Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Eric Fine
One Takeaway, Four Implications, and Seven Denials at 2026 IMF Annual Meetings
The Emerging Markets Debt team just returned from 2026 Annual IMF Meetings in Bangkok, where we discussed all key topics with key global policymakers, investors, and analysts. The team just returned from 2026 Annual IMF Meetings in Bangkok, where we discussed all key topics with key global policymakers, investors, and analysts. We’ve been attending these meetings for over three decades, so our attitude will be meta.
Why EM Bonds Have Outperformed Treasuries — and the Structural Case Behind It
Important Disclosures There is no guarantee that these conditions will persist or that the fund will achieve similar results in the future. This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
Another DM Warning, Same EM Bond Opportunity.
Important Disclosures There is no guarantee that these conditions will persist or that the fund will achieve similar results in the future. This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
EMBX: EM Bonds Persistently Resilient
Important Disclosures There is no guarantee that these conditions will persist or that the fund will achieve similar results in the future. This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
EMBX: Better Tracks, Better Destinations in EM
Disclosures This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
EMBX: EM Bloom in the Doom
Disclosures This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
EMBX: Actively Navigating Iran-Driven Risks in EM Debt
Disclosures This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
EM Debt Strength Holds as DM Policy Noise Grows | VanEck
EM bonds outperformed as higher yields and carry dominated outcomes, with local currency exposure benefiting from rate volatility and geopolitical shocks that favored EM over DM. Key Takeaways: Emerging markets have recently outperformed developed markets despite ongoing rate volatility. Local currency exposure and carry are driving returns, even as rising U.S. yields weigh on USD bonds. Geopolitical shocks benefited EM assets again, reinforcing their relative value compared to developed markets.
If the Dollar Loses Reserve Status, Could Gold Surpass $39k?
What if gold replaced the US dollar as the reserve standard? In this paper, our Emerging Markets Bonds team values gold by matching central bank money liabilities to gold reserves, implying $39k–$184k per ounce. How the EM Bond Team “Values” Gold What if Gold Replaces US Treasuries?
EM Bonds Outshine DM as Fundamentals Drive Stability
EM bonds have remained resilient and outperformed DM bonds in 2025 as strong fundamentals and positioning drive continued defensive behavior. Key Takeaways: EMBX continued to outperform in 2025, supported by strong country selection and disciplined positioning. EM assets acted like defensive havens despite global equity volatility, with Korea exemplifying EM “graduates” showing resilience.
Why EM Bonds Are Beating Expectations in 2025
Emerging market bonds are rallying in 2025, defying tariff and devaluation fears. Portfolio Manager Eric Fine explains the drivers—CNY strength, prudent EM policies, tariff dynamics, and strong reserves—and highlights where the biggest opportunities may lie. So why have EM bonds done so well so far in 2025? Well, if you remember, the beginning of the year, it wasn't supposed to be like this. Tariffs were supposed to lead to EM devaluations, right? It was supposed to be really rough time.
The Curiously Unpopular Case for RMB/CNY Appreciation
Instead of devaluing, China let the CNY strengthen in 2025—defying expectations. Undervaluation, low inflation, reserve shifts, and rising EM trade ties all point to a new FX dynamic centered on RMB strength. Explore Investment Ideas EMBX | VanEck Emerging Markets Bond ETF Remember the consensus view for 2025 that tariffs would force China (and other emerging markets) to devalue their currencies?
Plan for 2025: Predictions from Our Portfolio Managers
Get your portfolio ready with detailed insights from VanEck’s investment team about the factors driving risk and returns in their respective asset classes. CEO Jan van Eck recently outlined four pivotal macroeconomic trends shaping the investment landscape heading into 2025: The U.S. faces a fiscal reckoning, with potential government spending cuts and persistent inflation risks underscoring the importance of diversified equity portfolios and robust inflation hedges.
Rate Rally Reinforces the Case for EM Bonds
Despite the Fed’s rate cuts, US rates rallied, which we believe only reinforces the case for EM bonds. The VanEck Emerging Markets Bond Fund was down 2.66% in October, compared to -3.17% for its benchmark.
Fed Cuts Plus China Stimulus Solidify EM Bond Momentum
China stimulus and the start to the Fed’s cutting only adds to emerging market bonds strong momentum heading into the end of 2024. The VanEck Emerging Markets Bond Fund was up 3.26% in September, compared to up 2.62% for its benchmark.
Fed Cuts Are Positive For EM Local Bonds
Emerging markets have held real rates high for too long. Will the Fed’s rate cutting regime signal a change? The VanEck Emerging Markets Bond Fund was up 2.50% in August, compared to 2.70% for its benchmark, the 50% J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets Global Diversified (GBI-EM) and 50% J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index (EMBI).
