Vanguard® Global Minimum Volatility Fund
Schedule of Investments (unaudited)
As of January 31, 2024
The fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. The fund’s Form N-PORT reports are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Shares | Market Value ($000) | ||
Common Stocks (98.5%) | |||
Australia (3.6%) | |||
Wesfarmers Ltd. | 528,930 | 20,024 | |
Telstra Group Ltd. | 3,526,720 | 9,301 | |
Brambles Ltd. | 960,207 | 9,155 | |
Medibank Pvt Ltd. | 3,618,625 | 9,060 | |
Coles Group Ltd. | 564,014 | 5,853 | |
Transurban Group | 570,354 | 5,011 | |
Insurance Australia Group Ltd. | 1,170,507 | 4,595 | |
Santos Ltd. | 539,750 | 2,728 | |
Aurizon Holdings Ltd. | 653,675 | 1,611 | |
Computershare Ltd. (XASX) | 69,174 | 1,146 | |
Steadfast Group Ltd. | 288,446 | 1,116 | |
Washington H Soul Pattinson & Co. Ltd. | 30,785 | 688 | |
CAR Group Ltd. | 31,641 | 679 | |
Ampol Ltd. | 16,935 | 401 | |
71,368 | |||
Belgium (0.1%) | |||
Colruyt Group NV | 42,922 | 1,961 | |
Brazil (1.5%) | |||
Itau Unibanco Holding SA ADR | 3,010,500 | 19,869 | |
Banco Bradesco SA ADR | 1,675,722 | 5,195 | |
Petroleo Brasileiro SA ADR | 261,585 | 4,290 | |
Petroleo Brasileiro SA ADR (XNYS) | 35,139 | 600 | |
29,954 | |||
Canada (2.5%) | |||
Dollarama Inc. | 240,125 | 17,623 | |
Intact Financial Corp. | 103,014 | 16,110 | |
1 | Hydro One Ltd. | 398,110 | 11,815 |
Fortis Inc. (XTSE) | 37,232 | 1,494 | |
TMX Group Ltd. | 40,587 | 1,004 | |
BCE Inc. | 22,225 | 897 | |
Definity Financial Corp. | 16,587 | 482 | |
Thomson Reuters Corp. | 2,570 | 381 | |
49,806 | |||
China (2.3%) | |||
China Shenhua Energy Co. Ltd. Class H | 2,654,500 | 10,070 | |
Tencent Holdings Ltd. | 279,300 | 9,695 | |
*,1,2 | East Buy Holding Ltd. | 2,344,521 | 6,888 |
1 | Nongfu Spring Co. Ltd. Class H | 953,800 | 5,176 |
Sinopharm Group Co. Ltd. Class H | 1,432,400 | 3,766 | |
Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd. Class H | 414,000 | 2,363 | |
China Pacific Insurance Group Co. Ltd. Class H | 863,600 | 1,589 |
Shares | Market Value ($000) | ||
BYD Electronic International Co. Ltd. | 355,000 | 1,216 | |
Yum China Holdings Inc. | 34,500 | 1,187 | |
Anhui Conch Cement Co. Ltd. Class H | 455,414 | 912 | |
Want Want China Holdings Ltd. | 1,567,000 | 863 | |
1 | Meitu Inc. | 2,507,000 | 743 |
New China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Class H | 318,300 | 568 | |
1 | Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co. Ltd. Class H | 94,800 | 429 |
1 | Hygeia Healthcare Holdings Co. Ltd. Class C | 113,600 | 370 |
45,835 | |||
Finland (0.2%) | |||
Sampo OYJ Class A | 96,026 | 4,019 | |
France (1.3%) | |||
Orange SA | 1,735,805 | 20,642 | |
Edenred SE | 48,154 | 2,876 | |
Vivendi SE | 133,458 | 1,504 | |
Bollore SE | 68,388 | 452 | |
25,474 | |||
Germany (0.1%) | |||
SAP SE | 6,501 | 1,126 | |
1 | Scout24 SE | 8,416 | 620 |
Fielmann Group AG | 9,924 | 516 | |
2,262 | |||
Hong Kong (1.0%) | |||
CLP Holdings Ltd. | 1,286,105 | 10,229 | |
Power Assets Holdings Ltd. | 1,192,770 | 6,984 | |
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd. | 828,200 | 1,122 | |
MTR Corp. Ltd. | 295,000 | 960 | |
19,295 | |||
India (4.2%) | |||
ICICI Bank Ltd. ADR | 1,216,932 | 29,693 | |
Infosys Ltd. ADR | 1,239,892 | 24,624 | |
Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. ADR | 256,481 | 18,454 | |
HDFC Bank Ltd. ADR | 121,788 | 6,758 | |
Wipro Ltd. ADR | 196,618 | 1,113 | |
1 | Reliance Industries Ltd. GDR | 14,942 | 1,033 |
