Brazil’s Oil Giant Sacrifices Payouts to Fund $111 Billion Expansion

Brazil’s state-controlled oil giant Petrobras sneezed at the end of last week, and the domestic stock market caught a cold. Despite returning to a profit for the second quarter of the year, Petrobras dashed hopes of an extraordinary dividend for this year amid lower oil prices and higher investments into production expansion. Following the earnings call, Petrobras shares plunged by 7% on Brazil’s stock market on Friday, dragging the main Ibovespa Brasil Sao Paulo Stock Exchange Index down 0.45% for the day, due to the considerable weight…