Brazil, Mexico: Latin America Bond, Foreign Exchange Preview

By Jamie McGee

July 22 (Bloomberg) -- The following events and economic reports may influence trading in Latin American local bonds and currencies today. Bond yields and exchange rates are from a previous session.

Brazil: Brazil will miss its inflation target this year for the first time since 2003, according to a weekly central bank survey of economists, increasing pressure on policy makers to raise the benchmark interest rate further.

Annual inflation will end 2008 at 6.53 percent, more than 6.48 percent forecast made a week earlier and more than the central bank target of 4.5 percent, plus or minus 2 percentage points, the survey of about 100 economists taken July 18 and published yesterday showed.

The central bank is scheduled to begin a two-day policy meeting today.

The real rose 0.5 percent to 1.5813 per dollar.

The yield on the country's zero-coupon bonds due January 2010 fell 10 basis points, or 0.1 percentage point, to 15.05 percent, according to Banco Votorantim.

Mexico: Wholesale sales increased by 3.5 percent in May from the same month a year earlier, compared to a 7.3 percent increase in April, according to the median estimate of 14 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

The National Institute of Statistics is scheduled to release the data at 3:30 p.m. New York time.

The peso rose 0.5 percent to 10.1284 per dollar.

The yield on Mexico's benchmark 10 percent bonds due December 2024 rose 9 basis points to 9.233 percent, according to Banco Santander SA.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jamie McGee in New York at jmcgee8@bloomberg.net