Collapse of the Argentine papers in New York | Drops of up to 10 percent

The shares of Argentine companies listed on Wall Street closed this Wednesday with falls of up to 10.1 percent, in a day in which the main indices of the New York Stock Exchange had their worst day in 2 years, following statements by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who said he will not hesitate to raise interest rates and slow growth to curb inflation.

Without activity in the Argentine market due to the holiday for the 2022 National Census, the Argentine papers recorded the majority of losses led by Mercadolibre (-10.1 percent); Take off (-6.3); Ternium (-5.4); YPF (-4.9); Pampa Energia (-4.2); BBVA, Cresud and Central Puerto (-3.8); Telecom Argentina (-3.5) and Banco Macro (-3.3 percent). The only actions that marked a rise were Corporación América, with a rise of 0.2 percent, and Irsa, also with an improvement of 0.2 percent.

The rise in rates by the Federal Reserve (FED) – which now range between 0.75 and 1.00 percent – in the face of sustained inflation data above 7 percent in recent months in the United States anticipates a season of high cost of financing for companies.

In a scenario like this, the prices of companies on Wall Street have been falling sharply in recent months, although Powell’s statements today led the equity segment to its worst day in the last two years.

“We have to get inflation down to 2 percent. We have to restore our price stability. It will be challenging to do that and we have to slow growth to do it,” Powell said at an event organized by The Wall Street Journal.

“The idea -he assured- is that growth has to go down. That is what has to happen for inflation to fall. If we raise interest rates that will affect financing conditions and that affects the economy,” he said Powell.

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