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Golden Age for EM Bonds

April 22, 2024

Read Time 7 MIN

Sharply rising precious metals prices and strong fiscal and monetary stances in EM bonds may provide opportunities for emerging markets debt investors.
Average Annual Total Returns* (%) as of March 31, 2024
  1 MO 3 MO YTD 1 YR 3 YR 5 YR 10 YR
Class A: NAV (Inception 07/09/12) 0.68 -0.29 -0.29 6.76 0.35 2.90 1.39
Class A: Maximum 5.75% load -5.11 -6.02 -6.02 0.62 -1.62 1.69 0.79
Class I: NAV (Inception 07/09/12) 0.76 -0.03 -0.03 7.28 0.69 3.26 1.71
Class Y: NAV (Inception 07/09/12) 0.73 -0.05 -0.05 7.14 0.57 3.19 1.64
50% GBI-EM/50% EMBI 1.03 -0.05 -0.05 8.10 -1.45 0.48 1.42

* Returns less than one year are not annualized.

Expenses: Class A: Gross 2.55%, Net 1.22%; Class I: Gross 2.51%, Net 0.87%; Class Y: Gross 2.91%, Net 0.97%. Expenses are capped contractually until 05/01/24 at 1.25% for Class A, 0.95% for Class I, 1.00% for Class Y. Caps excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, interest, trading, dividends, and interest payments of securities sold short, taxes, and extraordinary expenses.

The performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Performance may be lower or higher than performance data quoted. Please call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com for performance current to the most recent month ended.

The “Net Asset Value” (NAV) of a Fund is determined at the close of each business day, and represents the dollar value of one share of the fund; it is calculated by taking the total assets of the fund, subtracting total liabilities, and dividing by the total number of shares outstanding. The NAV is not necessarily the same as the ETF’s intraday trading value. Investors should not expect to buy or sell shares at NAV.

EM Bonds have strong fiscal and monetary stances compared to DM bonds. Central banks aren’t just accumulating gold, they are buying EM local currency bonds (especially Asian bonds) as reserve assets, too. This is a slower process, but so was central bank gold accumulation until this year. Do you want to predict the day it gains traction, or get access to an asset class that has a buyer base with big balance sheets and a secular path? When Saudi receives Chinese renminbi (CNY) for oil, what do you think it will do with the CNY? (Answer: buy CNY bonds.) This point was central to our “fiscal dominance” piece. And in that piece, we honed in on EM central bank gold holdings, which have been rising for over a decade. The DM central banks have only just begun to get in on the act, if at all. This, at least, means more careful consideration about whether you’re getting paid enough premium to reward that risk in DM.

Fed Funicular falters – will a stop at a higher terminal rate need to be built? We don’t know. But, we can find bonds in EM that “don’t care”. We’ve used the funicular framing in previous pieces and find it helpful. If the Bayesian facts are that the next decision “node” occurs when the inflation/employment data might be worse, that’s key, game-theoretically. If the right date for that node is July, where do you think the world will be then and do you have confidence in that view, what with wars, locusts and golems about? If you don’t, EM bonds have many ways to insulate you from the range of scenarios, of saying “these EM bonds do best across the scenarios”. So, you get your carry and the price either goes up or down based on U.S. rates. What it shows is what it always shows – EM bonds do best across the rate scenarios. The carry in EM bonds is so high it allows you to not base your fixed income investing on your opinion on the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed). Sounds good to us.

The changes to our top positions are summarized below. Our largest positions in March were Brazil, Poland, Colombia, Indonesia and Mexico:

  • We increased our hard currency sovereign exposure in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Romania and Poland. Romania’s political noise is set to increase in the run up to the elections, but at the same time a smart issuance policy and the EU funds’ inflows should continue to shelter sovereign bonds, improving the economic and policy test scores for the country. Poland’s sovereign bonds might be less sensitive to political games around the central bank governor's removal. In terms of our investment process, this boosts the country’s technical test score. As regards the remaining countries, a combination of attractive valuations and solid fundamentals is compelling, and there are also better technical factors as the rest of the region often lacks longer bonds.
  • We also increased our local currency exposure in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan Region. Malaysia is a fundamentally solid and less correlated to EM credit, which gave a boost to our duration exposure. In terms of our investment process, this reflected the improved technical test score. Singapore’s music tourism appears to be a new growth driver, against the backdrop of lower than expected inflation and a very small fiscal deficit in 2024. All these factors improve the economic test score for the country. Taiwan Region’s local exposure was a nice way to get FX yield pickup.
  • Finally, we increased our hard currency sovereign exposure in Benin, Paraguay, Barbados and Cameroon. All these sovereign bonds have attractive valuations (hence, the solid technical test scores). Benin and Cameroon also show the renewed reform momentum, which improved their respective policy test scores.
  • We reduced our local currency exposure in Mexico and Brazil. The Mexican peso’s net long positioning is getting stretched, and there are legitimate concerns about pre-election spending and the central bank’s initiating its cutting before the Fed’s, which worsen the country’s policy test score. Brazil’s price action was affected by elevated positioning as well as some idiosyncratic risks, such as Petrobras’s dividends story and the government’s fiscal performance, which worsen the policy and technical test scores for the country.
  • We also reduced our hard currency corporate and quasi-sovereign exposure in China. The economy appears to be bottoming out, reducing incentives to increase policy support. We are also disappointed by a lack of clarity about the resolution of real estate developers’ debt, which is a major headwind to the sector and GDP growth in general, worsening the policy test score for the country.
  • Finally, we reduced our hard currency sovereign exposure in Mozambique, Mongolia and Nigeria. We took profits in Nigeria after sovereign bonds’ post-election rally. Sovereign valuations in Mongolia and Mozambique and getting stretched, worsening the technical test scores for both countries.

