Brazil

Hurricane Irma destroyed half of Florida’s citrus crop when it tore through the state earlier this month, as we reported earlier this month. The state’s orange growers at the time described the damage from the storm as the worst they’d seen in their lifetimes, as we reported at the time.

Many of the affected groves of oranges and grapefruits were approaching harvest, too – and their destruction helped send the price of orange concentrate futures rocketing higher.

Update: and right on time, the Brazilian house speaker confirmed that the worst case scenario - for Temer - is on the table:

• BRAZIL NOW FACING MAJOR CRISIS: HOUSE SPEAKER MAIA
• BRAZIL JUDGE REJECTS TEMER CRIMINAL COMPLAINT VS JBS’S BATISTA

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Brazil's landmark labor reform bill, intended to relax the country's restrictive labor laws and a main plank of embattled President Michel Temer's efforts to bolster investment and pull the economy out of its worst recession ever and widely seen as the country's second most important reform agenda after the Pension bill, was unexpectedly rejected by a special committee in Brazil's senate, with 10 votes against it, 9 in favor and 1 abstention. 

Update from Reuters, which reports that Temer has deployed troops to protect government buildings::

• BRAZIL DEFENSE MINISTER JUNGMANN SAYS PRESIDENT TEMER HAS ORDERED ARMY TROOPS TO PROTECT GOVT BUILDINGS FROM PROTESTERS

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it was supposed to be a relatively quiet weekend, after what may have been the most dramatic, "turmoily" week for political and market news in years. It wasn't.