Latin America Comes Roaring Back

摘要

Latin American equity markets defied the worldwide economic downturn for nearly a year before falling victim to it in the spring of 2008, when jittery investors began yanking their money out of stocks in search of safer havens. Now, thanks to aggressive economic stimulus initiatives by local governments, those same markets are well on their way to recovering last year's catastrophic losses.rnMSCI's benchmark emerging-markets Latin America index ended July at 3,232.31, having soared nearly 95 percent (in dollar terms) since bottoming out in November, and many economists and equity strategists believe that the best is yet to come. "As investors' risk aversion subsides and economic growth returns, the markets will continue to rise," predicts Cristian Moreno, New York-based head of Latin America equity research at Santander.