EM Fund Stock Picks & Country Commentaries (August 30, 2026)

We have been covering the upcoming El Niño which is predicted to be strong with some new research with good graphics dropping:

💻 Of Anchovies and Blueberries – why El Niño matters (BondVigilantes.com) August 2026

💻 A Monster El Niño Is Coming. These Are The Trades That Matter (ZeroHedge) $ 🗃️

🎙️ El Niño’s Ripple Effects on Markets (Morgan Stanley) 4:34 Minutes (August 2026)

From chocolate and sugar prices to energy markets and inflation, El Niño’s impacts may soon reach far beyond the weather forecast. Our Latin America Agribusiness Analyst Julia Rizzo maps out where the pressure could emerge first.

🔬 How Investors Can Weather El Niño (Morgan Stanley) August 2026

From sugar and cocoa to copper and credit, El Niño could create divergent risks across commodities, regions and asset classes. Key Takeaways

There’s an 81% chance of this year’s El Niño becoming a very strong event, according to U.S. government weather and climate specialists.

The effect of El Niño on crop production will depend on the location and timing of rainfall and temperature changes.

Sugar is the agricultural commodity most likely to receive a price boost as weather conditions threaten production both in Asia and in Brazil. Copper output faces disruption risks in Chile and in Zambia, which could push prices higher.

Food inflation driven by El Niño could weaken growth and public finances in some Latin American and African economies, putting pressure on their sovereign credit.

Equity effects will differ by sector: producers of some soft commodities stand to benefit, while companies that buy affected crops could face higher costs.

As of the end of August, most July fund updates (our continuously updated post containing all funds is here) are available along with new emerging market research – note that I am traveling this coming weekend and might skip this weekly post to focus on getting the normal free Monday post back out at the beginning of the week:

🗄️ Fund documents / updates; ⚠️ Disclosures or restricted access e.g. based on your location, investor status, etc.; 🇼 Wikipedia page; 🔬 Research analysis (including articles/blog posts from fund managers, etc.); 🎥 Video; 🎙️ Podcast; 🎬 Webinar; 📝 Transcript; 📰 Newspaper/magazine article; 📯 Press release; 💻 Substack/blog/website article; ✅ Our own posts; 🗃️ Linked archived article; ⏰ Upcoming webinar or event.

📈 Contributors; 📉 Detractors; 🏧 Transactions; 🚩Discusses/mentions stocks by name.

Disclaimer: We usually use Deepseek to summarize or extract stock names and assign performance emojis. Like all AI, Deepseek is not perfect and regularly adjusts their model which can lead to mistakes/misunderstandings/misinterpretations of the data its given. Your use of any content is entirely at your own risk and it is your sole responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of the content.

🗄️🌏 The July monthly factsheet (detailed economic and portfolio) for Abrdn Asia Focus PLC (LON: AAS), a high conviction portfolio of Asian small caps, discussed or mentioned:
🗄️🌏 Fidelity Asian Values Plc (LON: FAS)’s July monthly factsheet (short economic and portfolio review) noted again that their portfolio has limited exposure to Taiwan (and its AI stocks as they are overweight China, Indonesia and Australia) while Indonesia remained out of favour with investors. Selections within materials and consumer staples contributed positively.