Traders fear hard landing in emerging markets as bond ETF swells

File photo of a BlackRock building in New York June 12, 2009. REUTERS

MOSCOW: The rapid growth of a BlackRock Inc exchange-traded fund that tracks emerging-market debt is causing jitters among investors.

The iShares JP Morgan EM local government bond ETF, ticker IEML, has doubled in size this year, mopping up more than US$3bil of inflows as investors reach for average yields as high as 4.7% in developing economies. The risk is that if the carry trade unwinds, as it tends to happen eventually, investors could race for the exit all at once and send the fund tumbling.