Trading in emerging-market debt is making a timid comeback. The Emerging Markets Traders Association says trading volume in the second quarter of this year stood at $681 billion. This is 9% less than the $749 billion traded that EMTA recorded in the previous quarter. But the volume of trading activity in the first half of the year came to $1.43 trillion, 25% more than during the same period last year. The market seems to be recovering from the thumping it received during the 1998 Russian default. Trading in local instruments increased, by 28% to $231 billion in the second quarter, exceeding trading in Eurobonds and Brady bonds. Local market instruments accounted for 34% of all reported volume, compared with 31% for Eurobonds and 27% for Brady bonds. Turnover of Mexican paper led the way during the second quarter, with $81 billion traded, the highest amount ever and more than double that of second-ranked Brazil, which had $38 billion.