
Whoever wins Brazil’s presidential election on October 7, and the runoff on October 28, will have to convince markets, implement austerity measures while trying to drag millions people out of poverty.

Women across Brazil launched a wave of nationwide protests on Saturday against the candidacy of the right-wing frontrunner in next Sunday's presidential elections, Jair Bolsonaro.The controversial Bolsonaro, who was released from hospital on Saturday after being stabbed and seriously wounded by a left-wing activist during a rally on September 6, is currently leading in opinion polls.

Brazil’s Workers Party candidate, Fernando Haddad, would defeat far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro in an expected runoff vote in next month’s election, a Datafolha poll showed on Friday. In a simulated runoff vote, the poll found Haddad would get 45% voter support, beating Bolsonaro with 39%, with the rest of those asked saying they were undecided or would annul their ballot. Voting is compulsory in Brazil.

The Brazilian currency dipped under four Real to the dollar for the first time in five weeks at close on Thursday as the markets reacted favorably to the emergence of two clear presidential election frontrunners. The Real closed at 3.99 to the US dollar just two weeks after hitting a record low of almost 4.2 to the dollar -- it's lost around 17% since the start of the year.

Oil majors are set to gather in Rio de Janeiro this Friday to unveil bids for stakes in Brazil’s high potential offshore areas ahead of elections that are casting a cloud of uncertainty over the industry.

Petrobras, Brazil's state oil company, has agreed to pay more than US$ 853m to the United States and Brazil, ending a long-running corruption investigation. The probe stemmed from a bribery scheme at the firm, which involved millions in payments that were concealed from investors and regulators.

Brazil presidential election candidate Ciro Gomes left hospital in Sao Paulo on Wednesday, a day after undergoing surgery on his prostate. Currently running third in opinion polls ahead of the October 7 election first round, 60-year-old Gomes underwent a minimally invasive procedure that involved the “cauterization of blood vessels,” his center-left PDT party said in a statement.

Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro has only a six-point lead over surging Workers Party candidate Fernando Haddad, and would lose a second-round runoff against him next month, a new opinion poll showed on Wednesday. However both leading candidates lost one percentage point over last week's poll and only Ciro Gomes climbed from 11% to 12%

Brazil has been clawing itself out from the worst recession in its history, but that hasn’t stopped President Michel Temer from touting the country to investors. Temer and his entourage told United States business leaders at an event leading up to the United Nations General Assembly that the country is open for business.

Brazil, the world's No 1 soy exporter, is expected to import around one million tons of the oilseed in coming months from its largest global competitor, the United States, as local supplies dwindle, according to Sao Paulo-based grain trader Agribrasil.