Products May 7, 2008

Schwab Offers First Actively Managed International Fund

Schwab Funds added its first actively managed international fund, called the Schwab International Core Equity Fund.
Reported by

The fund is designed to offer broad international equity exposure to help investors diversify their portfolios, Schwab said.

The company said it combines portfolio optimization strategies with systematic international stock research developed by the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

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The company expects the fund to hold securities of between 100 and 200 companies, chosen from more than 6,000 securities in 32 countries, the company said. Its benchmark will be the MSCI EAFE Index, but in addition to EAFE countries, the fund will consider securities from 11 additional countries also evaluated by the international stock research.

The fund offers three share classes with expense ratios as follows:

  • Investor Shares (SICVX)—expense ratio of 1.10% and required minimum investment of $100;
  • Select Shares (SICSX)—expense ratio of 0.95% and required minimum investment of $50,000;
  • Institutional Shares (SICNX)—expense ratio of 0.86% and required minimum investment of $500,000.

The fund’s subscription period runs to May 29 with an offer of $10 per share, and the fund will begin operations on May 30.

For more information, go to www.schwab.com/icefund or call 1.800.448.2455.


The Markets May 7, 2008

April Began Path of Recovery for World Equity Markets

Strong returns in April helped world equity markets bounce back from a bad start in 2008, according to data from Standard&Poor’s.
Reported by

S&P’s The World By Numbers reported that developed markets posted a 5.15% gain in April after losing 8.95% in March, and emerging markets climbed 7.49% in April after falling 5.11% the month before. (See World Equity Markets Off to a Bad Start)

Norway produced the only double-digit developed market gain in April at 11.25%, according to an S&P news release. Other frontrunners were Japan (+6.61%) and the United Kingdom (+5.85%).

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S&P said 24 of the 26 markets were up for the month, with only slight losses posted by both Finland (-1.34%) and Denmark (-0.21%).

In emerging markets, double-digit gains were posted during April for both China (+15.10% versus -12.36% in March) and India (+11.49% versus -12.35% in March). Six of the 26 markets posted double-digit gains, with 16 markets increasing and 10 declining. Turkey made a strong rebound from a 20.09% loss in March to lead all markets with a 15.75% gain in April, the release said.

All 10 sectors posted gains in April—the first time since October 2007. Energy profited the most in the month posting a 12.05% gain. Materials (+6.61%) and Financials (+6.64%) also had strong returns. Consumer Staples performed the worst, posting a slight gain of 0.44%.

Growth stocks (+5.67%) outperformed Value (+4.61%) for April, with a much wider variance in the Asian-Pacific markets where growth prospects produced a 9% increase versus 4.99% for value. The wider variance was also noted in Japan (growth +14.83% versus value +5.79%).

The S&P/Citigroup World By Numbers report for April can be accessed at www.worldbynumbers.standardandpoors.com.

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