Markets nearing bottom

The emerging markets are still waiting for a global upturn to push them into a bull market. In the meantime, area-specific problems are dominant, like Argentinean debt for Latin America and sluggish Western imports for Eastern Europe. Michael Hughes, client portfolio manager at JP Morgan Chase Fleming, says: 'The cuts in interest rates are positive news for the emerging markets. In the 1991 global economic downturn, when the Fed lowered interest rates and economic performance started to improve, emerging markets boomed. 'Again in 1998 when there were the beginnings of economic downturn ...