Despite concerns over developing economies, exchange traded funds that track emerging market debt continues to attract attention.
The iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF (NYSEArca: EMB) saw $486.5 million in net inflows over the past week, according to ETF.com data. EMB saw assets increase by $628.5 million year-to-date. [Investors Trickle Back to Emerging Markets ETFs]
Investors threw $42 billion into emerging market debt in the three months to February, even though the Fed signaled further tapering and emerging stocks tumbled at the beginning of the year, reports Arif Sharif for Bloomberg. In comparison, emerging market equities saw $2 billion in outflows over the same period.
“There hasn’t been an exit from fixed income in the way that some had been predicting,” for emerging markets, Mark McFarland, the Coutts chief economist, said in the article. “Investors are still running portfolios that seem to be a mixture of equities and fixed income rather than moving from fixed income to equities.”
McFarland argues that dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds from China, India, Iindonesia and Mexico are attractive opportunities.