Power Lunch

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Power Lunch

Power Play: Avoid emerging markets in 2016

A man counts Indian rupee banknotes for a photograph near the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India.
Dhiraj Singh | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Oil may have surged 5 percent in the past week, but this does not mean the worst is over for emerging economies.

Craig Columbus, CEO of Tower Square Investment Management, tells CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Monday he is still avoiding emerging markets.

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"You might get some stabilization there because of the commodity producers, but as a whole, there are some systematic imbalances in some of these emerging economies that haven't been fixed. Risk to reward is not favorable," Columbus said.

Even though Columbus is cautious on emerging markets, he is not worried about China.

"People underestimate the transition in China from a manufacturing to a service economy. China could be one of the bright spots," Columbus said.

The Shanghai Composite closed lower on Monday, but is up 9 percent year-to-date.