Brazil

Last week's news that BRIC pioneer Goldman Sachs had been forced to merge its fund into a wider emerging markets offering seemed to sound the death knell for what were once hugely popular vehicles less than a decade ago.

Investors were given yet another reason to steer clear of Brazil after political turmoil and high debt levels saw ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgrade the country's status from investment grade to 'junk' this month.

Rising deficit prompts downgrade

Peter Askew, co-manager of the T. Bailey Growth fund, says investors are at risk of missing out on the best Asian opportunities by only allocating to the region through emerging market labels

Can Mexico be given a clean bill of health?

First State Stewart's global emerging markets team is turning more positive on one of investors' least-loved global equity markets, saying valuations now warrant closer attention.

Investors are moving out of frontier markets and in to global emerging market vehicles, including BRIC funds, to capture a reversal in their fortunes.

Winners and losers

Latin American equities have been out of favour with investors for some time, but things could be about to change, writes BlackRock's Will Landers.

GLG's Jon Mawby and Andy Li have repositioned their £1bn Strategic Bond fund following the announcement of a €1.1trn quantitative easing programme by the European Central Bank (ECB).