Copom Meeting, Unemployment, Tax Collection

The central bank’s monetary policy committee begins its two-day meeting to decide on Brazil’s benchmark interest rate. The so-called Selic rate will rise 50 basis-points, or 0.5 percentage point, to 12.25 percent, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 47 economists.

WHAT TO WATCH: *Vale’s shareholders may elect a new board in a meeting in Rio de Janeiro at 11 am. *Agriculture Minister Wagner Rossi speaks to reporters about his visit to China at 10 a.m. *The head of Brazil’s tax agency Carlos Alberto Barreto comments on the government tax collection for the month of March at 11 a.m. *Labor Minister Carlos Lupi talks to reporters in Brasilia about job creation figures for the month of March at 2 p.m. *The Treasury auctions local government bonds LTN and NTN-F; results at 2:30 p.m. *Brazil’s new vehicle sales rose to 159,033 units in the first half of April, up 0.8 percent from the same period last year, the country’s dealership federation, known as Fenabrave, said yesterday.

ECONOMY: *Fipe weekly consumer price index at 5 a.m. *FGV second preview of broad inflation index IGP-M at 8 a.m. *Unemployment rate at 9 a.m. *Tax collection at 10:30 a.m. *Caged – job creation at 2 p.m.

EQUITIES: *Usiminas (USIM5 BZ) said it is unaware of Gerdau, CSN interest in buying shares *Banco Pine (PINE4 BZ) canceled overseas 5-year bond offering *CPFL (CPFE3 BZ) advanced on possible bid for ERSA *OGX (OGXP3 BZ) plunged as oil-resource report missed estimates *Duratex (DURA3 BZ) gained on plans to invest in new plants *Gerdau (GGBR4 BZ) fell as S&P changed U.S. Outlook

MARKETS *The Bovespa index fell 1.9 percent to 65,415.49. *The real rose 0.9 percent to 1.5900 per dollar.