US stock markets are lower today, probably on worries over the debt ceiling. European markets are mixed, while Asia, which always opens much earlier, was up nicely, following good gains last week.
I think it is important to have some exposure to emerging markets like those in Asia. To that end, I have been moving some assets lately into emerging market stock funds and may continue to add to that.
Inflation is beginning to show up again in emerging markets where they have good economic growth. Here in the US and in Europe, inflation has been very tame, but considering the tremendous amount of money central banks have been printing if those economies strengthen – look out! I’ll talk about some of the ramifications of that in another post. I’ll just say that there is a reason I have 10-15% of most accounts in things that benefit from inflation.