Mark Mobius, most famous for being Templeton's emerging markets guru and less well known for being Controlled Greed's go-to guy for matters concerning investing in those markets, pens a column for the Financial Times:
Businessmen I talked with in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Panama and Mexico were saying that business was good and they were planning for growth. Even in Mexico where the impact of a US slowdown is bound to be felt more than other Latin American countries the mood was sanguine.
After I finished my questions, invariably the executives of those companies would ask me: "What do you think of this subprime crisis in the US? Will it affect us?"
I was not able to give them a lot of comfort since negative sentiment in the face of good economic data is difficult to reconcile. The evidence to date seems to indicate that not only Latin America, but emerging markets in general do not necessarily have to succumb to a US recession.
"Decoupling" is the buzzword. But there is no such thing as decoupling in this world of greater communications, investment and trade. Whether we like it or not we are bound together.
There's much more, so read the whole thing if you subscribe to FT.com.
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