Charts today - active management, EM debt, consumers/oil & who is buying gold

A selection of charts that I have come across today.

A super piece in today's Financial Times on active fund management is backed up by some excellent graphics.  Despite the industry having a difficult time with active management in 2014 (on average) I am excited about such a positioning in 2015 given the volatile backdrop across global asset classes.

In yesterday's Stories we should be thinking about I mentioned emerging market debt in passing and the following two charts show this asset class is at an interesting point due to the sheer size of the sell-off...

 ...and the sheer size of the recent issuance:

 Of course two points that are necessarily inter-linked.  Ultimately with emerging markets good value at an equity level, I would make a similar conclusion on the debt too.

Lower oil prices have clearly been an issue for many commodity producing countries around the world but for consumers and companies looking to reduce input costs it is good news.  This graphic nicely updates US gas (aka 'petrol') prices:

Gold has been a positive theme for me for a number of years now and despite recent volatility I still perceive value - especially in companies such as Randgold Resources.  Another reason for being strategically positive about gold is just who is continuing to accumulate it as nicely indicated by this chart: