The East powers ahead while America stumbles

Ian Cowie asks whether high-growth economies such as China’s are a safer bet than those of the debt-laden West

Emerging markets have been the most profitable game in town for several years now, even after the setbacks some suffered toward the end of 2007. True, the bears enjoyed a bit of a picnic when China funds — easily the biggest single country segment of the emerging markets sector — fell by about a fifth of their value in January.