Investments

Following one of the most difficult Decembers in recent years for equity markets, investors surely are pleased to see 2019 begin with a rally in risk assets. One of the key factors fueling this risk appetite is...

Domestic equity markets kicked off 2019 with a very strong January, as most stocks posted sizable gains that were in sharp contrast to the deep losses experienced in December. The S&P 500 Index posted its best January return since...

The partial US government shutdown has ended with a short-term truce reached last Friday, sending roughly 800,000 government employees back to work this week. While certainly not the first shutdown, this was the...

Since the financial crisis in 2008, home prices have been on an upward, one-way trajectory. According to the Federal Reserve (the Fed), the median price of a home sold in the US bottomed out in...

2019 has begun with mixed macroeconomic data, but the market thus far has responded favorably, especially when compared with the sharp sell-off in equities in late 2018. The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to 54.1 from...

December closed out a terrible fourth quarter, as concerns over slowing economic growth, rising borrowing costs, global trade tensions, and uncertainty around the change in control of the US House of Representatives all pushed investors to reconsider the risk in their portfolios and forced

Investors are wondering what in the world is going on with the stock markets that have turned the holidays into a sea of red?  And we’re not talking about Santa’s coat or the color of your holiday light display; rather it’s the stream of red ticker tape on Wall Street!  This holiday season has come and gone with investors’ agonizing over witnessing the stock market careen around like a ship in troubled waters. 

Last week’s midterm elections ended total Republican control in Washington , as the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives. With some significant help from a skewed Senate map, in which Democrats and their allies had to defend 26 seats against the Republicans’  nine, Republicans held onto (and almost certainly increased) their majority in the Senate, pending the results of elections in Florida and Mississippi. This gave President Trump enough reason to claim victory in this election as he fended off a complete ‘Blue Wave .’

Now that the US mid-term elections are behind us, it is a good time to reflect on the potential implications for an asset class that might not spring to mind: emerging markets equity. To appreciate the effect of the US elections on emerging markets, it is necessary to take a step back and review the issues affecting the asset class. On the back of surging earnings and global synchronized economic growth, emerging markets soared in 2017, with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (USD) up 37%  in a market driven by growth and momentum.

The domestic equity markets fell sharply in October amidst high volatility, with big swings day to day, and in some cases, intraday. After leading the way up over the last six months, the growth indices led the way down in the reversal, driven by steep losses in the largest technology names, such as Amazon and Netflix, both down roughly 20%. The pullback in the month appears to be a reassessment of risk and some of the lofty valuations reached by these technology companies.