Love Employee/iStock via Getty Images In 2025, emerging markets (EM) corporate credit delivered another solid year, with index returns of 8.7%. The asset class outperformed developed markets (DM) corporate credit across all ratings except CCCs, although it underperformed an exceptional year in EM sovereign debt. We highlight five themes we believe must be evaluated to better navigate the EM corpor...
Love Employee/iStock via Getty Images In 2025, emerging markets (EM) corporate credit delivered another solid year, with index returns of 8.7%. The asset class outperformed developed markets (DM) corporate credit across all ratings except CCCs, although it underperformed an exceptional year in EM sovereign debt. We highlight five themes we believe must be evaluated to better navigate the EM corporate debt universe in the coming year. Theme 1: The Commodities Opportunity Set in EM Corporate Debt The significant rally in metals, particularly precious, continues to grab headlines, while crude oil markets remain volatile as they price the uncertain impacts of geopolitical events. When we invest in commodity issuers, it is important to understand what our universe offers and how commodity prices actually affect a company’s credit quality and its bond valuations. The metals and mining sector accounts for 6% of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Emerging Market Bond Index (CEMBI) Broad Diversified (BD)[1]. This sector includes large-cap, integrated, multi-metal, and multi-mine issuers as well as smaller companies that are less diversified by product and asset base. One can get exposure to mature, world-class mining operations but also to growing businesses with smaller footprints. Parsing the sector by metal is nuanced as mines often market and bundle byproducts within their core operations. Metals and Mining Sector Breakdown in CEMBI BC Sources: J.P. Morgan CEMBI BD and William Blair, as of December 31, 2025. A breakdown of the oil and gas sector reveals a universe not purely driven by volatility in oil prices. Almost two-thirds of the 11% sector weight in the index can be classified as integrated oil companies. These are large issuers that operate across the hydrocarbon value chain, not only exploring and producing oil and natural gas but also transporting it, refining it, producing petrochemicals, and distributing fuels. Every step in this value chain balances the direct oil-pri...
Some Hong Kong taxi drivers have yet to install e-payment options even after the city’s new mandatory electronic payment for taxis went into effect, highlighting a digital divide challenge facing cabbies, the South China Morning Post has observed. Starting on 1 April, the Transport Department mandated all drivers to offer passengers at least two electronic payment options, encompassing one QR code...
Some Hong Kong taxi drivers have yet to install e-payment options even after the city’s new mandatory electronic payment for taxis went into effect, highlighting a digital divide challenge facing cabbies, the South China Morning Post has observed. Starting on 1 April, the Transport Department mandated all drivers to offer passengers at least two electronic payment options, encompassing one QR code option and one alternative electronic method. The government initiative aimed to elevate the...
Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency on Wednesday offered to pay for the flight of a London-based key witness to help with its investigation into possible corruption linked to a US$250 million deal signed last year between the government and British chip design firm Arm Holdings. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has for the past month been on the hunt for former government aide James C...
Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency on Wednesday offered to pay for the flight of a London-based key witness to help with its investigation into possible corruption linked to a US$250 million deal signed last year between the government and British chip design firm Arm Holdings. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has for the past month been on the hunt for former government aide James Chai, whom it said was a key witness in its probe on possible abuse of power, fraud and governance...
Not Just Cigarettes, Vaping Likely Causes Cancer, Major Study Finds A new report from researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia, published in Carcinogenesis , finds that nicotine-based e-cigarettes are likely to cause lung and oral cancers, a finding that may alarm the millions of young people, from high school through college, and into the professional world, who use them heav...
Not Just Cigarettes, Vaping Likely Causes Cancer, Major Study Finds A new report from researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia, published in Carcinogenesis , finds that nicotine-based e-cigarettes are likely to cause lung and oral cancers, a finding that may alarm the millions of young people, from high school through college, and into the professional world, who use them heavily. Researchers examined human studies, animal experiments, and lab tests. Together, they found signs that vaping can damage DNA, cause inflammation and oxidative stress, and expose users to harmful chemicals considered drivers of cancer. Some rodent studies also found lung tumors after vape exposure. " Nicotine-based e-cigarettes are likely to be carcinogenic to humans who use them, causing an indeterminate burden of oral cancer and lung cancer ," the researchers wrote in the report. The researchers still don't fully understand the long-term risks, given that vaping only entered commercial markets worldwide in the last 20 or so years. However, they say the warning signs are already present and should not be ignored as cigarette risks once were. "Though smoking was once given the benefit of the doubt, the same should not now be accorded to vaping, given the strength of relevant carcinogenicity data," wrote study co-authors Freddy Sitas and Bernard Stewart of UNSW in a related commentary . Vaping in the U.S. emerged in 2007 and was widely touted as a safer way to consume nicotine than traditional methods involving inhaling smoke from burning tobacco leaves. The trend exploded in 2015 with the introduction of Juul. Millions of Americans started vaping to quit smoking cigarettes. Instead, if the study is correct, they may actually be increasing their health risks. Vaping is not as harmless as once thought, and the researchers' point is that e-cigarettes should not receive the same "benefit of the doubt" cigarettes once did, because the cancer warning signs are already present...