81,675 | |||
Indonesia (0.2%) | |||
Telkom Indonesia Persero Tbk PT ADR | 157,981 | 3,975 | |
Italy (0.1%) | |||
UnipolSai Assicurazioni SpA | 589,372 | 1,560 | |
Japan (10.9%) | |||
Softbank Corp. | 2,452,700 | 32,586 | |
East Japan Railway Co. | 425,200 | 24,318 | |
Canon Inc. | 737,000 | 20,302 | |
Central Japan Railway Co. | 762,000 | 19,044 | |
Skylark Holdings Co. Ltd. | 664,100 | 10,834 | |
Yamada Holdings Co. Ltd. | 3,252,100 | 9,934 | |
West Japan Railway Co. | 210,100 | 8,751 | |
Japan Post Holdings Co. Ltd. | 848,100 | 8,119 | |
Japan Tobacco Inc. | 297,600 | 7,844 | |
McDonald's Holdings Co. Japan Ltd. | 164,100 | 7,306 | |
Kyushu Railway Co. | 323,400 | 7,108 | |
Osaka Gas Co. Ltd. | 316,000 | 6,654 | |
KDDI Corp. | 162,800 | 5,394 | |
Tobu Railway Co. Ltd. | 178,600 | 4,730 |
Shares | Market Value ($000) | ||
Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc. | 141,500 | 4,329 | |
Kagome Co. Ltd. | 166,200 | 4,092 | |
Nintendo Co. Ltd. | 73,200 | 4,090 | |
Tokyu Corp. | 324,200 | 3,804 | |
Shimamura Co. Ltd. | 21,200 | 2,326 | |
Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. | 96,400 | 2,215 | |
Kintetsu Group Holdings Co. Ltd. | 63,700 | 1,966 | |
Toho Co. Ltd. | 59,200 | 1,928 | |
Takashimaya Co. Ltd. | 119,700 | 1,668 | |
ABC-Mart Inc. | 90,600 | 1,570 | |
ENEOS Holdings Inc. | 386,200 | 1,560 | |
MOS Food Services Inc. | 49,900 | 1,161 | |
Yamato Holdings Co. Ltd. | 62,100 | 1,073 | |
Sawai Group Holdings Co. Ltd. | 26,700 | 1,011 | |
Alfresa Holdings Corp. | 58,800 | 964 | |
Oracle Corp. Japan | 10,200 | 804 | |
Yamazaki Baking Co. Ltd. | 26,600 | 631 | |
USS Co. Ltd. | 33,200 | 628 | |
Seven Bank Ltd. | 275,300 | 576 | |
Haseko Corp. | 44,100 | 573 | |
Citizen Watch Co. Ltd. | 83,700 | 531 | |
Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. | 43,300 | 523 | |
Seino Holdings Co. Ltd. | 34,000 | 497 | |
COMSYS Holdings Corp. | 22,500 | 493 | |
Nagoya Railroad Co. Ltd. | 31,700 | 489 | |
Yoshinoya Holdings Co. Ltd. | 21,000 | 468 | |
Iwatani Corp. | 10,300 | 460 | |
Keio Corp. | 14,000 | 410 | |
213,764 | |||
Mexico (0.6%) | |||
Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB de CV ADR | 54,005 | 7,320 | |
America Movil SAB de CV ADR | 170,076 | 3,070 | |
Coca-Cola Femsa SAB de CV ADR | 11,657 | 1,106 | |
11,496 | |||
Netherlands (0.2%) | |||
Koninklijke KPN NV | 1,294,769 | 4,405 | |
New Zealand (0.1%) | |||
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp. Ltd. | 52,654 | 760 | |
Infratil Ltd. | 81,484 | 526 | |
1,286 | |||
Norway (0.4%) | |||
Orkla ASA | 949,009 | 7,434 | |
Singapore (0.6%) | |||
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd. | 801,961 | 7,671 | |
Singapore Exchange Ltd. | 676,426 | 4,723 | |
12,394 | |||
South Korea (2.3%) | |||
KT&G Corp. | 246,823 | 16,763 | |
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (XKRX) | 266,509 | 14,481 | |
SK Hynix Inc. | 56,279 | 5,636 | |
* | Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. | 13,550 | 2,681 |
Samsung C&T Corp. | 19,050 | 1,968 | |
Samsung Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | 20,362 | 1,058 | |
* | Industrial Bank of Korea | 60,581 | 568 |
* | Maeil Dairies Co. Ltd. | 18,091 | 546 |
Shares | Market Value ($000) | ||
S-Oil Corp. | 8,116 | 413 | |
44,114 | |||
Spain (0.2%) | |||
Industria de Diseno Textil SA | 83,816 | 3,584 | |
Enagas SA | 30,371 | 494 | |
4,078 | |||
Switzerland (2.7%) | |||
