For investors who have allocated a disproportionate amount of their net worth to emerging markets, the past few quarters have certainly turned out to be painful.
Fiscal year 2018 saw many emerging market funds lose 10% of their value or more, on expectations that growth will continue to slow globally as debt accumulation heeds higher interest rates in key developed markets (many of the loans of emerging market companies/countries are denominated in U.S. dollars or Euros, making debt levels more expensive for most emerging market economies).
The question of how long and how pervasive foreign exchange weakness will be for investors concerned about emerging market growth remains to be seen.
I do believe that over the long term, holding a well diversified portfolio of investments (in a global sense, not just a domestic sector-based perspective) will serve investors better than putting all of one's eggs into one basket (i.e. Canada or Canada/U.S. only).
I have acquaintances who have done just this, and while North American growth has continued to outpace emerging markets of late, I don't expect this trend to hold over the long-term, and would suggest investors find active or passive ways of gaining exposure to emerging markets.
One of the best passive tools out there for investors interested in emerging markets is the American Funds New World (NEWFX), as this fund invests not only in companies based in specific emerging markets, but North American firms with significant operations in such markets, lowering the fund's overall risk profile while maintaining a relatively attractive long-term growth potential for investors.
Invest wisely, my friends.
