Bloomberg – Theodoro Messa’s Paineiras Hedge FIM hedge fund beat 96 percent of its peers this year on bets Brazilian bond yields will fall as the central banks slashes borrowing costs to shore up Latin America’s largest economy.

Messa is buying bonds and avoiding stocks because the global recession will persist longer than investors expect, requiring Brazilian policy makers to deepen interest rate cuts, he said. He predicts zero economic growth for Brazil in 2009.

Read Complete Article

Tags: bets, bloomberg, bond yields, bonds, brazil, central banks, economic-growth, economy, global recession, interest rate cuts, investors, latin-america, peers, slashes, stocks, theodoro

Jamaica Gleaner – The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela pledged Saturday to invest US$100 million each in a special fund in hopes of boosting cross-border trade as the world economic crisis slashes global demand for their exports.

The cash will help create small businesses and should finance infrastructure projects along the border, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said after four hours of talks in the Caribbean port of Cartagena with his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe.

"Nobody knows where this crisis might go," Chávez told a televised news conference.

Trade between the two nations reached a record US$7.2 billion in 2008, and Chávez said they should aim for US$10 billion a year in 2009 and 2010.

Read Complete Article

Tags: 100-million, border trade, cartagena, colombia, counterpart, economic-crisis, global demand, hugo chávez, infrastructure projects, jamaica, news-conference, president hugo chávez, presidents, slashes, small businesses, venezuela, venezuelan president hugo