JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s widely tracked emerging-market bond indexes have overstated yields for the past 18 months, boosting their allure to investors hungry for alternatives to low-yielding developed-country debt. The overstated yields are byproducts of an arcane index rule, underscoring how unintended consequences from index makers’ decisions can spread now that investors increasingly favor passive funds. The rule, first developed in the 1990s, allows Venezeulan bonds that defaulted in late 2017 to be included in index...

Source: Wall Street Journal June 01, 2019 09:22 UTC