From the news pages of the newspaper, the President of Brazil is in trouble. A few months ago, the last President was forced out of office for corruption, the new President who has been in senior levels of government for years, seems to be an equal for corruption. The stories are one of owners of the biggest meat producers was taped by authorities for they had shorted the Brazil real (dollar) with inside information from pending government action. It seems bribes are a cost of doing business in Brazil and many organizations are getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Whenever there is trouble in a country, the stock market is affected negatively. This leads to is the glass half full? Is this the time to get out, look at other alternatives or is this the time to buy. In an article by Paula Sambo of Bloomberg News, she has found investment managers who believe the time to buy is now.

The managers acknowledge President Michel Temer maybe on the way out, but looking at the economy of Brazil there are still solid, profitable companies that have operations based in Brazil but trade worldwide. A few years ago, Brazil was seen as host of the Olympics and there were problems with it, but they went on without too much difficulty. The country has a massive economy, large middle class, and many natural resources which means at some point the stock markets will go to normal. The Brazilian market before the allegations against the President was up 69% and the real was up 22%. The key is to do the research to what are the best companies in the country. The best always go up first and names such as Ambev (beer), Fibria Celulose (pulp and paper), Odontoprev (dental insurance), Ultrapar  (fuel distribution), Vale (iron ore), Petroleo Brasilerio (oil) were mentioned in the article.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the key in investing in any downturn is to have done your homework to know which companies to buy, unless you wish to buy the index. If you are going to buy, look for profitable companies (which pay a dividend) and the shares are off because of the government concerns. The choice should be good and always buy the best companies at a lower price. The companies because they are profitable the share price will return to normal and then climb because they are profitable and for insurance you are collecting a dividend which adds to your total return.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.