LPL Research: Burt White Chief Investment Officer
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By nature, emerging markets (EM) have greater risks, but they also have attractive attributes relative to developed foreign markets. For most markets, earnings have been stagnant while valuations — what investors are willing to pay for those earnings — have increased. In contrast, emerging markets are beginning to see earnings actually increase, albeit modestly. Initially, EM earnings growth was driven by commodity related sectors, but has broadened out, most importantly to include financial stocks. Furthermore, valuations in EM have not experienced the same expansion as other markets. As the earnings picture is souring for developed foreign markets, represented by the MSCI EAFE Index, overall, these developments increase the relative attractiveness of EM stocks...