The bulls return to emerging markets

Last month, the MSCI Emerging Markets index outperformed developed markets for the first time since January.

Handbag shopping in China
China’s middle class will make up 73% of the population by 2030, up from 10% in 2009
(Image credit: © Alamy)

The bulls are charging back into emerging markets. The MSCI Emerging Markets index has lagged so far this year, gaining 6.8% to the developed world’s 11.7%. Yet last month it outperformed developed markets for the first time since January, says Bloomberg. The commodity boom has powered the latest rise: materials and energy make up 14% of the MSCI EM index, compared with 8% for the developed market gauge.

Global money managers pulled $44bn from emerging markets during the first half of 2020, says Jonathan Wheatley in the Financial Times. But they have since returned in force, pouring more than $100bn into emerging equities and bonds during the nine months to 31 March.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.