Latin America is facing a critical challenge: achieving price stability while driving growth in the region. Gonzalo de Cadenas Santiago, director of Macroeconomics and Financial Analysis at MAPFRE Economics, explains the key aspects of this balancing act.
As part of the “MAPFRE AM Interview of the Month” section, we talk to María Torres de Becerril, MAPFRE AM’s equity investment manager, who believes that this new cycle “clearly opens up opportunities in the stock market."
Despite the rate hikes implemented by the central banks, inflation is still at uncomfortable levels. Alberto Matellán, chief economist at MAPFRE Inversión, recalls that the relationship between interest rates and inflation "isn't as direct as we would like to think."
MAPFRE launched MAPFRE Energías Renovables II, FCR in collaboration with is partners Abante and IAM Carbonzero. This new vehicle will invest in biomethane, a 100% green biofuel obtained from animal and vegetable waste that can be injected directly into the natural gas grid, generate electricity via engines, and be used as a fuel.
ESG investing is one of the great megatrends of recent years. At the annual Insurance Asset Risk 2023 conference in London recently, José Luis Jiménez, group chief investment officer at MAPFRE, pointed out that the industry needs more certainty from regulators.
The Fed decided at its June meeting to keep interest rates in the 5.00%-5.25% range, but the inflation data "denote insufficient progress to sustain this pause," according to MAPFRE Economics.
Alberto Matellán, Chief Economist at MAPFRE Inversión, explained markets are now trading in a more sideways drift, so "it is important for investors to be content with the composition of their portfolios".
The macroeconomic perspectives have hardly changed in recent months, meaning investors are on standby as they wait for new benchmarks in some key variables: inflation, growth or interest rates. Alberto Matellán, chief economist at MAPFRE Inversión, explains.
Jonathan Boyar, director of Boyar Value Group and advisor to the MAPFRE AM US Forgotten Value Fund, says the key is in the in-depth fundamental analysis of these companies.
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