Bloomberg Línea — The U.S. stock markets are weathering the banking crisis that emerged during the Spring, managing to post substantial gains at the end of the second quarter, driven by tighter inflation controls and the Federal Reserve’s decision to pause its interest rate hike, although the central bank’s chairman, Jerome Powell, has already warned of two more possible hikes in the remainder of the year.
With all these factors still in play, the U.S. stock markets added significant gains in the first half of 2023. The Nasdaq Composite (CCMPDL) gained 31.7%, the S&P 500 was up 15.9% and the Dow Jones Industrials rose just 3.8%.
Much of this performance, which was mostly seen in May and June, was driven by the rise of stocks linked to Artificial Intelligence (AI), although analysts are urging investors to be cautious.
“We don’t believe the AI trend is a bubble, but advise investors to be selective on AI-related stocks after the strong year-to-date rally (...) From a positioning point of view, we recently closed our self-help theme as we see better risk-reward in mid-cycle industries (software, internet) and tech laggards,” Sundeep Gantori, equity strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News.
In the wake of these results, Bloomberg Linea presents the ranking of the 10 Latin American companies with the highest market value listed on Wall Street, at the close of the first half of the year (June 30, 2023):
Brazil’s Petrobras S.A. (PBR) ranked as the most valuable company in Latin America listed on Wall Street at the end of the first half of the year, with a market capitalization of $86,113 million as of June 30, 2023, an increase of $21 billion over its close in the first quarter of the year (64,805 million, as of March 31, 2023), according to Bloomberg data.
Walmart de México (WALMEX) is next, with a market value of $68,815 million. This company sells food, clothing and other items in a variety of store formats. It operates Wal-Mart Supercenters, Sam’s Club wholesale outlets, Bodegas discount stores and Superama supermarkets.
America Movil S.A. (AMX), also maintaining its position at the end of the first quarter, closes the Top 3. The company, which provides telecommunications services, closed the semester with a market cap of $68,345 million.
The list of the 10 most valuable companies in the region on Wall Street by market capitalization also includes:
4. Vale S.A. (VALE): $59.585 million.
5. MercadoLibre (MELI): US$ 59.476 million.
6. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (ITUB): $53.960 million.
7. AmBeV S.A. (ABEV): $50.097 million.
8. Grupo México (GMBXF): $37.913 million.
9. Nu Holdings S.A. (NU): $37.195 million.
10. Fomento Económico Mexicano (FMX): $36.367 million.