Markets will be markets. They can’t be persuaded and they can’t be hurried.

Proponents of the emerging markets decoupling theory have been frustrated by the collective will for years now. Their belief that emerging markets are on a steep growth trajectory while developed markets will increasingly stagnate is confirmed when global markets are on the rise but negated in times of market distress. So while emerging market investors have done better than developed market aficionados for much of this century, the sharp reverses of last year were a bitter pill. It seems that the volatility tag, earned during the stomach-lurching period of the late 1990s, is still firmly attached to emerging markets.