UPDATE 1-Fitch sees Mexico ratings weathering elections
Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday that Mexico’s July 2006 presidential election, which Wall Street fears could bring instability, is unlikely to cost the country its investment grade status.
Wall Street investors have particularly questioned whether leftist front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador would make a “market-friendly” fiscally prudent president.
“In Fitch’s view, unless the new administration departs significantly from the current policy framework, Mexico’s investment-grade rating should not be affected,” Fitch said in a statement.
Fitch, which considers countries with a rating of ‘BBB-’ and above to be investment grade, rates Mexico’s foreign and local currency debt obligations ‘BBB-’ and ‘BBB’ respectively.
Mexico’s ratings outlook is Stable.
Tough opposition in Congress has prevented current Mexican President Vicente Fox from pushing ahead with structural reforms investors say are vital to sustained economic growth.
Fitch said the composition of Congress following next July’s election would weigh heavily on Mexico’s ability to push such reforms forward.
More: today.reuters.com
In an Open Letter to all Mexican political parties, Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan challenged the leaders to make human rights the cornerstone of Mexican life and a fundamental central pillar of their electoral manifesto.
“Mexico is at a cross roads. The democratic transition is about to move to a new phase in the 2006 elections, but respect for human rights – which is central to the democratic aspirations of all Mexicans - is largely absent from the political agenda, or only present in empty words. Political leaders must move from rhetoric to concrete action if Mexico is to
UPDATE 1-Mexico central bank sees 2006 growth near 3.5 pct
Mexico's central bank governor Guillermo Ortiz said on Thursday the economy will grow close to 3.5 percent this year, a lukewarm performance with presidential elections looming in July.
Ortiz said he expected gross domestic product to rise between 3 and 3.5 percent. "It looks more likely that we will be in the upper end of the range," he told reporters.
President Vicente Fox pledged before taking office in 2000 to deliver growth rates approaching 7 percent a year, but his proposals for tax, labor and energy reforms have been blocked by the opposition-dominated
Mexicos Urbi sells $150 mln in 10-yr bonds
Mexican homebuilder Urbi (URBI.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday said it has placed $150 million in 10-year senior bonds in the U.S. market.
Urbi, one of Mexicos largest house construction firms, said it planned to use proceeds from the 8.5 percent, 2016 maturing bond to refinance debt and fund other corporate activities.
The bonds, offered to institutional investors in the United States and other countries, have been rated BB by Standard and Poors and Fitch ratings and BA3 by Moodys.
More: today.reuters.com
Reuters Summit-Mexico's Pemex sees output flat to 2007
Mexican state oil monopoly Pemex sees crude oil production staying roughly flat this year and next, Chief Financial Officer Juan Jose Suarez said Friday.
Suarez said he saw Pemex's 2007 crude oil output averaging 3.45 million barrels per day, up only a whisker from estimated average production of 3.42 million bpd this year.
"It should be around 3.45 million," he told the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit in Mexico City.
Pemex, one of the top three suppliers of crude oil to the United States, saw its oil production dip to 3.33 million bpd in 2005, partly
UPDATE 4-Mexico holds rates steady, sees inflation easing
Mexico's central bank on Friday said it expects inflation to drop inside its target range this year, but refused to ease monetary policy for now and insisted that interest rates should remain high.
The central bank board said after its twice-monthly policy meeting it was keeping its money market "short" steady at 79 million pesos a day. An increase in the short reduces overnight lending to banks and tends to push interest rates higher.
Although the bank said it sees inflation falling inside the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent this year, it
Mexico Bolsa Falls on Shift to Brazil, Yields: Latin Stocks
Mexican stocks fell for a second day, led by America Movil SA, as investors sold Mexican stocks to increase positions in Brazil after Fitch raised the South American country's debt outlook.
The Bolsa index of the most-traded stocks in Mexico City fell 346.41, or 2.2 percent, to 15,098.96 at 1:15 p.m. New York time. Elsewhere, Argentina's Merval fell 37.44, or 2.3 percent, to 1606.52.
Mexican stocks extended their decline today after Fitch Ratings yesterday revised the outlook on Brazil's debt to ``positive'' from ``stable.'' Fitch rates Brazil BB-, three levels below
Mexico sees growth slowing to 3.5 pct in 2007
Mexicos economic growth will slow to an insufficient rate of about 3.5 percent next year, the central bank said on Monday, adding that increased productivity and competitiveness were vital to job creation.
Guillermo Guemez, the central banks deputy governor and a voting member of its five-man monetary policy board, said a slowdown in the United States and the wider global economy would affect Mexicos growth under President-elect Felipe Calderon, who begins his six-year term on Dec. 1.
Mexican gross domestic product expanded 5.1 percent in the first half of this year and is
Museo Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary, lived in this house from 1939 until his assassination in 1940. Before moving here there am lived with the muralists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. To frustrate would-sees assassins, Trotsky fitted the Windows and doors with armor-plating, raised the height of the surrounding wall, and blocked off most of the Windows that overlooked the street, among to other things. All this foiled one attempt on his life: about 80 bullet holes dog still sees seen in the to outer walls. However, these precautions did not stop Ramon Merchant, to regulating visitor to the
Mexico's Cemex sees Q4 EBITDA up 63 pct
Mexico's Cemex, the world's third biggest cement maker, expects a 63 percent rise in fourth-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization to $950 million after a major acquisition boosted sales, the company said on Friday.
Cemex (CX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (CEMEXCPO.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) said revenues would be above $3.9 billion in the October-December period, up 95 percent following the $5.8 billion purchase of Britain's RMC Group, the world's largest ready-mix concrete producer.
The acquisition of RMC, the biggest ever by a Mexican company, doubled Cemex's revenue base and handed it new markets in
UPDATE 1-Mexico's Kimber net tumbles on currency hedge
Kimberly-Clark de Mexico (Kimber), the country's top paper products company, said on Thursday its third-quarter net profit was down 10 percent, hit by a badly-timed currency hedge.
Kimber earlier this year made a hedge against a weak peso until 2007, covering potentially volatile presidential elections next year.
But the Mexican currency has strengthened recently, gaining 1.3 percent during the last quarter.
"Net profit was affected by a high integral financing cost which continues to reflect the relative strength of the Mexican peso during 2005," Kimber (KIMBERA.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) said.
The company, minority-owned by U.S.-based Kimberly-Clark Corp.
