Emerging Markets

Here’s an asset class that continues to defy the odds. Despite concerns of high debt levels, growing geopolitical risks and sluggish global growth, emerging markets (EM) corporate debt has once again delivered another year of impressive results.
This year sees a continuation of many of the same challenges, not least the uncertainty over what Donald Trump’s US presidency will look like. Anyone hoping that Trump’s campaign promises were just talk won’t have been overly encouraged by his first week in the White House. The Republican has already signed two proclamations, seven executive orders and seven presidential memoranda. His decision to ban the entry of citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries has ruffled more than a few international feathers, while his pledge to renounce the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal – a signature policy of Obama – has also raised eyebrows.

Hong Kong maintained its hold on the top of the rankings as the world most competitive economy once again, the annual rankings compiled by the IMD World Competitiveness Center in Switzerland shows.
Switzerland and Singapore came in second and third, while the United States ranked fourth, its lowest position in five years and down from third last year.

Mattias Martinsson is Chief Investment Officer and partner of Tundra Fonder AB explains what is particular about Frontier Markets

…"We focus entirely on what we call the next generation of emerging markets, what we call the frontier markets…"

Since Donald Trump’s election as president of the United States, research and views have been very divided on emerging markets. And, in general, negative views have carried the day. On the one hand, many agreed that the macroeconomic situation and microeconomic fundamentals were in the process of improving and that 2017 would hold some positive surprises in store. On the other hand, the utmost caution was in order, given the threats to launch trade “reprisals” against a number of emerging economies. All in all, having fallen out of grace in late 2016 and early 2017, emerging equities and debt have been among the best performers in their respective asset classes, with gains of 8.8% and 1.75% respectively, as of 15 March and in euros. Where does the consensus stand now?

Donald Trump’s first weeks as US president are turning out to be just as controversial as his bruising election campaign. A flurry of executive orders on border controls, trade and healthcare has dominated headlines, causing dismay and galvanising opposition.

The global economic order is expected to shift from advanced to emerging economies over the next few decades, and by 2040 India could edge past the US to become the world’s second largest economy in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, consulting firm PwC said in a new report titled “The World in 2050.”

The report, called "The long view: how will the global economic order change by 2050?," ranked 32 countries, based on their projected Gross Domestic Product by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

After nearly seven years from the end of the deepest global financial crisis of the postwar period, growth continues to be slow in advanced countries and falling in most emerging market economies. There is even the risk that the world may be drifting toward a new global financial crisis and even secular stagnation. These are the issues examined in this paper.