EM Debt: Are Investors Looking at the Wrong Risks? | VanEck
Disclosures This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
Fed Waiting Game: An EM Debt Perspective
Sign-up to Receive Our Latest Insights Disclosures This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
Golden Age for EM Bonds
Welcome to VanEck VanEck is a global investment manager with offices around the world. To help you find content that is suitable for your investment needs, please select your country and investor type. Select Your Country / Region Select Investor Type Sharply rising precious metals prices and strong fiscal and monetary stances in EM bonds may provide opportunities for emerging markets debt investors.
Advisors May Want to Increase Emerging Market Bond Allocations
In a recent Investment News article, Eric Fine explains why emerging market bond allocations have nowhere to go but up—and why he believes that’s exactly where they should be headed. Emerging market (EM) bonds represent one of the most compelling – and most misunderstood – opportunities for global investors. Despite strong underlying fundamentals and historical performance, EM bonds are frequently under-allocated as a fixed income asset.
Cynical Bull – An Emerging Markets Debt Perspective | VanEck
Fed rate cuts are coming, but moving too swiftly is a risk. We discuss the implications for emerging markets debt investors. The VanEck Emerging Markets Bond Fund (the Fund) was up 0.2% in February in line with its benchmark, the 50% J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) Global Diversified and 50% J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index (EMBI). Year to date, the Fund is outperforming its benchmark by around 30 basis points (bps).
Four Looming Risks That Could Bolster EM Bonds
Many investors are not pricing in four risks in their portfolios. Each of these risks hurts DM bonds and currencies, but helps emerging markets bonds and currencies. In January, the VanEck Emerging Markets Bond Fund was down 0.84% in January, compared to -1.27% for its benchmark, the 50% J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) Global Diversified and 50% J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index (EMBI).
Fiscal Dominance: The Clarifying Lens for EM (and DM) Bonds
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so” — Mark Twain The absence of “fiscal dominance” in emerging markets (EM) helps explain why EM hard-currency bonds outperformed their developed markets (DM) counterparts for the past 20 years. In this white paper we will look at emerging markets’ superior fiscal and monetary policy stance and why it is also beginning to generate better risk/return statistics in EM local-currency bonds.
Bull or Bear? Emerging Markets Bonds Outperform in Both
Welcome to VanEck VanEck is a global investment manager with offices around the world. To help you find content that is suitable for your investment needs, please select your country and investor type. Select Your Country / Region Select Investor Type Emerging markets bonds once again outperformed DM bonds, this time in a bond bull market year. The VanEck Emerging Markets Bond Fund was up 3.88% in December, compared to 4.12% for its benchmark.
EM Bonds Guideposts for 2024
The economic backdrop appears supportive for emerging markets bonds headed into 2024. In this blog, we discuss five guideposts that are all largely supportive for the asset class. In November, the VanEck Emerging Markets Bond Fund was up 5.83%, compared to 5.47% for its benchmark, the 50% J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) Global Diversified and 50% J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index (EMBI).
Speaker Mike Johnson is out of step with Americans, and his constituents, on climate change
Fine is the project manager for the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and a Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis. When it comes to climate change, newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson may be on the same page as many of his fellow Republican lawmakers, but his views are far from those of most of his constituents in Louisiana, as well as most Republican voters and 81 of Johnson’s Republican colleagues who make up the Conservative Climate Caucus.
What Happens After a Santa Rally in Rates?
Disclosures This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
The Often Overlooked and Misunderstood Bond Buy
Many U.S. investors, in general, tend to shrug off global markets, particularly when it comes to bonds. After nearly a decade and a half of declining yields and low volatility for developed markets, the past few years have been characterized by rising rates and emerging risks in global bond markets.
Three Reasons to Allocate to EM Bonds Now
The past several years have been characterized by rising rates and emerging risks in global bond markets, after nearly a decade and a half of declining yields and low volatility in many developed markets. Below we explore why investors should consider allocating to emerging market (EM) bonds in the current market environment. View here for a PDF version of this blog. 1.
Webinar Registration | VanEck
Disclosures Please note that VanEck may offer investments products that invest in the asset class(es) or industries included in this commentary. This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
Emerging Markets Debt: Hold Steady, Until Bonds Stabilize | VanEck
Disclosures 1 Source: ICE Data Indices and J.P. Morgan as of 9/30/2023. UST 10y is measured by the ICE BofA Current 10 Year US Treasury Index; Global Agg is measured by the ICE BofA Global Broad Market Plus Index; EM Blend is measured by 50% J.P. Morgan EMBI Global Diversified/50% J.P. Morgan GBI-EM Global Diversified. This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein.
Bad Bonds Plus Uncertain China = EM Bond Opportunities
Disclosures This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
Risks to Bonds Multiply
Disclosures This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
Webinar Registration | VanEck
Insights Emerging Markets Bonds A hawkish Federal Reserve and subsequent rising U.S. recession risk are clearly bullish for risk-free markets like U.S. Treasuries. But what about “risk” assets? We discuss why emerging markets (EM) U.S. dollar-denominated bonds are favorable in the current environment and address the below questions: How are we adjusting exposures amid China weakness? Why does the EM over DM bond thesis remain intact?
