On Monday, the shares of state-owned oil firm YPF saw a massive surge in value, rising 40% after Javier Milei, the presidential candidate of the Liberty Advances coalition, won the presidential runoff election in Argentina. During his campaign, Milei had pledged to reform the Argentine economy and expressed a desire to privatize YPF.
Milei secured his victory by a wider margin than expected and has promised to revitalize the ailing Argentine economy. In a radio interview, he stated that his administration will “create value” for companies to be sold beneficially for Argentines. This statement sent positive signals to investors and markets around the world.
Other Argentina-related equities also saw gains on Monday, including Grupo Financiero Galicia, Banco Macro, and the Global X MSCI Argentina ETF. The winning candidate’s commitment to ending “model of decadence” was highlighted in his post-election speech, suggesting change is imminent in the country’s economic policies.
Moving forward, investors and markets will closely watch the exchange rate between the peso and the dollar as Milei’s economic plan involves prioritizing the US currency over the local peso to help mitigate historic inflation.