
The Argentine primary next Sunday when the different parties will choose their candidates for the midterm elections of 22 October, and the possibility of a comeback of ex president Cristina Fernandez, and all that she represents, has cost the Argentine central bank so far over a billion dollars in the last ten days.

Washington imposed sanctions on eight Venezuelan officials on Wednesday for their role in creating an all-powerful legislative body loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, while a mayor-turned-fugitive called for more anti-government protests. The new U.S. sanctions targeted politicians (including a brother of ex leader Hugo Chavez) and security figures but stopped short of actions against Venezuela's vital oil industry.

Beef will be back on the menu this October as the European Union seeks to finalise a trade deal with Mercosur. The European Commission will offer Mercosur new beef import quotas at reduced tariff rates during a formal round of trade talks in the first week of October in Brussels, EU sources confirmed.

Britain should consider pushing back the 2019 Brexit deadline as the simplest way to managing all the trade deals and other arrangements for leaving the European Union, business leaders urged on Friday.

Brazilian Central Bank President Ilan Goldfajn said that Latin America's largest economy remains weak though it is on course to show modest growth next year. In an interview with a São Paulo radio station, he said Brazil may achieve growth of 2% in 2018 if the economy continues expanding at its current pace.

On 28 July, British agri-tech experts and companies presented their work, products and services to Uruguayan companies and institutions at an event hosted at the British Residence.

Brazil's Petrobras has reduced prices for the gasoline it sells in Brazil to below parity with the fuel imported from the United States, reducing profit margins to regain market share. The company has sharply reduced the price gap between the value of gasoline sold at its refineries and the spot price in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico since early July, when it announced changes to its pricing to adopt almost daily adjustments, according to fuel market experts.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan issued a bold warning that the bond market is on the cusp of a collapse that also will threaten stock prices. The longtime central bank chief said the prolonged period of low interest rates is about to end and, with it, a bull market in fixed income that has lasted more than three decades.

The technical tie for the Senate seat in the province of Buenos Aires is being closely followed by the business community and potential investors in Argentina, fearing that a victory by ex president Cristina Fernandez over the candidate sponsored by president Mauricio Macri, could be interpreted as a longing for the hand-out and subsidies policies of Kirchnerism and rejection of the current economic reforms which have yet to deliver enough jobs and stable prices.

France said it was ready to seek other buyers for its biggest shipyard should Italy refuse a 50-50 ownership split, before both countries pledged to find a solution next month. French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, told the Corriere della Sera daily that a deal with Fincantieri might not be thrashed out.