Emerging Markets Are Hot

After a horrid collapse late last year, emerging market stocks have come roaring back in 2015.  Not without considerable basebuilding, however.  Several emerging market exchange-traded funds spent the last six months churning in head-and-shoulder bottom formations. The chart for the low-cost leader, the Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF (NYSE Arca: SCHE) is typical. 

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Emerging Market Central Banks: Doves Into Hawks

Investors see emerging market central bankers as doves. But they are likely to turn hawkish.

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Some Emerging Markets More Promising Than Others

Buy low, sell high. This is the only secret investors need to know. But the big problem right now is trying to get a handle on which assets are actually going cheap.  Major western indices have been hitting new records, with even the FTSE 100 coming to the party, despite its heavy weighting to the slumping energy and mining sectors. But worries about “secular stagnation” have clouded the outlook – and investors have been corralled by fear into similar asset classes. Finding investments that are cheap and under-owned is becoming increasingly difficult.

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Russia Leads Emerging Markets Higher

Stocks in developing economies were a pretty good place to be in the first quarter.  The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 1.9%–reflecting price returns converted to dollars–in the first quarter, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 0.4%.  The devil was in the details. Latin America, off 10%, was down for the count in the latest quarter. Eastern Europe was a surprise winner, with a gain of 11%, powered by Russian and Hungarian equities. Asia showed strength, too (up 5%), though for all the hype about India’s gross-domestic-product growth surpassing that of China, the latter’s stocks shone brighter in the latest quarter.

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Emerging Stocks Cheer As China Shares Hit Seven Year Highs

Emerging market shares started the week by rising almost 1 percent on Monday, buoyed by Chinese stocks at 7-year highs, though currencies suffered at the hands of a recovering dollar and lower oil prices.  MSCI's emerging equity index rose 0.8 percent, lifted by China stocks jumping almost 3 percent on hopes that more infrastructure spending and policy stimulus will re-energise a cooling economy and boost profits.

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Mobius Seeks Emerging Markets Growth in Japan

Looking to invest in emerging markets? Consider Japan.  That’s what emerging markets veteran Mark Mobius is doing.  With growth prospects limited at home, Japanese companies are investing more and more in faster-growing countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and India, said Mr. Mobius, executive chairman of Franklin Templeton’s emerging markets group. And the Bank of Japan’s asset-purchase program has weakened the yen against many emerging market currencies, helping Japanese companies who sell products and services there, he noted.

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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.”

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Is Dollar Losing Clout Among Emerging Markets?

The greenback's dominance in the developing world may be under threat as more emerging economies begin to reduce their reliance on the global trade currency.  "Decreasing reliance on the dollar is an important trend that's going to grow," said Jim Rickards, chief global strategist at West Shore Funds. "As far as emerging markets, the rise of bilateral trading deals is significant for the dollar's future as a trade currency."  Around 80 percent of global trade finance is conducted in dollars, according to January data from SWIFT.  

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Low Cost Apps Offer Benefits to Emerging Markets

Emerging markets are fueling growth in the mobile phone market, but for app developers this presents big challenges. Almost 80 per cent of the 1.8bn people expected to acquire handsets in 2018, according to the International Data Corporation, live in areas where network coverage is patchy, budgets are tight and smartphones are relatively rare.  App developers need to take into account the smaller screen size and reduced capability of low-cost phones in emerging markets, says India-based Neha Dharia, a senior analyst at Ovum, a telecoms consultancy.

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The Healthiest Emerging Markets in 2015

With economic growth slowing in China, India is emerging as the fastest-growing member of the BRICs (Brazil-Russia-India-China). The International Money Fund predicts global growth will reach 3.5 percent this year; however, besides India, BRIC economies are taking their financial turmoil from 2014 and bringing it into 2015.

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