Renewed optimism over the global economy has propelled the MSCI Emerging Market index to a four-week high, around 14% above its October low. But "this is not laying the path for a long rally", says Nicholas Field of Schroders. The latest surge of optimism was based on a pledge by G20 finance ministers to double the International Monetary Fund's rescue reserves. This is particularly good news for eastern Europe, but officials are still wrangling over "who will pay and how", says Forbes.com.
Elsewhere, optimism about China's prospects looks overdone. Annual retail sales growth slowed to 15% in the first two months of 2009; exports slid 26% year-on-year in February; and a slide in annual industrial production growth to below 4% also suggests that the government stimulus has yet to make a strong impact, says Terence Poon in The Wall Street Journal.
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