Brazilian ADRs Trading Hit Record in New York

The daily trading volume of Brazilian stocks on the New York Stock Exchange (through ADRS) hit a record $4.07B in May. Volumes have jumped higher in light of S&P upgrade of Brazil to investment grade.

It is interesting to note that this volume is actually higher than the daily at the Bovespa (Sao Paulo Exchange) itself ($3.8B).

The top traded ADRS are:

PBR, Petrobras ON $1.5B
RIO, Vale $1.1B
BBD, Bradesco $244M
UBB, Unibanco $166M
SID, Siderurgica Nacional $155M
GGB, Gerdau $128M
ABV, Ambev $68M

Other ADRs:

ITU, Banco Itau
SDA, Sadia
PDA, Perdigao


SDA and PDA are the top food producers, great companies for those interested in ag. markets.


Source: O Estado de Sao Paulo.

The US Peso

In light of inflation and currency depreciation, some people are calling the US Dollar the US Peso. The table below shows the USD versus the Pesos of the world, plus the CAD and Euro.

The USD has lost 6.5% on average against the Pesos since Jan 2007.

(obs. Cuban peso not shown as it is a frozen rate. )

Household Income Spent on Food

The US Department of Agriculture publishes a nice report detailing the percentage of household income that is spent on food for various countries. From the latest report, the countries that spent the least are:

1. US 5.8%
2. Singapore 8.1%
3. Ireland 8.2%
4. U.K. 8.7%
5. Canada 9.3%

Note that the US percentage does not include what is spent on restaurants or take-outs which is likely a significant percentage.

The countries where people spent the most are:

1. Azerbaijan 51.6%
2. Belarus 47.3%
3. Morocco 44.8%
4. Algeria 43.7%
5. Jordan 43.6%



In terms of per capita dollars spent annually, the picture is quite different:

Least amount spent:

1. Pakistan $18
2. India $141
3. Nigeria $168
4. Vietnam $169
5. China $207


Most amount spent:

1. Norway $3,591
2. Switzerland $3,040
3. France $2,776
4. Japan $2,768
5. Italy $2,765
18. Canada $1,994
23. US $1,848