Latin America is widely regarded as a growth play in the equity markets. The explanation for this view is that the region is a commodity producer -- agricultural goods in Brazil and Argentina, metals in Brazil, Chile and Peru, oil in Venezuela and Ecuador, natural gas in Bolivia, etc. In general, that's a fair vision. However it must be better understood. Not all commodities are the same, and not all countries have the same economic policy or the same stage of development It is well known that there is a high correlation between economic growth and commodities prices. In the past few years, this correlation has increased since the main source of growth was the emerging economies, in which economic growth is more intensive in commodities. For the future, we expect this correlation to increase even more, as emerging economies will keep on leading the growth and developed economies, particularly the U.S., will rely a lot on government investments in
[More...]
-