Nasdaq Index Offers Digital Gateway to Brazil Economy, Bypassing Commodity Swings
The new Nasdaq Novo Brazil Index captures growth in fintech and e-commerce by including US-listed companies with key exposure.
The Nasdaq Novo Brazil™ Index (NQMB™), launched on December 22, 2025, provides international investors a distinct gateway into Latin America’s largest economy, specifically targeting companies driving Brazil’s digital and consumer-led growth that are often overlooked in traditional benchmarks. The index was designed to address the structural over-representation of legacy sectors like mining and banking that historically dominate Brazilian equity exposure, instead focusing on high-growth areas such as digital services, fintech, and e-commerce.
The need for a benchmark reflecting the modern Brazilian economy stems from the composition of the country’s main stock market barometer, the Ibovespa. Legacy indexes are heavily concentrated in Financials, Energy, and Basic Materials, leaving them highly exposed to volatile global commodity cycles and policy shifts that can impact state-influenced companies. This concentration amplifies the market’s sensitivity, while new engines of growth—like a fintech ecosystem estimated to include over 1,500 active startups—remain structurally underrepresented.
To capture this transforming landscape, the NQMB uses a novel methodology that looks beyond the B3, Brazil’s local stock exchange, to define exposure. The index includes U.S.-listed companies that derive at least 25% of their total revenue from Brazil, with the country also required to be their single largest revenue source. By focusing on economic relevance rather than corporate domicile, the index combines established domestic firms with the U.S.-listed companies propelling Brazil’s digital transformation.
This focus is intended to create a portfolio with greater resilience during challenging market environments. An analysis of the index’s back-tested performance showed that during the COVID-related market crash in early 2020, the NQMB experienced a smaller maximum drawdown than its domestic peers, suggesting its sector mix may offer a degree of insulation from the volatility associated with commodity-focused indexes.
The launch of the Nasdaq Novo Brazil Index signals a maturation in how global exchanges view Brazil’s economic trajectory, recognizing the shift toward a consumer-led, digital future. The NQMB aims to provide a complementary view to the Ibovespa, one that tracks the nation's increasing adoption of digital banking and online retail, thereby reflecting the full spectrum of the Brazil equity opportunity set.
What it touches The new index provides a concentrated benchmark for investors seeking exposure to Brazil’s growing digital payments, e-commerce, and financial technology sectors, offering a potential alternative to the broad-based exposure provided by traditional Brazilian equity exchange-traded funds.