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UPDATE 2-Four Americans die in drug-smuggling Mexican area
Reuters: [2008-05-19 23:24:00]
(Updates with police killing, paragraph 7; adds byline)
By Lizbeth Diaz
ROSARITO, Mexico, May 19 (Reuters) - Four people believed to be Americans were shot in the head and dumped in a notorious drug-smuggling area in northern Mexico near the California border, Mexican police said on Monday.
Police in the beach town of Rosarito, across the border from San Diego, said they discovered the bodies of three men and a woman on Sunday in an abandoned car in a remote patch of scrubland near the Pacific coast.
Police concluded the victims were U.S. citizens because the vehicle had California license plates, the men appeared to be black, the woman was white and a U.S. driver's license was found in the car, the spokesman said.
Murders have jumped in Mexico this year, the bulk of them linked to a war between rival drug cartels and security forces that has killed some 1,300 people across Mexico since January. But it is unusual for foreigners to be the victims.
"The bodies had been there for at least a week. They were spotted by local people out hunting," a municipal police spokesman said.
The area where the bodies were found is one of many along the border that gangs use to smuggle marijuana and cocaine into the United States.
In Chihuahua state, which borders Texas, gunmen killed senior police officer Jose Martinez as he left his home in the city of Parral on Monday morning, the state attorney general's office said.
Martinez was head of criminal investigations for southern Chihuahua.
"IT'S A WAR"
President Felipe Calderon, who sent out thousands of troops and federal police to battle drug cartels when he took power in December 2006, said on Monday the escalation in violence was reason to press on.
"It's a serious fight, it's a war, and it means assuming the consequences," he told a news conference following talks with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"There is no way the Mexican government will give up this fight. Our pledge and decision is to carry on until we rescue Mexico fully from a situation of abuse and crime," he said.
Drug violence killed more than 2,500 people in Mexico last year. Grisly slayings in 2008 include the beheading this month of a man whose head was dumped on top of a car in the northern city of Monterrey.
Half a dozen high-ranking police officers have been killed this month alone.
Violence has spilled over from the rough city of Tijuana into once-quiet Rosarito and its outlying areas as gangs fight over smuggling routes into California. (Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Rosarito, Miguel Angel Gutierrez in Mexico City and Robin Emmott in Monterrey; Writing by Catherine Bremer, editing by Philip Barbara)
((robin.emmott@thomsonreuters.com; +52 81 8345 7553; Reuters Messaging: robin.emmott.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MEXICO DRUGS/AMERICANS
*TOP NEWS* Latin America
Reuters: [2008-05-19 23:16:00]
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Keywords: *TOP NEWS* Latin America
Emerging debt-Argentine spreads narrow, Venezuela gains with oil
Reuters: [2008-05-19 23:11:00]
By Daniel Bases
NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - Investors pushed Argentine sovereign debt higher on Monday in case a deal is made between striking farmers and the government while rising oil prices propelled Venezuelan bonds higher.
Record high oil prices viewed through the prism of energy company profits pushed stock prices higher and helped lift emerging market equity indexes to their best levels this year and in the case of Latin America another record high.
Trading volumes however were low on Tuesday, leaving price movements exaggerated, traders said. Turkey, one of the more heavily traded credits, had a market holiday that contributed to the dearth of volume.
Yield spreads on the benchmark JPMorgan Emerging Markets Bond Index Plus <11EMJ><.JPMEMBIPLUS> were unchanged at 256 basis points over slightly stronger U.S. Treasuries.
Argentine spreads narrowed by 13 basis points to 539 basis points on the JPMorgan index.
Farmers in Argentina, the world's No. 2 corn exporter and No. 3 soy supplier, went on strike for the second time in two months on May 8 over a sliding-scale export tax that farmers say effectively caps prices for their goods. A farm leader said on Monday there was consideration in the ranks to restart talks with the government.
"No one wants to be short in the event there is a resumption of negotiations between the government and the farmers. I think this is just tactical speculative flows... Any sign they are willing to move back to the table to negotiate should be interpreted positively," said Paul Biszko, senior emerging markets analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.
Argentina's benchmark Discount Bonds rose 1.0 point in price to bid 83.00 on Monday <ARGGLB33=RR>.
Venezuela's yield spread on the EMBI+ index narrowed by 7 basis points to 640 basis points as the surging price of oil - above $127 a barrel -- fills Caracas' coffers with more oil revenues.
Venezuela's benchmark 2027 bond <VENGLB27=RR> rose 0.75 points in price to bid 89.938, yielding 10.471 percent.
"Yield spreads are pretty flat and trading volumes are low. Emerging stocks are following broader market averages higher and oil is giving a boost to Venezuela," said one credit trader in New York.
The rise in oil prices and the follow-through positive impact on energy company profits was one reason cited for a rise in global stock markets.
In emerging markets, where oil is often the big export, the Morgan Stanley Capital International emerging markets stock index <.MSCIEF> climbed 0.75 percent on Monday to its best closing level since mid-December.
MSCI's Latin American stock index closed up 1.26 percent on Monday, lifting the index to its third successive record close <.MILA00000PUS>.
