Aurelia Butler

Losses from the second quarter compare to the company’s 112 million reais net loss posted in last year’s second quarter.Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 10.6% year-on-year to total nearly 440 million reais.The company, popularly known as Magalu , posted 5.8% growth in total sales, including online business, to reach 14.7 billion reais. E-commerce sales grew 7% in the April-to-June period to 10.7 billion reais.Financial expenses, meanwhile, rose 0.4 percentage points compared to the year-ago period, due to higher borrowing costs this year, the retailer added.Brazil’s central bank has carried out one of the world’s most aggressive interest rate hiking cycles since early 2021 in a bid to tame high inflation, holding the key Selic rate at a six-year high of 13.75% until earlier this month.In its quarterly earnings report, Magalu noted it has received 850 million reais ($171.1 million) from insurer Cardif for the renewal of their commercial agreement. The deal, sealed in June, included the sale of Magalu’s stake in the insurance venture it has with the firm.($1 = 4.9687 reais) More

(Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever, financial markets columnist.As waves of volatility crashed over emerging markets on Monday, most notably in Argentina and Russia, the focus on Tuesday once again returns to the root of much of the deeper anxiety and uncertainty around EM: China.Investment, retail sales, unemployment and industrial production figures for July will be released against a worrisome backdrop of deflation, slowing growth, market weakness and growing contagion risks from an imploding property sector.As if that were not enough for Asian markets on Tuesday, minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s last policy meeting, Australian wage growth data, and second quarter GDP growth figures from Japan will also be released.Currency markets are also on intervention watch from Japanese authorities, with the yen falling through the 145 per dollar area and anchored around its weakest level against the euro since 2008.If recent Chinese economic numbers are any guide, the latest batch on Tuesday is liable to disappoint. Reuters polls of economists suggest annual growth in investment and industrial output will remain steady from June’s levels, while retail sales growth will rise to 4.5% from 3.1%.Authorities have so far resisted the growing clamor for large-scale fiscal or monetary stimulus. One of the reasons is the currency – it is already extremely weak and investors are shunning Chinese assets. Beijing will not want to add fuel to either fire. The offshore yuan slumped on Monday to its lowest level this year, approaching the 7.30 per dollar mark, and the yuan’s official onshore exchange rate is the weakest in a month. Tuesday’s data dump comes a day before the central bank delivers its latest monthly monetary policy decision. A Reuters survey of economists says rates on the bank’s medium-term policy loans will be left unchanged, although another round of notably weak economic indicators could shift the dial.Some investors are slashing their exposure to China. Regulatory filings show that some major U.S.-based hedge funds cut their holdings of Chinese companies in the second quarter.China’s blue chip CSI 300 index slipped 0.7% on Monday, following Friday’s 2.3% slide – the biggest fall since October – contributing to weakness across the continent and the EM complex. MSCI’s Emerging Market and Asia ex-Japan indices both fell 1.3% on Monday, following 1% falls on Friday. With the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury yields marching higher, global financial conditions are tightening and there doesn’t appear to be any respite for emerging markets on the immediate horizon.Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Tuesday:- China retail sales, unemployment, investment, industrial production (July) – RBA minutes- Japan Q2 GDP (By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Marguerita Choy) More

