I’m not sure if you noticed, but the MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund just went out at the highest weekly close in its history.
For you youngsters, this is a big deal.
You see, when I first got in this business, it was the Summer of 2003. Young JC was living in New York City for the first time, downtown in TriBeCa, ready to take on the world.
I was just an intern (envelope stuffer) at the time, at a firm called Merrill Lynch, which later went on to disappear with the likes of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns. At that time though, in 2003, this gig was a big deal.
Anyway, for the next 4 years, Emerging Markets AVERAGED A 100% RETURN PER YEAR.
Yes you read that right. My career got started with Emerging Markets being the best place to be on earth. That stuck with me.
If you ask veteran traders and investors, they’ll tell you that what was happening when you first got into the business will impact how you think for the rest of your career.
It’s true.
Fortunately, I haven’t been an Emerging Markets bug and have certainly recognized the underperformance. This could have gone very different, for sure. Thankfully, I’ve been self-aware about the success in Emerging Markets stocks when I first got to Wall Street, and that the environment over the past decade simply wasn’t that!
Look how poorly EM performed vs the U.S. and how that’s now changed since last summer: [Read more…]