Fearful investors who bought up Ibovespa puts on Friday to protect themselves in the event of a weaker-than-expected showing from right-wing pro-market candidate Jair Bolsonaro can breath a sigh of relief. In a showing that suggests he will almost certainly lock up the presidency in the second-round vote on Oct. 28, Bolsonaro won more than 46% in Sunday’s first-round vote, pummeling his closest rival, Workers’ Party candidate and Lula proxy Fernando Haddad, who walked away with barely 30%.
Just as they did during Bolsonaro’s advance in the polls, Brazilian assets cheered his stronger than expected first place finish as stocks and the real soared.
An ETF tracking Brazilian stocks surged 7.5% to its highest level since May:
Analysts at BAML and JP Morgan scrambled to upgrade their price targets on state-run energy company Petrobras (BAML upgraded Petrobras to a ‘Buy’ with a target of $20 a share and JPM upgraded it to ‘overweight’ at $17 a share). Other analysts opined that, assuming Bolsonaro can win over the support from at least a few center-right candidates, he should have no trouble winning the presidency and seizing control of an economy that’s mired in its worst-ever economic collapse.
Here’s a roundup of the biggest stock moves, courtesy of Bloomberg:
