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Argentina's Fernandez, Front-runner for President, Walks Tightrope Between
Markets and Votes

Reuters

   BUENOS AIRES - Argentina's presidential front-runner Alberto Fernandez
   is on a tightrope between the interventionist policies of his
   better-known running mate Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and the
   stumbling free-market reforms of incumbent Mauricio Macri.

   Whichever way he leans lies danger, with markets ready to pounce on any
   hint that he would follow Kirchner's example as a debt defaulter and
   voters ready to punish anyone who agrees with Macri's orthodoxy, which
   has led the economy to ruin.

   "He is in a difficult position," said Martin Vauthier, an economist at
   the consultancy Eco Go. "He has to deliver messages that in many
   respects are contradictory."

   Argentina's peso was flat on Tuesday at about 56 per U.S. dollar as
   investors looked for clues about Fernandez's policies as the Oct. 27
   presidential election approaches.

   Capital controls have stanched the bleeding of reserves triggered by
   Fernandez's unexpectedly severe beating of business-friendly incumbent
   Macri in the August primary election, a vote that all but guaranteed
   Fernandez will be sworn in as Argentina's next leader in December.

   But the situation remains fragile, with Argentine stocks, bonds and the
   peso subject to wild swings depending on the signals to be sent by
   Fernandez in coming weeks.

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