Emerging markets reprieve may not last long; US rates, trade war pose risk

Investors will be carefully watching the US Fed after Chairman Jerome Powell wasn't as dovish as they'd hoped in comments that followed the central bank's interest-rate increase on Dec 19

Emerging markets are tentatively picking themselves up from the floor after a rout that's wiped more than $5 trillion off the value of stocks since January. But the reprieve may not last long.   

Rising rates in the US, a stronger dollar, Beijing and Washington's trade war, lower oil prices and the emergence of populist leaders in Latin America's two biggest economies could all weigh on markets. 

"The theory is dead simple: emerging-market assets have already bombed, so the downside, if things get worse, is much lower and if things recover they have greater potential to perform," said Anthony Peters, an independent