Setting aside the debt ceiling debacle for a moment, two interlinked topics have been at the top of investors’ thoughts over the past several months: emerging markets and inflation.
Emerging markets, of course, have been on a tear—at least compared with developed economies—for the past few years. We kick off the issue with a comprehensive article from William Perry of Morgan Stanley, who unrolls a wealth of data to support his argument that emerging market corporate bonds have grown up into an asset class worthy of attention. Christopher Philips—with Roger Aliaga-Díaz, Joseph Davis and Francis Kinniry Jr.—follows with a succinct argument for taking a broad-based approach when investing in emerging markets.
Next, we shift gears somewhat to examine the range of available inflation-linked products, including those providing opportunities in emerging markets, with an offering from Barclays Capital’s Brian Upbin, Anand Venkataraman and Scott Harman.
Inflation is, of course, on everyone’s mind, not just EM investors, so we’ve gathered a panel of people in the know to offer their insights on the topic in our latest roundtable, including Luis Viceira of Harvard Business School, Michael Ashton of Enduring Investments, Michael Pond of Barclays Capital, WisdomTree’s Rick Harper, Christopher Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytics, and IndexIQ’s Adam Patti.
Then, Rob Arnott takes us off-theme on a detailed comparison of the Fortune 500 and the S&P 500 that focuses on the impact of selection bias. It’s sure to pique the interest of any index nerd. David Blitzer weighs in with a meditation on the working relationship between index providers and fund managers, from the index provider’s perspective. And David Krein and John Prestbo offer some guidelines for the index end user.
We wrap up the issue with a brain teaser of our own, an inflation-focused crossword puzzle. Whether the macro-economy is in an inflationary or deflationary environment and your country is good for its debts or not, we send you best wishes for a healthy investment portfolio heading into the fall.
Jim Wiandt
Editor
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