BlackRock has upgraded emerging-market equities, including South Korea, to overweight, reversing its June move to neutral after deleveraging reduced leverage concerns in the South Korean market. Wei Li, global chief investment strategist at the BlackRock Investment Institute, and colleagues said South Korea and Taiwan are central to semiconductor and memory supply chains, while Latin America offers exposure to raw materials and infrastructure needed for AI investment. BlackRock projects 34.2% forward 12-month earnings growth for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, versus 20.3% for the MSCI USA Index, while emerging-market equities trade at about 10 times forward earnings compared with 19.9 times for U.S. stocks. The firm also upgraded emerging-market local-currency bonds to overweight and downgraded short-term European government bonds to neutral, while warning that borrowing costs, oil prices and geopolitical tensions remain risks.