Conditions appear benign for emerging markets going into 2020.
Analysts expect the US economy to grow at a steady pace: neither so quickly as to suck risk appetite out of emerging-market assets, nor so slowly as to erode confidence in the global environment. The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, while many EM central banks continue their easing cycles. China can be relied on to provide enough stimulus to keep its own outlook buoyant, providing support for the rest of the emerging world.
Prospects for investors should be bright, then. But they face two difficulties. One is how to make the most of these conditions while dodging trouble in individual countries. The other is that the benign outlook itself may be an illusion.