Nasdaq, 8/7/2012
As worries continue to build over major emerging markets, many investors are looking beyond the Asian giants and closer to home. By doing this, some focus in on one of the giants of Latin America, Brazil, for potentially better investment opportunities.
However, the South American nation is also facing severe inflation problems, but its incredible commodity output, rapidly expanding middle class, and relative lack of competition in South America, have allowed the nation to skirt by some of the main issues that are hurting its major BRIC counterparts.
Still, the heavy dependence on commodities can be a double-edged sword, helping nations when markets are soaring but crushing them back to earth when commodity prices are floundering. This issue is particularly the case in Brazil with two of its enormous companies, Vale, and especially Petrobras ( PBR ) .
