Global Matters Weekly – 1 February 2021

Emerging Opportunities

by Stephen Nguyen, CFA
2020 witnessed some of the toughest challenges – be it social, economic or political – that most of us have ever experienced. Around this time 12 months ago, the Covid-19 pandemic was gathering momentum, particularly in Asia before it spread further afield, and soon enough the world went into lockdown. As we slowly emerge from the shadow of the pandemic thanks to vaccine breakthroughs, mobility and global economic growth should gradually increase. Emerging markets (EM), led by the Asian powerhouses (primarily China, South Korea and Taiwan), are likely to lead the recovery helped both by them being the engine of global growth but also having managed the pandemic better than peers. Emerging markets outperformed global developed equities in 2020 for the first time in three years: could this be a sign of things to come?


Market Snapshot

  • Global equities fell -3.4% last week
  • The IMF revised their global growth forecast for 2021 from 5.2% to 5.5%
  • Brent crude rose 0.8% last week to $55.9 a barrel
  • Gold fell -0.4% to $1847.65 per ounce