Brazil financial markets fall after S&P downgrades sovereign debt to junk status
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Brazil's financial markets has fallen in the aftermath of credit agency Standard & Poor's downgrading the country's sovereign debt to "junk" status.
The Brazilian real fell 2 percent to 3.88 per U.S. dollar by early Thursday afternoon and it would have dropped even further if the Central Bank hadn't intervened by selling some $1.5 billion on the spot market.
The benchmark Bovespa stock index was down 1.24 percent.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Dilma Rousseff met in the morning with members of her cabinet and congressional leaders to discuss the downgrade and said it wasn't a catastrophic event.
Citing presidential advisers, the Folha d S. Paulo newspaper says Rousseff urged them to cut public spending.