Brazil's inflation rate, one of the biggest economic challenges facing the government amid brisk growth, should peak in August, Central Bank President Alexandre Tombini said on Thursday.

---------------Venezuela will weaken currency in ‘medium term’
Venezuela will probably weaken the exchange rate in the central bank-administered currency market in the “medium term,” as the government seeks to avoid a boom in imports at the expense of national production, bank director Armando Leon said.
The central bank plans to maintain the exchange rate in the Sitme, as the exchange market is known, at 5.3 bolivars per dollar for now, though it is not good to maintain the same rate for too long, Leon said in an interview in Caracas. He did not provide details about the timing or size of any eventual exchange rate adjustment.
------------- U.S. existing home sales unexpectedly dip in April
Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell in April, a trade group said on Thursday, in a sign that the country's housing market is struggling to recover from the recent financial crisis.
Sales slipped 0.8 percent month over month to an annual rate of 5.05 million units from a downwardly revised 5.09 million in March, said the National Association of Realtors. Falling prices and the prospect of more foreclosures entering the market signal more Americans may be hesitant to purchase homes. With unemployment at 9 percent and wages stagnant, any sustained recovery in residential real estate may take years to unfold.