Emerging Market Crises - When to Push the Panic Button?

We continue to be more concerned by developments in the core economies than in EMs, but we also acknowledge that when the liquidity tide goes out, then EMs can look vulnerable. In this report, we argue three things: (1) every EM crisis is first-and-foremost a currency crisis; (2) EM fundamentals appear far stronger than in past EM currency crises, and (3) the Chinese economy is now more important than the US economy to the fortunes of EMs. Although we remain negative about global markets, we are more upbeat about medium-term EM prospects and conclude that the latest shake-out is nothing like 1997, 2001 nor 2008. Therefore, buying into EM weakness makes sense.