Argentine stocks rose, the peso strengthened more than 3% and credit default swaps fell on Monday after the mid-term legislative primary election was seen as favoring business-friendly President Mauricio Macri's reform effort.
President Donald Trump has asked his country's top trade official to review China's practices regarding intellectual property. The move was incremental, but could eventually lead to the US imposing trade sanctions.
The UK has set out the ambitious new customs arrangement it wants to secure with the EU after Brexit. Ministers said the plans would mean the freest and most frictionless possible trade with the rest of Europe and could include a temporary customs union after Brexit to prevent border problems as the UK leaves the EU.
Canada signaled Monday that it would not give much, if any, ground on the benefits it provides to domestic industries when it joins the U.S. and Mexico to begin renegotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement this week. A key issue for the U.S. is getting Canada to stop policies that boost its dairy, poultry, and timber industries.
Brazilian company FS Bioenergia inaugurated a corn ethanol plant, the first in the country, to produce 210 million liters year. The plant was built by a joint venture between the local agro-company Fiagril and US-based Summit Agricultural Group with investments of BRL 450 million (US$ 141.1m), said the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Farming.
Brazil's government delayed the announcement of looser budget targets for 2017 and 2018, previously expected for Monday, as authorities struggled to estimate revenues given strong opposition in Congress to tax hikes.
Theresa May is expected to be back in Downing Street this week as ministers prepare to flesh out their negotiating position on Brexit. The return of the Prime Minister, who has spent three weeks on holiday in Italy with her husband Philip, coincides with the publication this week of a series of new position papers on Brexit – including one on the fraught issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.