It is risk-on time for emerging markets. Last week’s sovereign bonds from Argentina and Russia confirm it. Both came from creditors not usually regarded as safe or secure, yet both were amply oversubscribed and both have traded strongly on secondary markets.
For some observers, such investor enthusiasm is a sure sign that the EM recovery is getting frothy. But there may also be reasons for investors who have tended to view EMs with suspicion to think again about the asset class.
The EM recovery is not new. It began in January 2016 when, after five years of straight decline, EM currencies began making ground against the US dollar and EM stocks began once again to outperform their developed market peers.