Stock market opens lower and dollar rises with banks and concerns about the economy

The stock exchange registers low and the dollar is high against the real at the beginning of this Friday (13), with the release of balance sheets of large banks in the United States and concerns about the economic scenario, after the fiscal package announced this Thursday by the minister da Fazenda, Fernando Haddad.

At 11:23 am, the Ibovespa had fallen by 1.05% to 11,671 points. The spot commercial dollar rose 0.19% to R$5.109, after closing below R$5.10 this Thursday.

Interest rates start the day closer to stability. Contracts maturing in 2024 rose from 13.45% at the close of this Thursday to 13.47% at 11:10 am. For 2025, it goes from 12.40% to 12.45%. In the 2027 contracts, from 12.11% to 12.20%.

Banks, which have an important weight on the Ibovespa, reflect the release of balance sheets in the United States for the fourth quarter of 2022. JP Morgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo announced their figures, which show signs of a slowdown in the American economy.

Preferred shares of Itaú Unibanco fell 1.50% at 11:25 am. Bradesco’s preferred and common shares dropped 1.52% and 1.07%, respectively. The common shares of Banco do Brasil had fallen 0.56%.

Another point of interest for the market is the economy, after the fiscal package presented this Thursday by Minister Haddad.

For Guide Investimentos, the package did not bring any major surprises, and the measures are far from being enough to guarantee the country’s fiscal health in the long term.

Itaú Unibanco revised some of its projections for the Brazilian economy this Friday. The bank expects GDP for 2022 to point to growth of 2.8%, compared to the previous forecast of 3%. For 2023, the expected growth is 0.9%.

Inflation should remain, in 2023, at the same level as last year, closing at 5.8%, according to Itaú. The forecast for the primary deficit improved from 1.9% of GDP to 1.6%, well above the target set by the Ministry of Finance, between 0.5% and 1.0% of GDP.

On Thursday (12), the dollar had a day of sharp decline against the real. The American currency closed down 1.58%, quoted at R$ 5.0990 on sale.

The exchange rate was influenced by US government data showing that inflation in the country is losing steam, with the consumer price index marking a high of 6.5% until December, the lowest level in almost a year.

There was a generalized devaluation of the dollar against other currencies this Thursday, with the Brazilian one occupying the first positions among those that attracted the most investors.

The benchmark index of the Stock Exchange, the Ibovespa, ended the session down 0.59%, at 111,850 points.

Americanas’ common shares plummeted by almost 80% after the disclosure of an accounting scandal by the company, one of the main retailers listed on the Brazilian Stock Exchange. A preliminary discovery of around BRL 20 billion in “inconsistencies” in the company’s balance sheet led to the resignations of the president and the chief financial officer.

Trading in Americanas shares on the Stock Exchange was suspended for a good part of the day, and resumed in the afternoon, with occasional interruptions. This suspension, called auction, is a protection mechanism, triggered when there are unusual oscillations.

The paper ended in a fall of 77%, worth R$ 2.72. The day before, it closed quoted at R$12. It is the biggest daily drop ever suffered among the shares that are currently part of the Ibovespa, according to data from the TradeMap investor platform, collected from 2008. Companies that are not part of the current composition of the Stock Exchange’s reference indicator have already had greater falls.

The national retail giant lost around BRL 8.4 billion in market value in one day, also according to TradeMap. It is an amount equivalent to more than double the value of its competitor, Via Varejo, owner of Casas Bahia, which is worth R$ 3.9 billion.

The CVM (Securities and Exchange Commission) opened three administrative processes to investigate the case.

The crisis involving Americanas began the day before, after the market closed, with the announcement that Sergio Rial was leaving the company’s command ten days after taking office. Rial, who headed Santander for six years, replaced Miguel Gutierrez, president of Americanas for nearly two decades. Chief Financial Officer Andre Covre also left the role he had just joined.

On August 22, 2022, on the first day of trading after the announcement of Rial as president of Americana, the company’s common shares were worth R$15.96.