Investors are so convinced that 2014 will continue to be theopposite of 2013 that they're piling back into emerging-marketswagers that were among last year's biggest losers.

Buyers plowed $273.8 million two days ago into the biggestexchange-traded fund (ETF) focused on emerging-market debt, itslargest one-day inflow ever, according to data compiled byBloomberg. They're also demanding about the least extra yield in ayear to own the debt of developing nations instead of benchmarksecurities.

So far, it's paying off. Bonds of countries from Turkey to Argentina are beating U.S. corporate notes and stocks withabout 8 percent returns this year, according to JPMorgan Chase& Co. emerging-market bond index data.

Why? Easy money. Lots of it, all over the globe. Today, theEuropean Central Bank (ECB) cut its deposit rate below zero, the world's first major institution touse such a measure, and is preparing to start an asset-purchaseplan.

“The technicals of this market are almost impossible to fight,”said Karissa McDonough, the fixed-income strategist at People'sUnited Wealth Management, which actively manages $5 billion.

In 2013, this same market lost 6.5 percent, plunging 9 percent last Mayand June as investors had palpitations over the Federal Reserve'splan to slow its monthly debt purchases.

Borrowing costs in the U.S. haven't surged as investors worried.Treasury yields have defied expectations by falling, not rising,even as the Fed curtails its bond buying.

While the Fed is winding down its stimulus, the ECB and Bank ofJapan are ramping up their efforts and economists see global growthpicking up. The world economy will probably expand at a 2.73percent rate this year and a 3.11 percent pace in 2015,accelerating from 2.09 percent in 2013, according to analystssurveyed by Bloomberg.

Things are looking up in developing nations, too, as theInternational Monetary Fund forecasts their economies will expand4.9 percent this year after growing 4.69 percent in 2013.

The consequence of all this monetary accommodation is thatinvestors are looking for new ways to boost returns, findingmarkets such as high yield already crowded with cash. Globaljunk-bond yields dropped to a record low of 5.77 percent this week,Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show.

People's United, based in Bridgeport, Connecticut, doubled itsallocation to dollar-denominated emerging-markets debt in the pastfew weeks and reduced its allocation to U.S. speculative-gradebonds, McDonough said.

“There's a lot of dollars chasing yield,” she said.

The $5 billion iShares JPMorgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETFhas received $710 million of deposits in the past week, the mostamong fixed-income ETFs listed on U.S. exchanges, Bloomberg datashow. It's returned 7.8 percent this year.

Developing countries may not be the darlings they were over thepast decade, but when you're starting to see negative nominal ratessurface in some parts of the world, those 5 percent average yieldsare pretty tempting.

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