For all the obvious negatives -- think surging oil prices, trade tensions and the U.S. Federal Reserve having possibly reached the limits of its dovishness -- emerging markets are keeping their heads above water.
While developing-nation currencies just weakened for the first time in three weeks, their implied volatility, at around 8.25%, remains below the past year’s average. The yield on emerging-market local-currency debt is within 10 basis points of the all-time low of 4.12% reached in August. And the MSCI Index of stocks isn’t far off its highest level in seven weeks.
