Is it right to blame Fed tapering for the EM sell-off?

Many equity investors will be happy to see the back of January, but several lessons are worth underlining. In short, the gradual scaling back of the Fed’s asset purchases alone still seems unlikely to result in a major sell-off in the Treasury market or a collapse in US equity prices. Emerging markets (EMs) have proved more vulnerable, although the emphasis generally placed on the role of Fed tapering in explaining their under-performance may be overdone as well.