Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: Vivo, Gafisa, Embotelladora Andina, Petrobras and Telesp.

Chicago, IL – June 18, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today’s outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Claudio Freitas discusses the Latin American Markets sector. Highlighted stocks include: Vivo (VIV - Snapshot Report), Gafisa (GFA - Analyst Report), Embotelladora Andina (AKO.A - Analyst Report), Petrobras (PBR - Analyst Report) and Telesp (TSP - Snapshot Report).

As we predicted, the Brazilian currency has been recovering fast in the last months -- a trend that we expect to last. Even after some aggressive interest rates cuts, Brazilian rates are much higher than anything comparable in the U.S. and Europe and we do not expect Brazilian rates to fall below 8.5% in 2009. Additionally, other fundamentals remains solid, like the positive trade balance, small current account deficit, no net external debt and international reserves over US$200 billion.

Finally, the weakness of the dollar has been a major force behind the price recovery of the commodities, which is good for Brazil as a commodity producer. We believe international investors are now seeking geographical and currency diversification, and this trend will continue in the following months.

In such a business environment, we would recommend some Brazilian domestic-focused companies like telecom companies such as Vivo (VIV - Snapshot Report), real estate companies like Gafisa (GFA - Analyst Report), consumer goods producers like Embotelladora Andina (AKO.A - Analyst Report), the oil giant Petrobras (PBR - Analyst Report), and high-dividend utilities like Telesp (TSP - Snapshot Report).

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