Bitcoin Momentum Grows in Emerging Markets

Bitcoin is gradually making progress as a medium of exchange in developing countries. While it can be volatile as an investment asset, it has real utility as an instrument for payment and money transfer, especially in places where conventional payment systems are immature. Because Bitcoin facilitates instant payment through peer-to-peer technology, most transactions can be completed in less than 10 minutes no matter how distant the two parties are. In addition, each transaction is recorded in a public ledger, enhancing transparency and trustworthiness.

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Emerging Market Currencies Rally Against Dollar

Emerging-market currencies rallied against the dollar after a report showing a moderate increase in U.S. jobs assuaged worries about rising interest rates.  Investors and analysts said the data, which showed the U.S. economy adding slightly fewer jobs than economists expected in March, reduced the chances that the Federal Reserve would move up its timetable for cutting bond purchases and raising rates.  That eases the pressure on currencies, stocks and bonds in developing countries, which have struggled for much of the past year, as the Fed moved to unwind policies aimed at supporting the U.S. economy by keeping borrowing costs low. 

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-Igor P Purlantov

Emerging Markets Must Do Homework

Emerging markets should get their own houses in order before demanding solidarity from other nations, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said.  The troubles in emerging markets would be the main topic discussed by finance ministers and central bank chiefs at the G20 summit in Sydney this weekend, Schaeuble told CNBC in an interview broadcast on Friday.  Stock, bond and currency markets in developing countries have convulsed in recent months, hit by concerns over weaker economic growth and the winding down of stimulus in the United States.

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Looking for Good News on Emerging Markets?

Looking for reasons to be cheerful about emerging-markets debt is a tough task at the moment.  Here’s one: strip out repayments, and this year will bring the first negative net debt issuance for emerging markets since 2008. Countries will be paying back more than they issue. All things being equal, scarcity value should offer support. This sounds odd. After all, the first few weeks of this year have brought a splurge of new international bonds from developing countries;  nearly $28 billion worth, in fact, in 14 deals as of Jan. 28, compared with $11.49 billion in 10 deals in the same period of 2013, according to Dealogic data.

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Emerging Markets IPOs Creep Back in London

Emerging market companies are staging a return on the London Stock Exchange after a quiet year for flotations from developing countries so far.  Dubai-based property group Damac Real Estate Development announced an approximately $500 million initial public offering on the LSE’s main market yesterday, while Chinese e-commerce provider JQW announced a float on Aim, the junior listings venue. A person familiar with the JQW deal said the company would be worth about £140 million.

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