Appointment of new Petrobras boss hailed as market-friendly move

• Petrobras (PBR +1.1%) is higher in today's trade as investors react favorably to the appointment of Pedro Parente to lead the company, but pull back from sharp early gains as the new boss still faces the same old problems.
• Brazil's interim president Temer “gave a very clear orientation... There will be no political appointments in Petrobras,” Parente told reporters, which "greatly facilitated my decision" to accept the job offer.
• Many blame the scandal surrounding PBR, in which former executives conspired with politicians and contractors to extract billions of dollars of bribes and kickbacks, on the former ruling coalition’s practice of placing political appointees in the company.
• But Parente faces a $450B real ($126.3B) debt at the end of March that is estimated to be the largest of any oil company in the world.
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