One market that will draw more focus in the coming months is Turkey, which faces major political upheaval if the country's Constitutional Court says the ruling AK Party and its leaders breached the nation's secular constitution by supporting Islamist activities. The AK Party denies the charges and says they are politically motivated.
A government minister, speaking to Reuters said that the Islamist-rooted AK Party now believes the chances for its survival are bleak and has begun planning how to return to power as a new movement.
(For full story, click on [ID:nL18278566])
Turkish assets have been sold off but the selling pressures have subsided for the time being. RBC's Biszko believes that may not last through through the middle of the year.
"The fact is this is still two to three months away at the earliest, so no one is really concerned about it yet. As we near closer to July or August, I think that would be the timing we would be looking at to scale down exposure," Biszko said. ((daniel.bases@reuters.com; +1 646 223 6131; Reuters Messaging: daniel.bases.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MARKETS EMERGINGDEBT/
*TOP NEWS* Mexico and Central America
Reuters: [2008-05-19 22:49:00]
TOP NEWS SUMMARIES ON OTHER SUBJECTS |U.S. Companies [TOP/EQU] | Asian Companies [TOP/EQA] |European Companies [TOP/EQE] | general [TOP/G] | Forex [TOP/FRX] |Features [TOP/FEA] | Commodities [TOP/C] | All Top News [TOP/]| ................................................................ For news and data double click on the codes in brackets. Access to some items may depend on subscription level. ................................................................ TOP STORIES > Four thought to be Americans killed in Mexico [nN19557590] > Mexico police chief quits after drug gang threats [nN18374564] > Mexico transgender couple ties the knot, pushes law[nN17471304] > Mexico industrial output slumps 4.9 pct in March [nN19542262] > Mexico's Cemex shares up on building boom [nN19548392] > Mexico peso firms to 5-yr high on rates view [nN19426967] ............................................................... Mexico [MX-LEN] Latin America [LATAM-LEN] Oil [CRU-LEN] Emerging Markets [EMRG-US] LIVE PRICES & DATA IPC stock index <.MXX> Peso spot rate vs USD <MXN=> Mexican oil prices <O-MX> Mexican ADRs <MX/ADRS> Mexican market guide <MEXICO> HOW TO FIND INFORMATION YOU NEED | <REUTERS> | <NEWS> | <PHONE/HELP> | <EQUITY> | <BONDS> | <MONEY> | <COMMODITY> | <ENERGY> Page editor: Mica Rosenberg +52 55 5282 7153
Mexico peso firms to 5-year high on rates view
Reuters: [2008-05-19 22:48:00]
(Recasts; adds quotes, closing prices)
MEXICO CITY, May 19 (Reuters) - Mexico's peso firmed on Monday to a five-year high on growing expectations the central bank will raise interest rates, while stocks jumped as investors bet the U.S. economy might avoid sinking into a recession.
The peso <MXN=> <MEX01> strengthened 0.38 percent at the official central bank close to 10.3755 per dollar, its best since July 2003. The benchmark IPC index <.MXX> gained 0.98 percent to close at 31,796.41 points.
Mexico's central bank held interest rates steady on Friday, with policy-makers saying the were concerned about a spike in inflation but also that they saw higher risks to economic growth from the U.S. slowdown.
Some investors have interpreted the bank's comments as a sign that policy-makers could be preparing for a rate hike later in the year to fight inflation.
"There is a greater chance that the central bank could raise rates than they could lower them," said Alejandro Martinez, a currency and fixed-income analyst at HSBC in Mexico City.
The peso has strengthened more than 5 percent this year as the U.S. Federal Reserve slashed interest rates while Mexico held borrowing costs steady, making peso-denominated assets more attractive to yield-hungry investors.
The spread between the U.S. target rate and Mexico's key rate is now at 5.5 percentage points.
In debt trading, the government's benchmark 10-year peso bond <MX10YT=RR> rose 0.132 of a point in price to bid 98.059, pushing its yield down 2 basis point to 8.04 percent.
On the stock market, shares gained as U.S. economic data signaled that the United States, Mexico's top trading partner, is likely to avoid a debilitating recession.
A report on Monday from the Conference Board, a private business research group, said its Leading Economic Indicators index rose 0.1 percent in April, the same as in March.
"Investors are perceiving that the risk of a recession in the United States is disappearing," said Gerardo Copca, an analyst at Metanalisis consultancy in Mexico City.
Shares of Cemex <CMXCPO.MX>, the biggest U.S. cement supplier, led the rally, climbing 3.15 percent to 33.06 pesos while its New York traded shares <CX.N> jumped 3.54 percent to $31.87.
Analysts said Cemex shares were getting a boost from surprisingly strong U.S. housing starts data released on Friday, and from optimism that Cemex could benefit from a government infrastructure push, analysts said.
Top retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico (Walmex) <WALMEXV.MX> rose 1.35 percent to 45.65 pesos. (Reporting by Michael O'Boyle, Lizbeth Salazar and Vanessa Padilla; editing by Gary Crosse) ((michael.oboyle@reuters.com; +5255-5282-7160; Reuters Messaging: catherine.bremer.lange.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MARKETS MEXICO/
Next: UPDATE 1-Four thought to be Americans killed in Mexico