Eduardo Loyo & team  BTG Pactual

With Eduardo Loyo at the helm, BTG Pactual’s five-member squad rises from runner-up to third place. “Loyo’s team has accurate estimates, and the funds that implement their calls have the returns to prove it,” marvels one booster. In December the Rio de Janeiro–based economists predicted that Brazil’s central bank would hold its benchmark Selic rate steady at 8.75 percent until April, when the committee on monetary policy would raise it by 75 basis points. They were right on the money: In late April the Banco Central do Brasil raised the Selic to 9.5 percent. The team then predicted a further 150 basis points of increases by October. As of late July the Selic was up 125 points further, to 10.75 percent.