Low oil boosts emerging markets

By Sarah Cunningham-Scharf | February 10, 2015 | Last updated on February 10, 2015
2 min read

The outlook is bright for emerging markets.

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That’s due to the decline in oil prices, as well as the European Central Bank’s dedication to stimulating the Eurozone, says Luc de la Durantaye, first vice-president of global asset allocation and currency management at CIBC Asset Management. He manages the Renaissance Optimal Inflation Opportunities Portfolio.

First, he adds, although dipping crude prices hurt domestically, emerging markets such as Indonesia, India and Turkey are large oil importers and, thus, major beneficiaries.

Read: Choose emerging over developed markets

“In particular, Asian regions such as Japan benefit a lot from declines in oil prices,” says de la Durantaye, since they’re major consumers of the commodity.

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QE in Europe

In mid-January, the ECB launched a €1.1-tillion QE program. The central bank’s efforts continued efforts to boost Eurozone growth, says de la Durantaye, “will not only have an impact on Europe, but will also have an indirect impact on other international markets.”

Read: What European QE means for portfolios

That’s because it will help relieve stress on global markets at a time when the U.S. Federal Reserve is moving in the opposite direction by ending its own QE program, he explains.

Still, de la Durantaye suggests not all stocks and markets will react positively to global changes. “There will be some winners and some losers in 2015,” but the global economy overall has a “slightly better outlook for 2015 than we [saw] in 2014.”

Read:

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Sarah Cunningham-Scharf