Overview
- The Banco Central accelerated spot dollar purchases and pushed gross international reserves back above US$50 billion, including a roughly US$182 million buy reported on a recent trading day.
- Official retail quotes at Banco Nación stood at $1,480/1,530 while the wholesale rate closed near $1,518, showing relative calm in the formal market this Friday even as other segments moved higher.
- Financial and informal dollars diverged: the MEP traded around $1,535–1,536, the CCL near $1,615–1,620, and the blue reached about $1,555, underlining wide gaps between legal and parallel rates.
- Sovereign bond prices fell and JP Morgan’s riesgo país climbed to roughly 640–641 basis points, a sign that investors see higher external borrowing costs and greater credit risk for Argentina.
- Policy trade-offs are clear: heavy BCRA intervention absorbs a large share of daily FX volume and rebuilds a buffer, but persistent parallel-dollar premia and rising spreads could squeeze households paying in foreign currency and limit access to cheaper international financing.