Read this Tuesday’s edition of the FolhaMercado newsletter (24) – 01/24/2023 – Market

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After all, what is the idea behind such a common currency?

It was mentioned by Sergio Massa, Minister of Economy of Argentina, in an interview with the Financial Times, by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) during his current visit to the neighboring country and was the subject of an article by Minister of Economy, Fernando Haddad, in Sheet.

After all, what is the common currency and what would it be used for?

To beginthe government rushed this Monday to say that the project, still in its very early stages, does not mean the end of the real and the creation of a single currency, such as the euro – which took decades to become what it is today.

• Even to avoid mistakes, the name should be changed to “unit of account”. The objective is to facilitate trade between the countries, which today is hampered by dependence on the dollar, a currency that Argentina has too little of.

• The assessment is that Brazil’s space in Argentina’s international trade was occupied by China with financing in Chinese currency for Argentines to import products from the Asian giant.

another alternative to revert the loss of space by Brazilian exporters is an agreement reached between the two countries. Financing for vessels should work as follows:

• In order to prevent the Treasury from suffering a default by the Argentine importer, Argentina must deposit the same value of the goods in securities with international liquidity, which would be executed in case of non-payment.

• That is, there is only a loan and guarantee on the Brazilian side if Argentina offers real guarantees in exchange, which are liquid assets convertible into dollars or reais.

• The agreement dropped the shares of Banco do Brasil. Haddad, however, denied that there will be a risk for BB or any other financial institution.

Analyze: Single currency in South America? You can sit and wait. Bloc has already failed to achieve integration goals simpler than monetary union, writes Rodrigo Campos.

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Why RJ da Americanas must be harder

The judicial reorganization (RJ) of Americanas, authorized last Thursday (19), has the potential to be one of the most complex in the recent history of Brazil.

Which explains: experts heard by Sheet highlight the difficult relationship with creditors and suppliers, the lack of liquid assets to reduce the debt and the possibility that the crisis was caused by fraud as obstacles to the restructuring of the retailer.

• Among them, Americanas is the only retailer, a sector that depends on capital to run business. The problem is that it is at war with creditor banks, which have even refused to finance their credit card receivables, a common operation in the sector.

• Another obstacle must be the relationship with suppliers, who may demand cash in cash to deliver the goods. With no cash or financing for this, Americanas could see its product offer reduce, and its sales, as well.

According to suppliers surveyed by Folha, their relationship with the retailer has always been difficult. Even before the current crisis, the company already had the habit of asking for a long term for payment. And yet, delays were routine.

• Now, the problem should get worse, as suppliers are more than 90% of the retailer’s 16,000 creditors, experts estimate.

Other side: in a note, the retailer points out that it has a “very solid” cash position, and ensures that it will continue to pay its commitments and obligations “in the agreed terms.”

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Microsoft increases investment in OpenAI

Confirming the rumors of recent weeks, Microsoft announced on Monday that it will continue its partnership with OpenAI with “a multi-billion dollar investment over several years”.

• The startup is responsible for AI (artificial intelligence) software such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, among others.

Big tech did not reveal how much it invested, but vehicles cite the amount of $10 billion, valuing the startup at $29 billion. It plans to integrate ChatGPT with the Bing search engine as well as the Office suite.

premium version: after seeing ChatGPT reach 1 million users in a few days, OpenAI is now looking at ways to profit from the feature that creates articles, poems and writes programming code from simple commands (you can play around with it here).

• As it is more stable and offers faster responses, the feature would be particularly useful for users who already use the chatbot to automate repetitive tasks.

Graduate: an MBA professor at Wharton, one of the most prestigious business schools in the world, decided to put the robot to test his operations management course.

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It’s not cheap (or easy) to be healthy

Maintaining a healthy diet in Latin America and the Caribbean is more expensive than in any other part of the world, according to a report by FAO, the UN body for Food and Agriculture.

In numbers: in the region, the average daily value needed to maintain balanced meals is $3.98 per person (BRL 20.7).

• The global average is US$ 3.54 (R$ 18.4), while in Brazil the cost is US$ 3.08 (R$ 16 per day).

This way, not even egg bread escaped inflation last year, shows the IPCA.

• The prices of French bread accumulated high of 18.03%in the wake of the appreciation of commodities with the war in Ukraine, a country that was an important exporter of wheat.

• The chicken egg rose 18.45% in 2022. The high cost of feed and the heated demand of the population are pointed out as reasons for the appreciation.