International Business : Global Markets and Economic Update

MEXICAN STOCKS

* The Bolsa index eased 4.11 points to 2,235.12 on Wednesday, hurt partly by Wall Street’s first loss since last Thursday. Despite the Bolsa’s small day-to-day moves Tuesday and Wednesday, both sessions saw wild intraday swings, which suggests the market’s recent bout of volatility hasn’t run its course.

* Depressed first-quarter earnings reports from many Mexican companies have hurt investor sentiment. Also, interest rates at the weekly treasury bill, or cetes, auction on Tuesday rose slightly from last week. And the peso suffered another slight drop against the dollar Wednesday, closing at 3.305 to the dollar versus 3.288 on Tuesday.

Source: D.A. Campbell

SPOTLIGHT: NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand, which pioneered state benefits, began a radical economic reform in the 1980s, including cutting health and welfare benefits to reduce budget deficits and scrapping government controls on industry and subsidies. Economic growth is up, but the changes created huge social disruptions.

Sources: Bank of America; World Information Services