Currencies

Mexican Peso Sinks as Judicial Overhaul Clears First Hurdle

  • Peso led losses among major peers on swift committee approval
  • The peso has weakened more than 13% since the election in June

The peso sank to the lowest level in three weeks and the worst performing major currency in the world. 

Photographer: Mauricio Palos/Bloomberg
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The Mexican peso led losses among major peers Tuesday after a key congressional committee approved President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s full plan to overhaul the nation’s judiciary, a change investors see as a threat to the rule of law in the Latin American country.

Traders have been betting the changes — which include requiring that all federal judges are elected by popular vote, rather than appointed — will pass since AMLO’s Morena party won legislative elections in a landslide in June. Yet how quickly the text was approved at the committee level caught some by surprise.