Good morning. Shares in Country Garden slumped to a record low on Monday after the Chinese developer suspended trading in at least 10 of its mainland bonds, spurring a wider sell-off in property-linked stocks. The company, formerly the largest developer in China by sales, missed international bond payments last week in a sign that a two-year liquidity crisis across the real estate sector was threatening to escalate. Shares in the group fell as much as 18.4 per cent in Hong Kong following a statement released over the weekend that said several bonds issued by the company and its subsidiaries would be suspended from trading this week.Shares in developer Jinmao Holdings also fell as much as 9.8 per cent after the company issued a profit warning late on Friday. A Hong Kong index tracking the mainland property sector dropped as much as 4.8 per cent, while the broader Hang Seng index fell 2.5 per cent and China’s CSI 300 shed 1.3 per cent.Until recently Country Garden was seen as a safer prospect than many of its highly leveraged peers. Its battle to survive is a crucial test of the health of China’s property sector, and Beijing’s policies towards it, as homebuyer confidence dips.On Monday analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded Country Garden to underweight, warning that the company’s “worsening liquidity may lead to higher chance of default in the near term”. Chinese officials have stepped up their supportive rhetoric about the real estate sector in recent weeks amid concerns over widespread defaults.Country Garden on Friday said it would “spare no effort in self-rescue”. Read the full story.FT Alphaville: Even if Country Garden makes the late payment, it would only be delaying what appears to be inevitable.Related: Entities linked to Chinese conglomerate Zhongzhi have failed to make payments, sparking concern over the country’s wealth management industry and its exposure to a troubled property market.Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:Economic data: China releases national retail sales, industrial output, foreign direct investment, while second-quarter GDP figures are due from Japan. Japan’s economy likely grew an annualised 3.1 per cent in the period from April to June. (Reuters)Results: China Airlines and National Australia Bank report earnings. Holidays and anniversaries: Financial markets in India and South Korea will be closed, as both countries have independence day holidays. Today is also the 75th anniversary of the partition that created the states of Pakistan and India. Women’s World Cup: The semi-finals begin with Spain vs Sweden. The victor advances to the final on Sunday, where they’ll play the winner of Wednesday’s Australia vs England match.Five more top stories1. Russia’s central bank will hold an emergency interest rate meeting on Tuesday after the rouble fell below Rbs100 to the dollar, prompting a squabble among policymakers over how to deal with the economic fallout from the invasion of Ukraine. The extraordinary meeting will take place after the central bank said it might increase its key interest rate, currently at 8.5 per cent. Read more on the rouble’s precipitous slide. War in Ukraine: Russian air strikes caused a series of explosions and fires in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, marking the latest bombardment in a weeks-long campaign aimed at choking Ukraine’s grain exports to global markets.2. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are buying up thousands of the high-performance Nvidia chips crucial for building artificial intelligence software. The Gulf states’ purchases via state-owned groups come as the world’s leading tech companies rush to obtain the scarce chips as part of a global AI arms race. 3. Donald Trump is prepared to face a potential fourth criminal indictment as soon as this week. A grand jury in Georgia is hearing evidence of alleged meddling in the 2020 presidential election and is nearing a final decision, as local authorities have set up barricades outside the county’s courthouse in Atlanta. Here’s what we know about the potential new charges. 4. Markets in Argentina reeled on Monday after the shock victory of Javier Milei, a radical libertarian economist and outsider candidate, in the country’s primary poll ahead of its presidential election in October. Milei won more than 30 per cent of the vote on pledges to dollarise the country’s economy and dramatically cut spending. Read more on Argentina’s “political earthquake”.5. Huge inflows over the past two weeks to just four exchange traded funds tracking China’s blue-chip CSI 300 index have prompted speculation that Beijing’s “national team” is at work trying to support the economy. The speculation has been fuelled by a recent pledge from China’s leaders to boost the economy and “expand consumption by increasing residents’ income”. Read the full story.The Big Read

Two forms of lithium-ion battery technology are vying to dominate an industry destined to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The choices of consumers, politicians and carmakers will play a crucial role in either cementing China’s grip over the global electric vehicle market or loosening it and risking a slower, more costly energy transition.We’re also reading . . . China tech investment ban: US president Joe Biden’s latest executive order highlights the uncomfortable truth that national and economic security cannot be separated, writes Rana Foroohar.Football: Brazilian footballer Neymar has joined Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal, the biggest coup in an unprecedented summer of transfer spending for the kingdom’s league. Putin, de Gaulle and national greatness: Just as France in the 1960s quit Algeria, so Russia should end its disastrous colonial war in Ukraine, writes Gideon Rachman.Chart of the dayMultinationals’ desire for a “China plus one” strategy, following supply chain disruptions and geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing, is driving iPhone manufacturer Foxconn into a renewed push into India. But the pivot to India is also revealing limits to Foxconn’s willingness and ability to diversify.Take a break from the news

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Books tackling the challenges of artificial intelligence, the race for natural resources and the rise (and fall) of billionaires make the longlist for this year’s Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award. Read the full list. Additional contributions by Grace Ramos and Gordon Smith More

Investor risk appetite has rebounded this year in line with a rally in the global capital markets as worries over further interest rates and a deep recession in major economies eased. The benchmark S&P 500 index has gained roughly 16% so far this year after a bruising 2022. The upbeat sentiment on Wall Street was also echoed across major emerging markets. XP’s total client assets climbed 21% to 1.02 trillion reais ($205.46 billion) in the quarter ended June 30, compared with 846 billion reais a year earlier. Shares in the company initially rose 4% after the company’s results, but pared gains in volatile aftermarket trading. The stock has surged roughly 66% so far this year. Spending on XP’s cards held up against the tough macroeconomic backdrop in the second quarter as consumers remained largely resilient. Total payment volumes rose 77% to 9.7 billion reais in the quarter. Net revenue rose to 3.55 billion reais, up 3% from a year earlier, while net income increased 7% to come in at 977 million reais, compared with 913 million reais a year earlier. ($1 = 4.9644 reais) More