Investors rediscover their enthusiasm for EM assets

April was the first month in over a year in which there were net inflows into global ETF and mutual funds that invest in emerging market (EM) assets. Investors’ growing enthusiasm for emerging market equities has seen their underperformance vis-à-vis developed market equities begin to unwind. Indeed, the returns from both assets classes are now broadly equal in the year to date. We do not expect emerging market equities to outperform their developed market counterparts, at least at the aggregate level. But we do think prices are generally likely to creep higher in tandem.