Swisscom AG (Registered) | 49,414 | 29,564 | |
Novartis AG (Registered) | 119,063 | 12,313 | |
Kuehne & Nagel International AG (Registered) | 13,938 | 4,723 | |
1 | Galenica AG | 32,533 | 2,869 |
Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (Registered) | 17,241 | 2,207 | |
Allreal Holding AG (Registered) | 2,370 | 421 | |
Zurich Insurance Group AG | 777 | 395 | |
52,492 | |||
Taiwan (3.5%) | |||
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. ADR | 282,334 | 31,892 | |
2 | United Microelectronics Corp. ADR | 2,304,544 | 17,768 |
2 | ASE Technology Holding Co. Ltd. ADR | 1,403,208 | 13,036 |
Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. ADR | 145,028 | 5,450 | |
68,146 | |||
United Kingdom (3.6%) | |||
BAE Systems plc | 1,927,412 | 28,712 | |
Compass Group plc | 550,229 | 15,155 | |
Sage Group plc | 735,152 | 10,945 | |
Pearson plc | 631,202 | 7,743 | |
Reckitt Benckiser Group plc | 47,798 | 3,456 | |
GSK plc | 131,743 | 2,606 | |
Smiths Group plc | 36,416 | 746 | |
Shell plc (XETR) | 12,891 | 400 | |
69,763 | |||
United States (56.3%) | |||
Cencora Inc. | 150,884 | 35,108 | |
Merck & Co. Inc. | 271,169 | 32,752 | |
Waste Management Inc. | 176,316 | 32,729 | |
Republic Services Inc. | 190,828 | 32,654 | |
AptarGroup Inc. | 246,916 | 32,069 | |
McDonald's Corp. | 108,486 | 31,756 | |
International Business Machines Corp. | 172,783 | 31,733 | |
Amdocs Ltd. | 340,417 | 31,209 | |
Church & Dwight Co. Inc. | 311,719 | 31,125 | |
Johnson & Johnson | 191,972 | 30,504 | |
Roper Technologies Inc. | 56,548 | 30,366 | |
AbbVie Inc. | 184,389 | 30,314 | |
Lockheed Martin Corp. | 69,564 | 29,871 | |
Colgate-Palmolive Co. | 346,440 | 29,170 | |
Cisco Systems Inc. | 574,445 | 28,826 | |
Chemed Corp. | 48,609 | 28,815 | |
General Mills Inc. | 372,026 | 24,148 | |
Cboe Global Markets Inc. | 125,720 | 23,114 | |
McKesson Corp. | 42,852 | 21,421 | |
Gilead Sciences Inc. | 269,266 | 21,073 | |
Eli Lilly & Co. | 31,410 | 20,279 | |
Amgen Inc. | 63,777 | 20,043 | |
White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. | 12,373 | 19,499 | |
NewMarket Corp. | 33,950 | 18,938 |
Shares | Market Value ($000) | ||
Dolby Laboratories Inc. Class A | 219,184 | 18,232 | |
3 | Equity Commonwealth | 914,580 | 17,478 |
Progressive Corp. | 95,234 | 16,975 | |
* | Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 37,806 | 16,384 |
Southern Co. | 234,100 | 16,275 | |
* | FTI Consulting Inc. | 83,011 | 15,906 |
Motorola Solutions Inc. | 49,286 | 15,747 | |
Williams Cos. Inc. | 446,822 | 15,487 | |
Kimberly-Clark Corp. | 121,761 | 14,729 | |
Walmart Inc. | 85,780 | 14,175 | |
General Dynamics Corp. | 49,761 | 13,186 | |
Service Corp. International | 191,328 | 12,842 | |
Globe Life Inc. | 104,417 | 12,824 | |
Northrop Grumman Corp. | 27,239 | 12,169 | |
* | Insight Enterprises Inc. | 61,062 | 11,281 |
* | O'Reilly Automotive Inc. | 9,956 | 10,185 |
IDACORP Inc. | 105,640 | 9,780 | |
Kraft Heinz Co. | 240,859 | 8,943 | |
Electronic Arts Inc. | 63,575 | 8,747 | |
J M Smucker Co. | 66,062 | 8,690 | |
Chevron Corp. | 57,014 | 8,406 | |
* | Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. | 49,420 | 7,854 |
Flowers Foods Inc. | 334,410 | 7,625 | |
Consolidated Edison Inc. | 78,280 | 7,116 | |
UnitedHealth Group Inc. | 13,303 | 6,808 | |
* | Ryan Specialty Holdings Inc. | 154,260 | 6,683 |
Atmos Energy Corp. | 57,693 | 6,574 | |
Duke Energy Corp. | 61,212 | 5,866 | |
Silgan Holdings Inc. | 127,189 | 5,843 | |
