International Fund

International Fund: Written Assignment 3

Please select an international ETF or Mutual Fund. The holdings should not include stocks are bonds from US companies or governments. You should locate the fund prospectus but other sources of information are certainly applicable.

Provide a two-three page document, single to 1.5 spaced with size 12 font. You may use bullet points when appropriate. The document should include an overview with a paragraph explaining characteristics. The document should include two tables (one table of the fund’s holdings and one table of the fund’s performance) and one figure. Please provide a brief explanation of each when appropriate. The document should conclude with an analysis of the fund.

Overview:

What is the fund family (e.g. iShares)?

What are the fund objectives? The fund might be designed to mimic the performance of a small-cap MSCI index.

What country or region does the fund focus on? Do you consider it to be a developed or an emerging market?

Identify the funds underlying benchmark index. The benchmark may be straight-forward. However, the index might be more obscure.

Identify the following:

· Price

· Assets Under Management

· Expense Ratio

Performance: (You may present the performance in a standalone table or combine it with the data above).

What have been the funds returns over the past 1 yr. and 5 yrs.?

How does the fund perform relative to the S&P 500 (1 yr. 5 yrs.)?

Figure: Provide a figure of the returns relative to the S&P 500 SPDR ETF: SPY.

Holdings: Identify the top holdings (10 if stocks) in Table 2.

Company

Weight (%)

Industry

Other

Analysis: Provide an analysis of the fund addressing the questions below with additional insight.

Do you consider the fund to be risky? Is it risky relative to the S&P 500?

Explain how the fund might fit into the strategy of a broader portfolio?

Would you buy the fund?

Other:

Some funds provide a vehicle for foreign currencies.

Sources of Data:

Etf.com is one possible way to identify the ETF.

Database and Search Criteria

CRSP Data

iShares

https://www.ishares.com/us/products/etf-investments#!type=ishares&style=All&view=keyFacts

Markets & Regions (Developed, Emerging, Frontier)

iShares Broad Region Examples:

AAXJ iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan ETF

IEUS iShares MSCI Europe Small-Cap ETF

ILF iShares Ltin America 40 ETF

Vanguard

https://investor.vanguard.com/etf/list#/etf/asset-class/month-end-returns

VWO Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF

https://investor.vanguard.com/etf/profile/VWO

Goal is to closely track the return of the FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index.