Kim Bong-hwan, who runs a barbecue restaurant in Myeong-dong in central Seoul, is feeling the brunt of rising costs, with wholesale beef prices climbing from about 28,000 won (US$18) per kilogram to more than 40,000 won in recent weeks. “Everything’s going up – beef, pork, eggs, vegetables and even disposable materials like plastic bags and containers,” he said. “Prices have risen 20 to 30 per cen...
Kim Bong-hwan, who runs a barbecue restaurant in Myeong-dong in central Seoul, is feeling the brunt of rising costs, with wholesale beef prices climbing from about 28,000 won (US$18) per kilogram to more than 40,000 won in recent weeks. “Everything’s going up – beef, pork, eggs, vegetables and even disposable materials like plastic bags and containers,” he said. “Prices have risen 20 to 30 per cent in just a few weeks.” Kim, who has operated the restaurant for more than 15 years, said raising...
Earnings Call Insights: Co-Diagnostics (CODX) Q4 2025 Management view “We were pleased to successfully complete the appeal and have our shares relisted, and we are now firmly focused on moving forward,” said Chairman & CEO Dwight Egan. Egan said the company’s “4 primary growth pillars” are progressing the clinical pipeline (including upper respiratory, TB, and HPV), advancing CoSara in India (incl...
Earnings Call Insights: Co-Diagnostics (CODX) Q4 2025 Management view “We were pleased to successfully complete the appeal and have our shares relisted, and we are now firmly focused on moving forward,” said Chairman & CEO Dwight Egan. Egan said the company’s “4 primary growth pillars” are progressing the clinical pipeline (including upper respiratory, TB, and HPV), advancing CoSara in India (including “evaluating potential strategic alternatives, such as a SPAC transaction”), executing the CoMira JV with Arabian Eagle in Saudi Arabia/MENA, and expanding AI-driven capabilities. On India, Egan described CoSara as having “a nationwide commercial presence,” “hundreds of laboratory customers,” and “15 PCR tests cleared through India's regulatory pathway,” and said “CoSara has received the CDSCO license to manufacture the PCR Pro instrument.” Egan said CoSara expanded distribution to “Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka,” calling the resulting addressable market “approximately $13 billion,” and added: “We have engaged a financial adviser and are actively exploring strategic alternatives, including a potential SPAC transaction.” On clinical strategy, Egan said that due to low COVID prevalence in study sites, “we are planning to pursue an initial regulatory submission focused on flu A, flu B and RSV,” and emphasized: “this decision is driven by limited availability of COVID-positive samples rather than any limitation of the platform or performance of the COVID-19 target.” “For the full year 2025, total revenue was $0.6 million compared to $3.9 million in 2024,” said CFO Brian Brown, adding: “Total operating expenses for 2025 were $50.6 million compared to $43.0 million in 2024,” driven primarily by “a noncash impairment charge of approximately $18.9 million.” Outlook The prepared remarks did not provide EPS or revenue guidance for 2026. Egan said the company is “planning to pursue an initial regulatory submission focused on flu A, flu B and RSV,” positioning the chan...
Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz has thrown the global economic system into turmoil, yet Israel, which launched attacks on Tehran alongside the United States, has emerged as a rare exception. Since Israel and its US ally started the Middle East war on February 28, economies from Asia to Europe and the US have come under pressure from surging oil and natural gas prices that have driven up f...
Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz has thrown the global economic system into turmoil, yet Israel, which launched attacks on Tehran alongside the United States, has emerged as a rare exception. Since Israel and its US ally started the Middle East war on February 28, economies from Asia to Europe and the US have come under pressure from surging oil and natural gas prices that have driven up fuel and electricity costs. Israel, however, has remained largely insulated from the shock. Central...