10 Stocks to Profit From Latin America's Surging Growth

By David Hunkar: The S&P 500 is up 12.8% year-to-date (YTD). Compared to the performance of the US equity market, Latin America markets have been mixed so far this year. For example, Brazil's Bovespa is up 3.1%, Chile's Santiago IPSA is off 14.5% and Mexico's IPC All-Share is up 15.4%.

Latin America might follow Brazil's fate, while earlier only Brazil had problems with inflation and devaluation caused by quantitative easing, or the so-called currency wars, reported Financial Times. Recently Japan's newly elected government also announced the start of a campaign for printing money. However countries from Latin America with more conventional and free-trading economies like Chile, Mexico, Peru and Colombia might also catch the vibe of quantitative easing.  

Tony Daltorio submits:Latin America used to be known for its economic and political instability. But it fought off the global financial crisis with relative ease. Poverty is now falling, the middle classes are growing rapidly and asset markets are bubbling. And it has the spectacular expansion of commodity demand to thank for all of this.

Michael Johnston submits:In another ETF industry first, Van Eck announced today the launch of an ETF offering pure play exposure to Latin American debt markets.

David Hunkar submits: The Global Finance magazine has published the list of Best Banks in Latin America for 2011. The winners were selected based on factors such as growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing, innovative products, etc. The World’s Best Emerging Market Banks in Latin America 2011

Latin America has enjoyed robust economic growth in recent years, in part driven by rising global prices for commodities such as oil amp; gas. The discovery of new gas amp; oil reserves in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela is causing changes in the relative importance of countries and in the relationships among them. Given the active role played by Brazil on relations among Latin American countries, we will deal with it from the perspective of Brazilian policy.

ETF Database submits: In the wake of the latest global recession, it is the emerging markets of the world that have emerged as the clear drivers of global growth. As a surging consumer segment propels China and India forward, resource-rich Latin America is well positioned to benefit from increased global demand for raw materials–particularly as the U.S. dollar tumbles against most of its primary rivals.