President-Elect Milei’s Economic Proposals Win Over Investors, YPF Stock Surges by 40% in Argentina

Javier Milei, the presidential candidate of the Liberty Advances coalition, recently arrived in Buenos Aires to cast his vote in the presidential runoff election. On Monday, following his victory over Economy Minister Sergio Massa, YPF’s New York-listed shares rose by more than 40%. The stock price hovered at $14.90 on that day, up 38.82%.

Milei is a right-wing libertarian who has pledged to reform the Argentine economy and expressed his desire to privatize YPF during his campaign. His win has sparked a surge in interest from investors in other Argentina-related equities like Grupo Financiero Galicia, Banco Macro, and the Global X MSCI Argentina ETF. In a radio interview after his victory, Milei stated that his administration would “create value” for companies that would be sold beneficially for Argentines.

In a post-election speech, Milei expressed his commitment to ending what he called the “model of decadence” and suggested that change was imminent. Going 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.