Mar 1, 2019

Emerging markets are hot again after a rocky 2018

Data: Haver and IIF; Chart: Axios Visuals
Data: Haver and IIF; Chart: Axios Visuals

Investors look to have rekindled their love affair with emerging markets in the first 2 months of the year.

What's happening: The dovish shift from the Fed and global central banks, and de-escalating China-U.S. trade tensions are bringing investors back to the asset class after a rough 2018 performance.

What they're saying: "These events look likely to restart a Wall of Money to EM and our high frequency flow trackers are picking up a sharp spike," Jonathan Fortun, an economist, and Tariq Khan, a researcher, at the Institute of International Finance, said of the organization's recent findings.

Details: EM securities attracted $26.3 billion of foreign capital in February.

After 5 consecutive months of outflows, IIF analysts estimate that net capital flows, including banking and foreign direct investment, to emerging markets was $20.9 billion in January.

  • In particular, large flows into South Africa ($16.4 billion) and India ($13.3 billion) were behind the surge in overall inflows.

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