Emerging-market investors from Aegon USA Investment Management to JPMorgan Asset Management are dialing back their riskiest bond bets as the deepening selloff in global credit markets threatens to derail a stellar run for debt in the developing world.
Dollar debt from countries in the emerging world returned 1.4% over the past year despite the recent turmoil that has sent yields on US Treasuries to the highest in nearly two decades. Even with oil above $100 a barrel and investors bracing for higher-for-longer global interest rates, credit spreads are at their tightest since 2007, raising alarm bells for money managers who say the bonds are bound to sell off.