Chart Book | Chart of the day: Brazilian bombshell

Words usually associated with girls on Ipanema beach, but this one is not nearly as nice. The Brazilian real has  spent the last seven months weakening against the US dollar; it has now gone into overdrive with a parabolic move at levels only ever seen in 2002 when fears of a first Labour Party (PT) election win took hold. As they say, this time it is different with PT in power since 2003. For the country that started “currency wars” (because too many were investing in Brazil in 2007) it is now losing – big time. In fact, capitulating with a new finance minister and looking set to re-test the record and psychological 4.0000 level to the greenback.