Brazil: Economic activity rebounds in April
Economic activity rose 0.6% month-on-month in seasonally-adjusted terms in April (March: -0.1% mom). This was triple the growth that market analysts were expecting. That said, growth did not appear broad based, as both industrial and services activity contracted in April, and retail sales growth was tepid. Rather, the record harvest could have buoyed agricultural output during the month—a trend which is unlikely to last.
On an annual basis, economic activity rose 3.3% in April, which was well below March’s 5.7% expansion. Meanwhile, annual average growth in economic activity was 3.4% in April, mirroring March’s result.