Why India’s Economy Isn’t Imploding Like Others

On Feb. 17, an article appeared in The New York Times, “As Rivals Falter, India’s Economy is Surging Ahead,” by Keith Bradsher, which, among other things, says, “The stock market and rupee are surging. Multinational companies are looking to expand their Indian operations or start new ones. The growth in India’s economy, long a laggard, just matched China’s in recent months…India is riding high on the early success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a raft of new business-friendly policies instituted in his first eight months.”

http://tinyurl.com/mpeks9x

Time to Buy Energy and Emerging Markets

Both energy and emerging markets stocks have fallen in the past six months, a period which saw modest gains for the broader U.S. stock market.  But a reading of the financial press in recent days tells us what some of the smart-money crowd is thinking about these sectors.  I’ll start with energy, a sector hit hard by falling oil prices. The New York Times reports that Blackstone, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, has finished raising $4.5 billion for a new fund “ dedicated to investments in the energy sector, as the private equity giant seeks to profit on the rout in oil prices, a person with knowledge of the matter said.”

http://tinyurl.com/kyxkugv