The attacks by a drug Mafia in São Paulo, Brazil, which have caused 91 deaths and the torching of dozens of buses and of 10 banks, led the Bovespa, the São Paulo stock market, to end earlier their activities, this Monday, May 15.
Bovespa usually has what it calls the after-market session, starting at 5:30 pm and going to 7 pm. That session, however, was cancelled. The whole downtown area where the stock market is located ended its activities earlier due to fear of new attacks by the PCC, the First Command of the Capital.
Commenting on the state of chaos prevailing in São Paulo, Pierre Michel Fauconnier, the general director of the French group PSA Peugeot Citroen said that he does not believe that the wave of violence that’s shaking São Paulo and other Brazilian states should damage Brazil’s image overseas.
According to Fauconnier, investors wouldn’t be deterred by the crisis of authority: "This is a conjunctural episode," he said reminding that France recently experienced violent street protests which have not translated into less investment in that country. "We believe Brazil is able to control the current situation."
An anonymous phone call to the Congonhas airport, close to downtown São Paulo, led the police to close that airport for two hours while their Anti Bomb Squad swept the area. According to Infraero, the Brazilian airport authority, some flights were delayed, but no flight was canceled. The searches didn’t find any bomb, however.
