
The credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s upgraded on Monday Uruguay’s rating by one notch to BB-plus, only one notch below investment grade, praising years of “prudent and consistent” economic policies in the country.

Mexico's state oil monopoly Pemex said on Monday it recently bought 825,150 shares in Repsol YPF, increasing its stake in the Spanish company to 5%. The stock purchase took place on July 13, Pemex's finance department said, without giving details of the cost of the deal.

Opposition to the Isla Riesco coal-mining project in the extreme south of Chilean Patagonia suffered a setback Thursday when Chile’s Comptroller General rejected accusations of a conflict of interest at the highest level of government.

Global Marine terminal operator DP World Limited announced that it has expanded its portfolio to former Dutch colony Suriname on the northeast coast of South America, acquiring a controlling interest in both Integra Port Services (‘IPS’) and in Suriname Port Services (‘SPS’).

A subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., Progress Rail, announced plans to locate a locomotive manufacturing facility in the state of Minas Gerais to supply Brazil’s diesel-electric locomotive market.

China, the world's largest steelmaker and iron ore consumer, has set a target of dramatically increasing ore imports from Chinese-invested resources in the steel industry's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), an industry official said.

Brazil’s Embraer, the world's biggest maker of regional aircraft, chose International Aero Engines as engine supplier for its military transport plane KC-390, signalling that the company is moving ahead in its venture into defence within schedule.

American Airlines has made the world's largest aircraft order, with a plan to buy 460 planes from Boeing and Airbus and options to acquire 465 more. The deal is worth 40 billion US dollars at list prices, with options taking the total to 81bn.

United States Hewlett-Packard and Canada’s Research in Motion, (RIM) (Blackberries) have agreed to set up an assembly plant for notebooks and smart-phones in Tierra del Fuego, extreme south of the country.

Falklands’ Rockhopper Exploration, the oil and gas explorer, pressed ahead with its hunt for oil in the North Falklands with the drilling of its third appraisal well on the Sea Lion Discovery feature last week.