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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. Certain statements contained herein may constitute projections, forecasts and other forward-looking statements, which do not reflect actual results, are for illustrative purposes only, are valid as of the date of this communication, and are subject to change without notice. Actual future performance of any assets or industries mentioned are unknown. Information provided by third party sources are believed to be reliable and have not been independently verified for accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. VanEck does not guarantee the accuracy of third party data. The information herein represents the opinion of the author(s), but not necessarily those of VanEck or its other employees.

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. Yield to worst is a measure of the lowest possible yield that can be received on a bond with an early retirement provision. Averages are market weighted. The yields presented do not represent the performance of the Fund. These statistics do not take into account fees and expenses associated with investments of the Fund.

All indices are unmanaged and include the reinvestment of all dividends, but do not reflect the payment of transaction costs, advisory fees or expenses that are associated with an investment in the Fund. Certain indices may take into account withholding taxes. An index’s performance is not illustrative of the Fund’s performance. Indices are not securities in which investments can be made.

The Fund’s benchmark index (50% GBI-EM/50% EMBI) is a blended index consisting of 50% J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) Global Diversified and 50% J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index (EMBI). The J.P. Morgan GBI-EM Global Diversified tracks local currency bonds issued by Emerging Markets governments. The J.P. Morgan EMBI Global Diversified tracks returns for actively traded external debt instruments in emerging markets, and is also J.P. Morgan’s most liquid U.S dollar emerging markets debt benchmark.

Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable but J.P. Morgan does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. The Index is used with permission. The index may not be copied, used or distributed without J.P. Morgan’s written approval. Copyright 2023, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved.

J.P. Morgan GBI-EM Global Diversified Index tracks local currency denominated EM government debt. The index weighting methodology limits the weight of countries with larger debt stocks, with a maximum of 10%.

J.P. Morgan EMBI Global Diversified Index is comprised of U.S. dollar-denominated Brady bonds, Eurobonds, and traded loans issued by emerging markets sovereign and quasi-sovereign entities. The index weighting methodology limits the weight of countries with larger debt stocks.

ICE BofA U.S. Treasury Index racks the performance of EUR denominated sovereign debt publicly issued by the German government in the German domestic or eurobond market.

ICE BofA German Government Index tracks the performance of EUR denominated sovereign debt publicly issued by the German government in the German domestic or eurobond market.

ICE BofA Global Broad Market Index tracks the performance of investment grade debt publicly issued in the major domestic and eurobond markets, including sovereign, quasi-government, corporate, securitized and collateralized securities.

ICE BofA Japan Government Index tracks the performance of JPY denominated sovereign debt publicly issued by the Japanese government in its domestic market.

ICE BofA UK Gilt Index tracks the performance of JPY denominated sovereign debt publicly issued by the Japanese government in its domestic market.

You can lose money by investing in the Fund. Any investment in the Fund should be part of an overall investment program, not a complete program. The Fund is subject to risks which may include, but are not limited to, risks associated with active management, credit, credit-linked notes, currency management strategies, derivatives, emerging market issuers, energy sector, ESG investing strategy, foreign currency, foreign securities, hedging, high portfolio turnover, high yield securities, interest rate, LIBOR replacement, market, non-diversified, operational, restricted securities, investing in other funds, sovereign bond, and special risk considerations of investing in Latin American issuers, all of which may adversely affect the Fund. Emerging market issuers and foreign securities may be subject to securities markets, political and economic, investment and repatriation restrictions, different rules and regulations, less publicly available financial information, foreign currency and exchange rates, operational and settlement, and corporate and securities laws risks. Derivatives may involve certain costs and risks such as liquidity, interest rate, and the risk that a position could not be closed when most advantageous.

ESG integration is the practice of incorporating material environmental, social and governance (ESG) information or insights alongside traditional measures into the investment decision process to improve long term financial outcomes of portfolios. Unless otherwise stated within an active investment strategy’s investment objective, inclusion of this statement does not imply that an active investment strategy has an ESG-aligned investment objective, but rather describes how ESG information may be integrated into the overall investment process.

