The U.S. dollar’s sharp rise has sent many of the world’s currencies into a tailspin. But in Latin America, the currencies of the region’s two biggest economies are outperforming the greenback.
So far this year, Mexico’s peso is up 2% against the dollar, while the Brazilian real has strengthened more than 7%, in an unusually resilient performance by two major emerging-market economies from a region with a history of currency crashes. On Monday, the real strengthened 4.5% after a surprisingly strong showing by conservative President Jair Bolsonaro in the country’s first-round presidential vote.