☀ Domingo Brief — Argentina’s YPF Woes

Welcome back to the Domingo Brief! This week, we’re keeping up with Brazil’s trade surplus, Ecuador’s new investments, and more.

Trivia of the Week 🎯

Impressively, three-quarters of you correctly guessed huachicolero as the Mexican term for a person who steals and sells motor fuel from Pemex pipelines. In recent years, the Armed Forces, Federal Police, and National Guard have all been called upon by the federal government to patrol and protect these pipelines. Explosions during thefts are common and have caused hundreds of deaths.

Each week, tune back in for the answer to the previous week’s trivia question. No cheating!

🇦🇷 Argentina has been ordered by a New York judge to transfer shares of its state-owned oil & gas firm YPF to Burford Capital, a US hedge fund which won a recent $16.1B lawsuit against the government of Argentina over its 2012 nationalization of YPF. This latest development in the years-long legal saga surrounding YPF comes at a poor time for Argentina’s government, which reported a nearly $4B deficit in the national coffers in the first quarter of this year and which has faced investor scrutiny over its underperforming peso as of late.

🇧🇷 Brazil posted a below-average trade surplus in the month of June. Latin America’s largest economy saw a monthly surplus which came in at 7% below last year’s figures, reaching just $5.89B rather than the forecasted $6.45B economist forecast. While exports rose 1.4% over last year, imports increased by 3.8%, or more than double. Brazil’s trade surplus in 2025 thus far is $30.1B, or 28% down from last year over the same period.

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