I attended a number of panel discussions and seminars on the state of Emerging Markets at the JPMorgan Emerging Markets Corporate Bond conference last week.

I noticed two things in particular: (1) there did not seem to be all that many people in attendance, and (2) there were many South Americans.

Initially, it seemed strange to me that someone would fly 8 hours from Santiago, Chile to hear about their country’s corporate bonds (OK, fine, 4 days in Miami Beach is not a tough sell…). However, considering the brutal state of Emerging Market bonds and equities – especially Latin America – over the past year, it soon became obvious that many had made the trip to just clear their heads and get some group support.