GMAC Files to Become a Bank; Unemployment Nears 26-Year High; Mogul Signals Interest in Circuit City; Banco do Brasil Buying Out Rival; Crude Continues Slide; JPMorgan Cuts 3,000 jobs; Stock Market Craters.

Detroit-based finance company GMAC has filed to become a bank, a shot at getting a slice of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout. Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP owns 51% of GMAC. General Motors Corp. (GM) owns the other 49%, Reuters reported. Initial jobless claims climbed to 542,000 in the week ended Nov. 15, close to a 26-year high. “The economic contraction appears to be worsening,” Sal Guatieri, a senior ...

Brazilian stocks have been pummeled in October’s global market rout. But Martin Hutchinson says this has created a great opportunity for profits. South America’s largest economy still has a robust growth outlook and moderate inflation. He says these six “bargain basement” stocks are now well worth a look.

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Like most other markets, Brazil has been battered by the credit crisis – the BOVESPA index is currently down 28% in October alone and no less than 52% from its peak as recently as May. It now appears to represent excellent value, with a historic Price/Earnings (P/E) ratio of only7.0.

But are Brazil’s prospects good enough to justify investing there?

Brazil was included in the “BRIC” (Brazil, Russia, India and China) group of rapidly emerging markets that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) created in 2003. At that time the country didn’t deserve the distinction. Long-term growth since

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Sao Paulo, Brazil-based Cosan, Ltd. (CZZ) is one of the worldÂ’s largest producers of sugar and ethanol. The company is benefiting from Brazil's economic growth and increasing demand of ethanol worldwide; however, this environment will be negatively impacted by the economic crisis in the U.S. Cosan posted weak first-quarter results. Moreover, sugar and ethanol prices have been under pressure in recent months.

The short-term outlook remains uncertain due to the difficult international economic environment. Although, the recent credit crisis in the U.S. leads to depreciation in Brazilian real, we do not believe this trend to be sustainable in the short term, and as such; the continued appreciation in Brazilian real will undermine CosanÂ’s competitiveness in the international market.

We also foresee a more difficult moment for the Brazilian auto industry, affecting fuels demand in the country. At its current price, the stock trades at 0.4x the company s book value

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Soyo Group Inc. is a consumer electronics and IT products provider. Trading on the OTCBB, they have their corporate headquarters in Ontario, California, along with additional sales offices in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Established in 1985, Soyo forges strategic relationships with premier global manufacturers to deliver state-of-the-art affordable products to consumers.

Originally an expert manufacturer of designer motherboards, Soyo saw the need for affordable, high-quality peripheral consumer electronic products. They then began to branch out into the other product lines that are now very much an integral part of their business. Soyo recently signed a licensing agreement with Honeywell Intellectual Properties Inc. to produce Consumer Electronics products.

Soyo opened their first office in the United States in 1989. The company sells LCD monitors, LCD Televisions, computer motherboards, Bluetooth headsets, portable storage devices, home-theater furniture products, and broadband products and services. Soyo’s brand name product lineup includes SOYO, Dragon, Onyx, Dymond, Honeywell, Le Vello,

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We are downgrading our rating on CPFL Energia S.A. (CPL) from Buy to Hold as the second quarter results were below expectations. However, the outlook for the following quarters remain positive, mainly considering the growing demand for electricity in Brazil and the positive outlook for the Brazilian economic environment. We also believe that the tariff correction in 2009 will be positive.

Moreover, the company was recently upgraded to AA+ on a national scale by Standard & Poor’s and CPL has a solid dividend payout. Nevertheless, a tight monetary policy in Brazil, higher worldwide inflation and interest rates, particularly in Brazil, and above-average valuation if compared to other Brazilian electric utilities are matters of great concern.

The company operates in the States of Sao Paulo, Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul, three major economic and industrial centers in Brazil, which should push the country economic growth in the following years. The

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Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, continues to drill away and is now about halfway through its offshore Carioca deposit according to Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao said. Carioca forms part of Brazil's new pre-salt region, which lies beneath 2,000 meters of water and as much as 4,000 meters of seabed. The pre-salt region is also home to the Tupi field, which holds an estimated 8 billion barrels of oil and is the largest Western Hemisphere oil discovery in three decades. Lobao is also quoted as saying that Betrobras will need more time to determine the size of the Carioca field, so I suppose for the time being it's just a question of "on we go with the drilling".Following up on my post about oil rigs earlier in the week, Petrobras have also announced plans to lease 146 ...

Brazil yesterday received an investment grade credit rating for the first time from Standard & Poor's, sending the benchmark stock market index to a record and yields on dollar bonds to an all-time low.Brazil, whose economy grew last year at the fastest pace since 2004, should be able to maintain annual growth of as much as 4.5 percent, S&P said in a statement. The country's long-term foreign currency debt rating was raised to BBB-from BB+. Foreign direct investment, which reached a record of $34.6 billion last year, is likely to cover the country's current account deficit this year, the ratings company said.Brazilian exports have tripled since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office in January 2003 on rising world demand for soybeans, iron-ore, beef and cars. Brazil, once the world's largest emerging-market debtor, became a net foreign creditor for the first time in January as ...