Major Latin American markets stumbled Monday, led by Mexican stocks which were weighed in part by a report about sluggish conditions in the housing market in the U.S., Mexico's key trading partner.
Mexico's IPC fell 2.1% to 26,777.48. The index ended last week with a rise of 0.8%.
Two of the 35 stocks on the index closed higher Monday. Brewer Grupo Modelo rose 1.3% and retailer and financial services provider Grupo Famsa picked up 0.3%.
Market heavyweight America Movil (AMX) stumbled 2.7%. Telefonos de Mexico ( TMX) lost 0.4% and cement maker Cemex (CX) dropped 3%. Standard & Poor's affirmed its BBB- rating on the cement maker, but said its outlook on the company was negative.
S&P said the negative outlook reflects Cemex's failure to improve its funds- from-operations- to-total adjusted debt ratio in the wake of its acquisition of Rinker Group. The agency expects the ratio to improve in the next couple of quarters.
Wall Street's benchmark indexes slid after worries about further trouble in the financial sector resurfaced. On Sunday, newsweekly Barron's said the likelihood that the government will recapitalize mortgage firms Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae has increased. Separately, shares of Lehman Bros. (LEH) fell after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company could post a quarterly loss of $1.8 billion.
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