The panic sell-off in Japanese markets has subsided for the time being as it picked up 5.68% today of the losses incurred since the disaster.
The U.S. And Europe are still under pressure and the bleeding continues. All major indices were down with the majority over 2% in Europe and the S&P500 shedding 1.95%. Economics news out of the U.S. showed housing growth is still sluggish, new home starts were 22.5% lower and permits were down 8.2%.
Although the Colcap index traded down 0.45% today, S&P raised Colombia’s sovereign debt rating to BBB-, investment grade, certainly a reason for celebration. The markets had been expecting such a move for some time so it’s unlikely the change will have significant short term impacts, however it opens doors for the long term health of Colombia as regulated investments around the globe often need a country to be investment grade before it can be considered.
The peso was slightly weaker again today, closing at 1,892.80 to the dollar.
Commodity markets regained their footing from the shellacking taken yesterday. Oil was up just over 1% to $98.19, while cotton led the downside as it shed more than 3%.
