Valuations in Asia haven't been this cheap since the 1970s. Mr. Beckwitt is former manager of Fidelity Asset Manager, which first had great success, and subsequently a lot of trouble, with emerging-markets in vestments.
Asian stocks are cheap because their markets have been hammered almost beyond recognition.
Asian companies borrowed too much money and earned too little. Their countries' currencies have plunged against the dollar. But investors should cover their ears when fund managers and marketers recite the mantra of emerging markets as a special type of investment that investors should automatically bless with their hard-earned cash. In a short sale, an investor is betting on a decline in the price of a security. The idea, anyway, is that these asset classes will perform better than, or at least perform in a counter-cyclical manner to, plain old stocks.