Brazil's largest oil workers' union advised Petrobras that it plans to begin an open-ended strike against the state-run oil company starting at midnight (0300 GMT) on Friday. The strike is in protest at a recent cut of about 40% in investments by Petrobras and the planned sale of about $15.1 billion of assets, the union, known as FUP, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Despite all the negative news on government restrictions imposed on the Argentine economy and the shortage of hard currency, the country's Merval Index has skyrocketed almost 100% this year, the highest of any stock market in the world. It includes many of the largest companies in the country such as Telecom Argentina and Energy Petrobras, along with banks and a steel maker.