COVID-19, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON LATIN AMERICAN CAPITAL MARKETS.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led governments to implement policies that affect households and companies. In this study, we analyze the impacts of government policies and COVID contagion rates on stock market returns for the countries that belong to the Latin America Integrated Market through robust OLS regressions. We find evidence that the daily growth rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases and social distancing measures negatively influence the financial performance of stock indexes, while public awareness campaigns and contact tracking test policies are seen to have had positive effects. These findings are helpful for evaluating government policy impacts and portfolio performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]