Brazilian stocks surged as investors dramatically increased their bets that right-wing presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro will defeat President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil's October 25 runoff election, after Bolsonaro delivered a much stronger-than-expected performance in the first round.
Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, finished Sunday's vote with about 47% of valid ballots, compared with roughly 45% for Lula. Neither candidate cleared the 50% threshold required to win outright, sending Latin America's largest economy into a runoff in just under three weeks.
