February 08, 2008 at 6:00 am by Tom Lydon
Weakness in the economy isn’t the only thing dogging exchange traded funds (ETFs) as well as both developed and emerging markets: the infrastructure is hurting, too.
Scott Jagow for Marketplace reports that one only need to look around the world to see the evidence: railway disasters in China, power outages in South Africa, Internet disruptions in India and the Middle East. Not to mention the bridge collapse in Minnesota last August.
While emerging markets have been growing and building skyscrapers, factories and commercial properties, they’ve been neglecting their infrastructure.
Marketplace Economic Correspondent Christ Farrell says that this is actually a silver lining to all the weakness in the economy: there’s going to be infrastructure investment over the next couple years, not just just in growing economies, but in the United States, as well. Our highway system was built, he says, when Elvis was still shaking his pelvis.
Farrell says it’s what governments naturally do when the economy slows: they want to boost spending and get people employed. The classic way to do it is borrow some money and put it into infrastructure.
If Farrell’s prediction proves true, two infrastructure ETFs could reap the rewards:
Tags: Asia, China, Emerging Markets, India, Infrastructure, Silver, South Africa
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