“Losing investment-grade status would imply exclusion from investment grade bond indexes and could lead to outflows of as much as $2 billion from local bonds, $5 billion from eurobonds, Bloomberg reports, citing Barclays.
The iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF (NYSEArca: EMB), the largest U.S.-listed emerging markets bond ETF, features a lineup that is over 40% allocated to bonds that rated BBB+, BBB or BBB- on the S&P scale. The ETF features a 5.6% weight to Turkey, which could stay in tact or only be pared because the ETF has some junk exposure.
The WisdomTree Emerging Markets Local Debt Fund (NYSEArca: ELD) currently has an all-investment grade lineup, but the ETF, denominated in local currencies, is actively managed. That could give ELD a leg up if Turkey’s credit rating heads to junk. In fact, ELD’s strategy committee reduced the ETF’s exposure to Russia, Thailand and Turkey in the first quarter.
Turkey is currently ELD’s second-smallest country weight at 3.48%. The ETF has a 30-ay SEC yield of 5.22% and an effective duration of almost 5.1 years.
iShares Emerging Markets High Yield Bond ETF