What Investors Need to Know About Emerging Markets Debt
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities/financial instruments mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, or tax advice.
What Does A Hawkish Fed Mean For Emerging Markets Bonds?
Disclosures This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
The Fed’s Wind Down Favors EM Bond Duration?
Emerging markets bonds continue to outperform developed markets bonds, and could continue to benefit from positive secular tailwinds in the long run. In May, the VanEck Emerging Markets Bond Fund returned -0.95%, compared to -1.07% for its benchmark (the 50% J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) Global Diversified and 50% J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index (EMBI)). Year to date, the Fund has returned 3.18%, in line with its benchmark, which has returned 3.12%.
The Fed’s Wind Down Favors EM Bond Duration?
Disclosures This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action.
EM Debt: Safe Ship in Storm Seas
Disclosures Definitions Duration measures a bond’s sensitivity to interest rate changes that reflects the change in a bond’s price given a change in yield. This duration measure is appropriate for bonds with embedded options. Carry is the benefit or cost for owning an asset. A handle is the whole number part of a price quote, that is, the portion of the quote to the left of the decimal point.
Webinar Registration | VanEck
Insights Emerging Markets Bonds Emerging markets (EM) have low debt, high real policy rates, and they benefit from commodity prices. After a tumultuous few months, our conviction is strengthened that money will flow out of developed markets bonds and into emerging markets bonds due to “fiscal dominance” in developed markets. In this webinar, we’ll cover the case for EM bonds, our investment philosophy, process and current views.
EM Debt: Safe Ship in Stormy Seas
By Eric Fine Portfolio Manager, Emerging Markets Fixed Income A tumultuous few months have strengthened our conviction that money will flow out of developed markets bonds and into emerging markets bonds due to “fiscal dominance” in developed markets.
Welcome to the fourth cohort of the Public Voices Fellowship on the Climate Crisis
The climate crisis affects all of us, but its impacts are unevenly and unjustly distributed. Those with the greatest power to mitigate and adapt to climate change often have the least incentive to do so, across geography, wealth, age, race, and gender. There is an urgent need for new ideas from a diversity of individuals, across geography, wealth, age, race, and gender, including those most impacted by climate change. From them, we can learn new solutions and envision a more just future.
How Museums Are Engaging Their Audiences on Climate Change
On March 10th, 2023, the Yale Center for Environmental Communication hosted a panel which was moderated by Miranda Massie, Director and Founder of the Climate Museum and included Jen Kretser, Director of Climate Initiatives at the Wild Center and Nan Renner, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Birch Aquarium at Scripps.
Debt Rattle for Developed Markets, Birth for Emerging Markets
Disclosures Definitions Duration measures a bond’s sensitivity to interest rate changes that reflects the change in a bond’s price given a change in yield. This duration mea- sure is appropriate for bonds with embedded options. Carry is the benefit or cost for owning an asset. A handle is the whole number part of a price quote, that is, the portion of the quote to the left of the decimal point.
Gale Force Uncertainty Creates EM Debt Tailwinds
Insights Emerging Markets Bonds Uncertainty abounds in many key global macroeconomic drivers. However, some of this uncertainty, global growth and geopolitics in particular, may provide a strong tailwind for EM debt. In January, the Fund returned 5.02%, compared to 3.73% for its benchmark, the 50% J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) Global Diversified and 50% J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index (EMBI), generating outperformance of 129 bps.
The Investment Case for Emerging Markets Debt
ByEric Fine Portfolio Manager, Emerging Markets Fixed Income & In a world that is worried about endless monetary experimentation and leverage in developed markets, but also looking for attractive yield, emerging markets may have answers. The investment case for emerging markets (EM) debt is pretty compelling. First, in a world rightly concerned about excessive debt and insufficient yields, EM has an answer: EM governments are subject to debt constraints and pay market-determined yields.
The Investment Case for Emerging Markets Debt
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES 1 Source: VanEck Research, Bloomberg LP. Data as of 2022. This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities/financial instruments mentioned herein. The information herein represents the opinion of the author(s), but not necessarily those of VanEck, and these opinions may change at any time. Non-VanEck proprietary information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but not guaranteed.
China’s Reopening Good for EM Debt
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities/financial instruments mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, or tax advice.
Call for Applications: The 2023 Public Voices Fellowship on the Climate Crisis
After three successful years of the Public Voices Fellowship on the Climate Crisis, we are pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for the 2023 Fellowship.
3 Reasons to Allocate to EM Bonds in 2023
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES Please note that VanEck may offer investment products that invest in the asset class(es) or industries included in this commentary. This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities/financial instruments mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, or tax advice.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Eric
Contact Eric, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack