Lawyers and human-rights activists warn Brazil is seeing a surge in legal and extra-legal moves to stifle dissent against Bolsonaro, in some cases with legislation and tactics dating back to the country's 1964-1985 military dictatorship -- for which the president is openly nostalgic.
The US dollar strengthened about 2% against the real, sending the Brazilian currency to a three-month low despite a central bank auction selling $1 billion in the spot market.
The benchmark Bovespa equities index fell as much 2.7% in morning trade, with all but one of its constituent companies in the red, before paring losses to 1.3% by midday.
Tuesday's $1 billion sale, taking central bank intervention since Thursday to over $4 billion, came as pressure on Brazilian assets intensified after President Jair Bolsonaro eliminated certain fuel taxes and increased a tax on banks.
There's a (market) crisis of confidence in the government, and we have negative rates.
The poll was conducted between Thursday and Saturday last week and would thus partially include reaction to Bolsonaro's Friday decision to install a retired general with no oil and gas experience as chief executive of state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA.
Banco do Brasil's operating expense is likely to end 2021 contracting 2% or growing by 2% at most, the bank said in a statement, leading to a higher net profit.
Citing sources, the paper said the federal government wants states to adopt a flat tax on fuel. Currently, states can change taxes on fuel frequently.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he planned to meet on Friday with the CEO of state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) to discuss diesel prices.
Lopez Obrador came to power on December 1, 2018, promising to "transform" the country after sweeping aside the two political parties that had ruled for decades.
The poll results are a blow for the president. The Folha de S.Paulo newspaper said they represent the biggest drop in approval since the beginning of his government in 2019.
To make matters worse, a new virus variant has appeared in the north of the country that researchers believe has higher levels of transmissibility.
But it had to be satisfied with the release last week of six million doses of CoronaVac, which was developed by the Chinese lab Sinovac with the Brazilian Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo.
The federally-funded Fiocruz biomedical center in Rio de Janeiro is still awaiting its first shipment of ingredients for AstraZeneca's vaccine, pending Chinese export approval.
Like Trump, Bolsonaro opposes Huawei on the unproven grounds that it shares confidential data with China's Communist government.
China being Brazil's largest trade partner and Huawei's ability to compete on price, he has faced resistance from industry and within his own government,.
This 50% is good, is it? All the (criticism) I got for my comments, and now they are seeing the truth. Four months of being lambasted because of the vaccine.
Brazil's government closed a deal with the Butantan Institute to buy up to 100 million doses of the Chinese vaccine.
Anvisa, which has stipulated an efficacy rate of at least 50% for vaccines in the pandemic, has already pressed Butantan for more details of its study, after it filed for emergency use authorization on Friday.
Football superstar Neymar meanwhile tried to douse a firestorm of controversy over reports he organized a week-long party for 500 revelers at his mansion outside Rio.
Britain became the first country in the world to give full regulatory approval to the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.
Biden's victory and Bolsonaro's reluctance to recognize it have cast a dark cloud over US-Brazilian relations, which had warmed to the point of discussing a free trade deal last year.