Asian equity markets were sharply down early Tuesday as investors fearing a possible global economic slowdown continued to flee stocks as had happened earlier in Europe, United States and Latin America.
Visiting Canadian Primer Minister Stephen Harper and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed on Monday several agreements on air travel, pension benefits, international aid and other areas at the Planalto Executive palace in Brasilia.
Ratings agency Moody's repeated a warning Monday it could downgrade the United States before 2013 if the fiscal or economic outlook weakens significantly, but said it saw the potential for a new debt agreement in Washington to cut the budget deficit before then.
Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff on Monday the country is ready to face the world’s economic crisis and reiterated Brazil’s prognosis as the world’s fifth economy.
Stock markets extended their heavy losses on Monday despite US President Barack Obama moving to try to reassure investors. In his first public reaction to Standard & Poor's downgrading the US, President Obama said markets continued to regard US government debt as being the highest possible grade.
The European Central Bank has said it will buy Euro zone bonds, following emergency talks on the debt crisis. ECB did not say which bonds it would buy but analysts expect them to be from Italy and Spain.
Four districts in the Chilean extreme south region of Magallanes were declared in “agricultural emergency” given the harmful effects of snow storms in the area.
Brazil has no plans to sell US Treasuries or change its foreign currency reserves holdings as a result of Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the US’s credit rating, a government official said.
Beijing bluntly criticized the United States after the superpower's credit rating was downgraded, saying the good old days of borrowing were over. S&P cut the US long-term credit rating from top-tier AAA by a notch to AA-plus on yesterday, over concerns about the nation's budget deficits and climbing debt burden.
Unasur (Union of South American Nations) central bankers meeting on Friday to discuss global financial turbulence saw heightened risks and a moderation in the region's growth, they said in a joint statement published by Chile's central bank.