La Jornada: The peso advances after inflation data in the United States

The Mexican peso appreciated 0.22 percent this Wednesday, supported by a global weakening of the dollar, after the release of inflation figures in the United States, although the advance was contained by renewed concerns about the Middle East.

In wholesale operations, the exchange rate concluded at 17.40 pesos per greenback, according to the closing price of the Bank of Mexico, an advantage of 3 cents for the Mexican currency compared to the previous day’s session.

Investor uncertainty increased after United States President Donald Trump warned that he would attack Iran “very harshly” if a peace agreement is not reached soon and after declaring that he might not renew the USMCA. The president stated that he is talking about the issue with the leaders of both countries.

BMV falls for the sixth session

The benchmark index of the Mexican Stock Exchange, the S&P BMV/IPC, reversed its initial gains and ended with a drop of 0.90 percent, to 64,821.61 points, accumulating a streak of six consecutive days of losses.

The BMV followed the trend of Wall Street, where the main indices fell more than one percent, as technology stocks deepened their losses and due to greater uncertainty due to the increase in tension between the United States and Iran. Volatility has intensified in stock markets in recent days.

The Nasdaq index lost 1.98 percent, the Standard and Poor’s (S&P) 500 fell 1.62 percent and the Dow Jones fell 1.87 percent.

Securities related to artificial intelligence, which have been driving the New York Stock Exchange for months, fell due to this trend that began last Friday. Semiconductor giant Nvidia lost 3.73 percent. In one week, the stock of the company with the largest market capitalization in the world has lost about 7 percent, which represents 350 billion dollars less in market value.

Other big names in the semiconductor sector also closed in red, such as Qualcomm, which fell 6.92 percent; Broadcom, 5.12 percent; AMD, 4.86 percent, and Intel, with 0.82 percent. Microsoft fell 1.50 percent; Alphabet, 2.16 percent, and Meta fell 2.33 percent.

(With information from Reuters)