How Emerging-Market Bonds Can Hedge Against U.S. Market Volatility
From WSJ's Take On the Week by The Wall Street Journal
March 29, 2026 · 30 min
About this episode
The episode discusses how emerging-market bonds can provide stability amid U.S. market volatility, featuring insights from portfolio manager Eric Fine.
In this week's episode of WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-hosts Miriam Gottfried and Telis Demos break down the math behind current oil price fluctuations and what the market is signaling about the duration of the Iran conflict. Food manufacturers and producers ConAgra Brands, Cal-Maine Foods and McCormick are reporting their earnings this upcoming week. Will these companies continue to pass on some of their high expenses to customers or will they absorb the rising costs? And a couple of the show’s listeners share their takes on the oil vs. gold portfolio hedge. After the break, Telis and Miriam are joined by Eric Fine, portfolio manager and head of active emerging market debt at global investment management firm VanEck. Fine explains the concept of fiscal dominance and why he believes the roles of developed and emerging markets have reversed. He makes the case for why bonds for countries like Brazil and Colombia may now offer more stability than U.S. Treasurys. Plus, they discuss why some emerging-markets strategies have been abandoned in favor of strict fiscal discipline. This is WSJ’s Take On the Week where co-hosts Telis Demos, Heard on the Street’s banking and money columnist…
People in this episode
Hosts: Miriam Gottfried, Telis Demos
Guest: Eric Fine
Topics covered
- emerging markets
- bonds
- U.S. market volatility
- oil prices
- fiscal dominance
- earnings reports
Keywords
- emerging-market bonds
- U.S. Treasurys
- oil price fluctuations
- fiscal dominance
- market volatility
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: ConAgra Brands, Cal-Maine Foods, McCormick
Places: Brazil, Colombia, Iran
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