 2 percent since the peak at the end of 2007 — the most since a 2.4 percent decline in the 1980 recession.

Source: bloomberg.com

Investors want to see some new math in companies’ quarterly reports. No longer content with an economy that’s limping toward recovery, the stock market is looking for signs that business improved in the second quarter or at least will in the coming months.

Investors want to see some new math in companies’ quarterly reports. No longer content with an economy that’s limping toward recovery, the stock market is looking for signs that business improved in the second quarter or at least will in the coming months.

Retail sales in the U.S. unexpectedly dropped in April for a second month, indicating rising unemployment is prompting consumers to boost savings. The 0.4 percent decrease followed a revised 1.3 percent drop in March that was larger than previously estimated, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding auto dealers, sales fell 0.5 percent.

Fewer jobs, falling home values and the biggest loss of household wealth on record may limit consumers’ ability to spend for months if not years. As long as the biggest part of the economy is constrained, any recovery from the worst recession in at least half a century is likely to be subdued.

George Soros to Marc Faber predicted the rebound in equities will falter as the market braces for a seventh straight quarter of declining earnings. “It’s a bear-market rally because we have not yet turned the economy around,” Mr Soros said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “This is not a financial crisis like all the other financial crises that we have experienced in our lifetime.” Alcoa Inc. reported a $497 million net loss in the first quarter, the second straight for the largest U.S. aluminum producer, as the global recession reduced demand for the metal used in automobiles and appliances.