SF: Brazil Rate-Futures Yields Rise on Surprise Unemployment Drop
Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Yields on most Brazilian interest- rate futures contracts rose after the nation's unemployment rate unexpectedly fell in July.
Yields on the futures contract due in January 2013 rose six basis points, or 0.06 percentage point to 11.43 percent at 8:52 a.m. in Sao Paulo.
Traders pared bets the central bank will lower interest rates after the national statistics office today said Brazil's unemployment rate fell to 6 percent from 6.2 percent in June. Economists had forecast unemployment to hold at 6.2 percent, according to the median of 33 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The drop in unemployment may spur the central bank to leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting Aug. 30, said Ures Folchini, head of fixed-income at Banco WestLB do Brasil SA.
"The economy is still strong in terms of unemployment and income," Folchini said in a telephone interview from Sao Paulo.
The real fell 0.1 percent to 1.6148 per dollar, from 1.6137 yesterday.
