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Polymarket odds gave Flávio Bolsonaro roughly an 80 percent chance of winning Brazil's presidential runoff, with that figure holding as high as 81 percent on election day itself. Lula da Silva instead won the vote 51.8 percent to 48.2 percent, prompting Bolsonaro's odds to collapse to as low as 15 percent once results began emerging. More than $62 million had been wagered on Bolsonaro winning.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva secured a surprise fourth term as Brazil's president after trailing rival Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round, according to Reuters. Bolsonaro has refused to concede and says he will seek to have the result annulled, objecting to a Supreme Court justice's decision to extend voting by two hours. U.S.-listed shares of Brazilian companies dropped sharply premarket, with Petrobras down over 20%, Itaú Unibanco down nearly 30%, and Ambev off 19%.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won re-election, defeating Flávio Bolsonaro for a historic fourth term. Separately, official satellite data showed Amazon deforestation fell to 3,335 square kilometers in the year through July 2026, the lowest annual rate recorded since tracking began in 1988. Brazil's government says this marks a 71% drop since 2023, reversing a 60% surge that occurred under the previous Bolsonaro administration.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Meta's São Paulo offices carrying effigies and signs depicting CEO Mark Zuckerberg as the devil, protesting alleged interference in Brazil's presidential run-off. The protest coincided with a Superior Electoral Court order requiring Meta to prove it treated both candidates equitably, after the company restricted over 1,000 accounts linked to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva while allies of Lula accused it of boosting content favoring Flávio Bolsonaro. Meta has denied wrongdoing, attributing any imbalance to two global service outages.
Brazilian philanthropic organizations, led by the Serrapilheira Institute, have begun funding scientific research at a scale unprecedented in the country's history, distributing over $25 million to early-career researchers since its founding. The University of São Paulo has also launched a center dedicated to studying and promoting science philanthropy, reflecting a broader shift as private donors step into a space traditionally dominated by government funding.