The Ibovespa begins the last trading session of the month with a drop of 0.24%, at 127,383.22 points, as investors digest data from the Central Bank Inflation Report and from unemployment rate of February. Vale shares (VALE3) fall, in line with iron ore, and Petrobras shares (PETR4) rise, along with barrels of oil. The big banks are retreating today, as are education companies, steel mills and telecom companies. Construction companies rise, as well as meatpacking companies and most junior oil companies. After publication of 4Q23 balance sheets, Oi (OIBR3) falls 3% with loss reduction by 97% and grouping of shares. Gol (GOLL4) drops 1.7% after reverse profit and record loss of R$1.097 billion. Azul (AZUL4) has now started trading with a slight increase of 1.6%, after recording a profit of R$403 million. Future interest rates (DIs) rise across the entire curve, and the dollar is advancing today, returning to R$5. In the RTI released today, the Central Bank (BC) predicts greater economic growth in 2024. The projection for the GDP of the year was revised from 1.7% to 1.9% and takes into account stronger than expected economic activity in the first quarter of the year. At 11 am, the president of the municipality, Roberto Campos Neto, and the director of Economic Policy, hold a press conference in São Paulo. Brazil’s unemployment rate stood at 7.8 percent in the three months to February. The median forecast in a Reuters survey was that the rate would remain at 7.8 percent in the period. On Wall Street, US futures indexes operate with a slight increase, with investors reflecting the US GDP in the 4th quarter, which came in above what analysts expected. (Felipe Alves)
