
Argentine presidential candidate Alberto Fernández said on Thursday that no one wants a default for the country and he's ruling it out if elected. The center-left candidate appeared to be trying to calm investors who reacted to his strong finish against conservative President Mauricio Macri in an initial round of voting by battering Argentina's stocks and currency.

Premier Oil is selling its stake in a “world-class” project off the coast of Mexico and wants to reduce its holding in a long-awaited scheme north of the Falkland Islands as it tries to lighten its US$ 2bn debt burden, reports the Financial Times.

A Brazilian former minister and presidential candidate in the last election, called president Jair Bolsonaro, corrupt, despicable, dishonest and irresponsible during a conference on Thursday at the Minas Gerais Federal University.

From August 29 to September 3, Chile will celebrate nearly 49 years of diplomatic and economic cooperation with China by staging the 5th annual Chile Week in China celebration in Beijing and Shanghai, which will feature senior Chilean government delegates led by former President Eduardo Frei, leaders of Chilean industry and dozens of economic, cultural and consumer-focused events.

Brazilian central bank president Roberto Campos Neto said on Wednesday that the balance of economic risks and increasingly benign inflation means there is scope to cut interest rates further.

Argentina will not allow a chaotic fall in the peso and will use its dollar reserves to bolster the currency against political uncertainty that has swept the country since the Aug. 11 primary election, Treasury Minister Hernan Lacunza said on Wednesday.

Wildfires in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil have ignited a firestorm on social media, with President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday suggesting green groups started the blazes. Images of fires purportedly devouring sections of the world's largest rainforest have gone viral on Twitter.

Argentina could be downgraded again by Fitch Ratings if further weakness in the Peso boosts the risk of default, the agency’s head of sovereign ratings said in an interview. Argentina has issued billions of dollars worth of bonds denominated in U.S. currency.

The International Monetary Fund's board on Wednesday recommended a rule change that would scrap the age limit for its leader, clearing the path to the top job for Bulgaria's Kristalina Georgieva.

The ranks of the United States' foreign policy establishment are being roiled once again by resignations, reports of partisan intimidation in the midst of looming massive cuts in foreign aid that critics in Congress and elsewhere contend weaken American diplomacy worldwide.