The noise from Brazil? An economy on the brink

Rising inflation, slowing growth, a weakening currency, surging debt and a deepening corruption scandal - Brazil is suddenly looking vulnerable

The more you look at Brazil's fundamentals, the more shaky the country looks. And we are not talking about the defensive prowess of David Luiz here. It is the country's economic backline that risks tumbling down like a set of dominoes.

When a Latin American economy is in trouble a good place to start is its inflation rate. Brazil's is today running at 7.5%. While this is nowhere near the 2,000-3,000% of the early 1990s, when the price of everything went up several times a week, it is far higher than the central bank's mid-point target of 4.5%.