The Markets September 24, 2010

Vanguard Switches International Fund Benchmark

Vanguard plans to change the target benchmark of its Total International Stock Index Fund from the MSCI EAFE + Emerging Markets Index to the MSCI All Country World ex USA Investable Market Index, the firm announced.
Reported by

 

A news release said the fund’s new target index covers 98% of the world’s non-U.S. markets, including the European, Pacific, and emerging market regions, as well as Canada. The index includes more than 6,000 issues encompassing stocks of large-, mid-, and small-capitalization companies in 44 countries.

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“We believe that the new target benchmark offers a better representation of the international equity universe, offering exposure across the capitalization spectrum, including small-cap issues,” said Vanguard’s Chief Investment Officer Gus Sauter, in the announcement

Vanguard expects Vanguard Total International Stock ETF to begin trading in the first quarter of 2011. Introduced in 1996, Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund is Vanguard’s second largest international index fund with $26.2 billion in net assets.

Shares, Estimated Expense Ratio 

  • Investor,  0.32%
  • Admiral,  0.20%
  • ETF,  0.20%
  • Signal,  0.20%
  • Institutional, 0.15%
  • Institutional Plus,  0.12%
Deals & People September 24, 2010

Credit Suisse Commodities Traders to Start Hedge Fund

An eight-person commodities trading team is reported to be leaving Credit Suisse Group AG to start a hedge fund backed by the Blackstone Group.
Reported by

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, is reporting that the latest spinout group is led by George “Beau” Taylor, currently Credit Suisse’s global head of commodities-arbitrage trading, and Trevor Woods, head of energy-arbitrage trading.  Taylor and Woods will be chief investment officer and chief executive officer, respectively, of the new hedge-fund firm, which isn’t named yet, according to the Journal’s sources.

The Credit Suisse team will trade in commodities and energy markets and make macroeconomic bets in areas such as currencies, the Journal reported. A launch is planned for early 2011, with $150 million from Blackstone at the start.

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The team is one of the first Blackstone has selected for startup funding since U.S. lawmakers in July passed sweeping legislation to curb proprietary trading, or trading using banks’ capital rather than clients’ funds, the newspaper said. The planned spinout involves one of the biggest trading groups to leave Wall Street.

At Credit Suisse, the proprietary-trader population has been whittled from about 250 at its peak to 100, according to the news report.

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