Investors should consider the Fund’s investment objective, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment company carefully before investing. Bond and bond funds will decrease in value as interest rates rise. The prospectus and summary prospectus contain this and other information. Please read them carefully before investing. Please call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com for performance information current to the most recent month end and for a free prospectus and summary prospectus.

No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission of Van Eck Securities Corporation.

© 2024 Van Eck Securities Corporation, Distributor, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Van Eck Associates Corporation.

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. Certain statements contained herein may constitute projections, forecasts and other forward-looking statements, which do not reflect actual results, are for illustrative purposes only, are valid as of the date of this communication, and are subject to change without notice. Actual future performance of any assets or industries mentioned are unknown. Information provided by third party sources are believed to be reliable and have not been independently verified for accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. VanEck does not guarantee the accuracy of third party data. The information herein represents the opinion of the author(s), but not necessarily those of VanEck or its other employees.

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. Yield to worst is a measure of the lowest possible yield that can be received on a bond with an early retirement provision. Averages are market weighted. The yields presented do not represent the performance of the Fund. These statistics do not take into account fees and expenses associated with investments of the Fund.

All indices are unmanaged and include the reinvestment of all dividends, but do not reflect the payment of transaction costs, advisory fees or expenses that are associated with an investment in the Fund. Certain indices may take into account withholding taxes. An index’s performance is not illustrative of the Fund’s performance. Indices are not securities in which investments can be made.

The Fund’s benchmark index (50% GBI-EM/50% EMBI) is a blended index consisting of 50% J.P. Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) Global Diversified and 50% J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index (EMBI). The J.P. Morgan GBI-EM Global Diversified tracks local currency bonds issued by Emerging Markets governments. The J.P. Morgan EMBI Global Diversified tracks returns for actively traded external debt instruments in emerging markets, and is also J.P. Morgan’s most liquid U.S dollar emerging markets debt benchmark.

Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable but J.P. Morgan does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. The Index is used with permission. The index may not be copied, used or distributed without J.P. Morgan’s written approval. Copyright 2023, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved.

J.P. Morgan GBI-EM Global Diversified Index tracks local currency denominated EM government debt. The index weighting methodology limits the weight of countries with larger debt stocks, with a maximum of 10%.

J.P. Morgan EMBI Global Diversified Index is comprised of U.S. dollar-denominated Brady bonds, Eurobonds, and traded loans issued by emerging markets sovereign and quasi-sovereign entities. The index weighting methodology limits the weight of countries with larger debt stocks.

ICE BofA U.S. Treasury Index racks the performance of EUR denominated sovereign debt publicly issued by the German government in the German domestic or eurobond market.

ICE BofA German Government Index tracks the performance of EUR denominated sovereign debt publicly issued by the German government in the German domestic or eurobond market.

ICE BofA Global Broad Market Index tracks the performance of investment grade debt publicly issued in the major domestic and eurobond markets, including sovereign, quasi-government, corporate, securitized and collateralized securities.

ICE BofA Japan Government Index tracks the performance of JPY denominated sovereign debt publicly issued by the Japanese government in its domestic market.

ICE BofA UK Gilt Index tracks the performance of JPY denominated sovereign debt publicly issued by the Japanese government in its domestic market.

You can lose money by investing in the Fund. Any investment in the Fund should be part of an overall investment program, not a complete program. The Fund is subject to risks which may include, but are not limited to, risks associated with active management, credit, credit-linked notes, currency management strategies, derivatives, emerging market issuers, energy sector, ESG investing strategy, foreign currency, foreign securities, hedging, high portfolio turnover, high yield securities, interest rate, LIBOR replacement, market, non-diversified, operational, restricted securities, investing in other funds, sovereign bond, and special risk considerations of investing in Latin American issuers, all of which may adversely affect the Fund. Emerging market issuers and foreign securities may be subject to securities markets, political and economic, investment and repatriation restrictions, different rules and regulations, less publicly available financial information, foreign currency and exchange rates, operational and settlement, and corporate and securities laws risks. Derivatives may involve certain costs and risks such as liquidity, interest rate, and the risk that a position could not be closed when most advantageous.

ESG integration is the practice of incorporating material environmental, social and governance (ESG) information or insights alongside traditional measures into the investment decision process to improve long term financial outcomes of portfolios. Unless otherwise stated within an active investment strategy’s investment objective, inclusion of this statement does not imply that an active investment strategy has an ESG-aligned investment objective, but rather describes how ESG information may be integrated into the overall investment process.

Investors should consider the Fund’s investment objective, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment company carefully before investing. Bond and bond funds will decrease in value as interest rates rise. The prospectus and summary prospectus contain this and other information. Please read them carefully before investing. Please call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com for performance information current to the most recent month end and for a free prospectus and summary prospectus.

No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission of Van Eck Securities Corporation.

© 2024 Van Eck Securities Corporation, Distributor, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Van Eck Associates Corporation.