Weekly Mexico Market Monitor

Weekly Mexico Market Monitor

Friday AM, November 10, 2023

 

MARKETS

The FTSE-BIVA index closed on November 9 at 1056.82 slightly down from its November 3 close at 1,059.78.

The MXN/USD exchange rate fell to 17.82 pesos to the dollar on November 9, from its close of 17.52 pesos on November 2.

The Mexican 10-year bond (2031) closed on Thursday with a yield of 9.67%, down slightly from a yield of 9.756% on November 3.

The FTSE-BIVA Top Stock Gainers for the week were: SITES1 MM (+8.12%), CEMEX (+5.13%) and AXTEL (+4.00%) and the Biggest Losers were: OMA (-6.23%), BANCO BAJIO (-5.80%) and GEN (-5.62%).

 

CORPORATE & MARKET NEWS

Pemex and New Forest Energy were reportedly scrapping their deal which planned to develop the country’s first deepwater natural gas project. This project, at the Lakach field, has been deemed by many experts an infeasibly expensive project, with Pemex also complaining about the conditions set by NFE, including low prices for the purchase of gas from Pemex.

VivaAerobus continues to outperform Volaris in the battle for supremacy between Mexico’s low-cost airlines. In October, VivaAerobus saw a 24.7% YOY traffic increase, reaching 2.3 million passengers, with a 17% rise in capacity and a 22.9% increase in demand YOY. Meanwhile VOLAR moved 2.7 million passengers, a 2.4% decrease YOY as the load factor fell slightly by 0.2 percentage points to 89.5%. At this rate, once much smaller VivaAerobus may overtake Volaris next year as Mexico’s largest airline in terms of passengers. Aeromexico moved 2.1 million passengers in October, a gain of 3.9% YoY. 

OMA’s traffic grew by 12.2% in October while ASUR’s decreased by 4.4% (up 4.1% in Mexico, 16.8% in Puerto Rico, but down 18.8% in Colombia).

Bobcat will invest US $300 million to develop a new plant in Monterrey. The North Dakota company wants to produce skid-steer loaders in Mexico for export to the US.

Starlink, Elon Musk’s telecommunications company, reportedly won a contract worth more than US $50 million from the CFE to bring internet access to rural areas of Mexico.

Gerresheimer, from Germany, will invest US $130 million to expand its operations in Querétaro, where it produces glass syringes.

Citi granted Mercado Libre a US $466 million credit line, with which the Argentina-based company will expand its ability to lend money to its customers – mainly in Mexico and Brazil.

Kavak is closing its operations in Colombia and Peru, to focus on markets such as Mexico. The Mexican startup has been in those two countries since the first months of last year; it would have about 400 vehicles left to dispose of between the two markets. For the time being, it will maintain its presence in Mexico and six other countries.

In the final quarterly reports, Sephora announced that its revenues in Mexico are expected to grow 70%. The US chain operates 36 stores in Mexico and seeks to reach 100 by 2030. Enrique Guijosa, CFO of Liverpool, reported that the company’s credit card has already acquired seven million customers and that the total portfolio grew more than 22% compared to 2022. He also added that the company expects to end the year with 14 Liverpool Express branches.

 

POLITICS

In Acapulco, the Government received promises from 35 hotel businessmen who stated that they will aim to reopen their doors between March and April of next year, in time for the main tourist season. President López Obrador also sadly updated the number of victims to 47 dead and 53 missing.

Arturo Zaldivar, a Mexican Supreme court justice, this week stepped down, ostensibly to join the 4T and support Sheinbaum’s campaign. He is likely to be her key advisor in Morena’s continued attempts to reform the judiciary. Zaldivar was previously president of the court and in his resignation post stated that he aimed to contribute to ‘the transformation of a fairer and more egalitarian Mexico.’

 

TRADE & ECONOMICS

In the first six months of 2023, Mexico raked in around US $29 billion in foreign direct investment, up 5.6% from 2022. More than half of this was in the industrial sector.

According to Inegi, Mexico’s inflation continued to ease in October, as 12-month headline inflation declined to 4.26%, from 4.45% in September. Meanwhile Banxico left interest reference rate unchanged at 11.25% but updated its guidance, indicating the reference rate will remain at its current level for “some time,” from the “extended period” term used before, suggesting a less hawkish stance. The Central Bank lowered its YE23 inflation forecast to 4.4% from 4.7% but kept its YE24 forecast at 3.4%. Core inflation predictions for both years are unchanged at 5.3% and 3.3%, respectively.

Mexico’s industrial output grew again in September, albeit at a reduced rate, with a 0.2% MOM and 4.5% YOY increase (compared to +0.3% and +4.4% in August). The 9M23 growth stands at 3.7% YOY, down from +5.3% in 2022.

Vehicle production in Mexico grew to 378,129 units in October – an advance of more than 35% compared to 2022. Exports would have amounted to almost 315 thousand vehicles.

 

NEWS ABOUT MEXICO IN THE FOREIGN PRESS

08/11/2023, Reuters, Scott Disavino and Marianna Parraga

08/11/2023, AP, Edgar Clemente

08/11/2023, Washington Post, Mary Beth Sheridan

09/11/2023, Bloomberg, Maya Averbuch

07/11/23, Financial Times, Jamie Smyth, Christine Murray, Joe Leahy, Sun Yu

07/11/2023, Reuters, Staff

07/11/2023, The Washington Post, Fatima Hussein

06/11/2023, BNamericas, Staff

06/11/2023, Bloomberg, Carolina Millan

06/11/2023, Reuters, Noe Torres

05/11/2023, The Washington Post, Mary Anastasia O’Grady (Opinion)