Just days before the election, the dollar is heading for a new record and stocks are plummeting.

In just a few hours , the retail dollar rose 35 pesos according to the Banco Nación exchange rate, reaching $1,370. This leaves it just 10 pesos below the record nominal value it reached in July, when it reached $1,380 .

The trend indicates it could continue to rise this week and reach a new record just days before the Buenos Aires elections on September 7. The proximity of the elections is precisely one of the factors pushing the dollar higher, as savers tend to dollarize in the run-up to the election. This time, it seemed this trend would be attenuated because it had been a better deal for investors to bet on the super rate than on the dollar.

But the scandals of recent days involving alleged bribery requests at the disability agency, coupled with a complex international climate for emerging markets, have been impacting investor sentiment in favor of holding hard currency.

Thus, the wholesale dollar rose 2.6% this session to $1.356 , leaving it 104 pesos away from the ceiling of the exchange rate band, currently at $1.460. Financial instruments rose 2%, placing the MEP at $1.358 and the cash with liquidity at $1.360.

Another issue worrying the markets is what's happening with the super-taxes and the "monetary squeeze" the government has been endorsing to remove pesos from the market and avoid further pressure on the dollar.

Tomorrow, the government faces a $13.5 trillion debt maturity. Of that amount, 60% is in private hands. The question is what interest rates the government will have to accept to achieve the debt renewal level it needs.

In the last tender, on August 13, the government had to accept rates twice the rate of inflation. This, in turn, impacts financing costs for families and businesses and threatens to further complicate economic activity, which is increasingly stagnating. Some analysts warn of a risk of recession , and Minister Luis Caputo responded to them, although he admitted that the high rates are impacting the economy.

In this climate, bonds are plummeting, falling by more than 3%, and Argentine stocks are collapsing in New York, with losses of up to 8% for banks.

The bond decline will translate into a further escalation of country risk in the coming hours, which closed at 767 basis points last week . This will add tension to the market, as the JP Morgan indicator measuring the surcharge Argentina must pay to borrow could again reach above 800 points , something that hasn't happened since the end of the currency controls last April.