The Ibovespa index advanced nearly 1% on Friday, surpassing the 180,500 level, as a solid domestic services report and falling future interest rates helped counterbalance global macroeconomic uncertainty linked to the Middle East conflict. Services activity grew 0.3% in January, beating expectations and easing investor concerns over a potential economic slowdown. At the same time, a broad decline along the future interest rate curve supported domestic credit-sensitive stocks.
While the latest US PCE inflation data confirmed that price pressures remain above the Federal Reserve’s target, the market drew some relief from a pullback in US oil futures, which helps temper the near-term risk of energy-driven cost-push inflation in Brazil. In addition, the Ministry of Finance’s decision to keep its 2026 GDP growth forecast at 2.3% added a measure of stability to the outlook, despite lingering global supply chain headwinds such as rising container shipping costs. Retail and financial stocks led the rebound.
