The old rates bogeyman might be losing some power
JPMorgan’s Rajiv Batra says you don’t need to treat higher bond yields like a jump scare every time they show up. His argument: emerging-market benchmarks are less rate-sensitive than they used to be, so equities and rising yields can actually coexist without the whole thing turning into a panic scene.
That matters because if he’s right, investors may need to stop using the same dusty macro template from a few years ago. In his view, EM indexes are increasingly tied to businesses like AI services and healthcare — not just the classic rate-crunched sectors that fall apart when financing gets expensive.
Why AI is still in the story
Batra also stayed upbeat on AI, even with the usual list of concerns hanging over the trade:
- safety issues
- regulatory scrutiny
- financing risk
In other words, the AI theme isn’t suddenly a free lunch. But JPMorgan’s read is that the growth engine is still strong enough to keep investors interested, especially if the market keeps rewarding companies that actually monetize the hype instead of just talking a big game.
What investors should take away
The big message here is less about one stock and more about positioning. If EM is becoming more AI-and-healthcare heavy, then rates may matter less than they once did — and that changes which parts of the market look fragile versus surprisingly resilient.
Big picture: sometimes the market doesn’t care about your old rulebook. It updates the playlist, and suddenly the tracks you expected to skip are the ones on repeat.