In 1997, foreign investors fled Asian markets and these once unstoppable countries came to be called “Paper Tigers” as the region was swept up in a financial flu. Could it be that within the next two years Brazil will be identified as a “Paper Jaguar” as it falls ill with a financial dengue fever? There are certainly a number of striking differences between Asia in the 1990s and Brazil over the last five years. However, there were also great differences between 1950s communist Soviet Union and 1990s East Asia, yet this did not deter economist Paul Krugman from identifying factors which were shared by both. These same factors may also exist in the Brazilian economy, resulting in the fate that befell the once revered Asian countries.

In his 1994 essay titled “The Myth of Asia’s Miracle,” Krugman posited that sustained economic growth cannot be achieved only with increases in inputs

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IPOdesktop submits:

Arcos Dorados Holdings (ARCO) is scheduling an $874 million IPO with a market capitalization of $2.975 billion at the price range mid-point of $14 for Thursday, April 14, 2011. ARCO is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The full IPO calendar lists 7 other IPOs for this week.

SUMMARY & CONCLUSION – The fast food segment in Latin America grew at a 14.5% compound growth rate from 2004 to 2009, according to Euromonitor (page 1, March 25 S-1 filing), which also estimated the fast food segment in Latin America totaled $35 billion in 2010.

In addition, Euromonitor estimates that the growth of QSRs in Latin America and the Caribbean will outpace the growth of the fast food segment generally in the near future. Page 112, March 25 S-1 filing.

ARCO is unique because it is McDonald’s (MCD) largest franchisee, the Master franchiser for Latin America and it is the market brand

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Calafia Beach Pundit submits:

Brazil yesterday apparently gave up its quixotic quest to keep its currency from appreciating against a weakening dollar. Why follow the dollar down to the inflationary depths, when you can keep your currency stable against other currencies and minimize the impact of rising dollar-denominated commodities?

[Click all to enlarge]

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Emerging Money submits:

By Tim Seymour

Headlines around today’s announcement that Brazil is extending its 6% tax on foreign purchases of local bonds may look bearish, but the real news is not so bad. The IOF tax on corporate and bank debt sold outside Brazil really has a bigger effect on locals who were borrowing in dollars more than it does on those selling dollars to buy real-denominated bonds. This will have some impact on the pressure that is currently driving the real back up to levels higher than the Brazilian government likes. But this is not really where the finance ministry is going to get results.

In fact, while the market was expecting something from the Brazilian authorities, this may actually be on the softer side of things. Brazil continues to underperform the rest of the emerging markets, but has come back to actually be the best-performing Latin market so far this

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Danny Furman submits:

Two weeks ago I spent some time contemplating what might be the best way to play rising food prices. Ultimately, I bought shares of Chiquita Brands (CQB), world leader in produce production, marketing and distribution. So far so good, with shares already up about 10% from $14.50 to $16. Jim Rogers’ Agriculture ETN (RJA) would not have a bad choice either, sitting at $11.43 and up 5% in two weeks.

Chiquita still trades at a favorable valuation relative to peers Dole Foods (DOLE) and Fresh Del Monte Produce (FDP), which is not surprising given that South America based stocks generally suffer from a lack of investor interest. That makes them all the more appealing to the bargain hunter in me. Exemplified perfectly by the rapid and expansive development of Brazil, the concept of South America as a dangerous place to invest is archaic. Dozens of Brazilian companies trade on major

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Emerging Money submits:

By Tim Seymour

The “eBay of Latin America” is getting a lot of buzz in the markets, but

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Jim Pyke submits:

Several Latin American ADRs offer quite high dividend yields; however, the stability and consistency of that yield varies significantly over time. In this follow-up to my previous article, I look closely at the dividend yields and performance of four additional ADRs.

I found the following ADRs to offer substantial current dividend yields:

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Pater Tenebrarum submits:

We want to comment on recent events in Argentina, which have not gotten much play in the news media given the flood of newsworthy events in other parts of the world over the past few weeks. Argentina represents an interesting real-time case study of a developing inflationary crack-up boom, or as Mises termed it in the German language, die Katastrophenhausse (literally, the “catastrophic bull market”).

Officially, inflation, or rather the decline in money

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Vikash-Jain submits:

London’s Financial Times has a novel solution to Portugal’s debt crisis: annexation by its former colony, Brazil. Despite Portuguese outrage, the FT has a point. If it absorbed Portugal, Brazil’s GDP and debt would rise by 10%. Portugal, from being the poorest in old Europe, would be part of a country with a future – a stable government, a growing economy, a trade surplus, and hard cash in a solvent bank – all things Portugal sorely lacks. Like its economy Portugal’s stock index, the PSI 20 has been flat all year.

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The Deal Economy submits:

By Robert Teitelman

The New York Times‘ Andrew Ross Sorkin pops up Tuesday, Day 2 in the Times‘ Era of the Paywall, in São Paulo, Brazil, where he’s discovered the country’s booming buyout business, which, he tells us over and over again, uses no leverage. I should italicize that: They use no leverage.

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