W R Berkley Corp. | 70,758 | 5,794 | |
* | Kirby Corp. | 71,618 | 5,633 |
Sonoco Products Co. | 94,660 | 5,386 | |
* | CommVault Systems Inc. | 57,875 | 5,306 |
Cheniere Energy Inc. | 31,716 | 5,201 | |
TJX Cos. Inc. | 48,200 | 4,575 | |
* | Grand Canyon Education Inc. | 31,546 | 4,120 |
Maximus Inc. | 50,342 | 4,084 | |
InterDigital Inc. | 38,467 | 4,041 | |
PNM Resources Inc. | 102,310 | 3,707 | |
Coca-Cola Co. | 61,156 | 3,638 | |
Progress Software Corp. | 63,549 | 3,610 | |
Campbell Soup Co. | 75,639 | 3,376 | |
Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. | 13,018 | 3,371 | |
* | Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class B | 7,993 | 3,067 |
Selective Insurance Group Inc. | 28,917 | 3,032 | |
Murphy USA Inc. | 7,355 | 2,593 | |
Hormel Foods Corp. | 82,601 | 2,509 | |
* | CACI International Inc. Class A | 6,564 | 2,256 |
Science Applications International Corp. | 13,513 | 1,725 | |
Kellanova | 28,015 | 1,534 | |
* | Huron Consulting Group Inc. | 14,332 | 1,484 |
WaFd Inc. | 49,591 | 1,440 | |
MDU Resources Group Inc. | 73,056 | 1,425 | |
Loews Corp. | 18,331 | 1,336 | |
* | NetScout Systems Inc. | 60,634 | 1,304 |
* | CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings Inc. | 116,643 | 1,282 |
Laureate Education Inc. | 99,408 | 1,254 | |
Graham Holdings Co. Class B | 1,661 | 1,197 |
Shares | Market Value ($000) | ||
Matson Inc. | 10,456 | 1,171 | |
RLI Corp. | 8,364 | 1,141 | |
American States Water Co. | 15,287 | 1,140 | |
Procter & Gamble Co. | 6,658 | 1,046 | |
* | Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. | 15,758 | 970 |
* | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 980 | 924 |
* | Meta Platforms Inc. Class A | 2,267 | 884 |
TFS Financial Corp. | 66,194 | 882 | |
PepsiCo Inc. | 4,465 | 752 | |
Exxon Mobil Corp. | 7,214 | 742 | |
Quest Diagnostics Inc. | 4,170 | 536 | |
* | Enstar Group Ltd. | 1,969 | 525 |
J & J Snack Foods Corp. | 3,101 | 494 | |
CME Group Inc. | 2,371 | 488 | |
New Jersey Resources Corp. | 9,286 | 379 | |
1,101,680 | |||
Total Common Stocks (Cost $1,582,400) | 1,928,236 | ||
Preferred Stock (0.3%) | |||
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Preference Shares (Cost $4,801) | 115,461 | 5,052 | |
Temporary Cash Investments (1.1%) | |||
Money Market Fund (1.1%) | |||
4,5 | Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund, 5.410% (Cost $22,063) | 220,703 | 22,068 |
Total Investments (99.9%) (Cost $1,609,264) | 1,955,356 | ||
Other Assets and Liabilities—Net (0.1%) | 2,418 | ||
Net Assets (100%) | 1,957,774 | ||
Cost is in $000. |
* | Non-income-producing security. |
1 | Security exempt from registration under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933. Such securities may be sold in transactions exempt from registration, normally to qualified institutional buyers. At January 31, 2024, the aggregate value was $29,943,000, representing 1.5% of net assets. |
2 | Includes partial security positions on loan to broker-dealers. The total value of securities on loan is $19,591,000. |
3 | Securities with a value of $1,034,000 have been segregated as initial margin for open futures contracts. |
4 | Affiliated money market fund available only to Vanguard funds and certain trusts and accounts managed by Vanguard. Rate shown is the 7-day yield. |
5 | Collateral of $20,396,000 was received for securities on loan. |
ADR—American Depositary Receipt. | |
GDR—Global Depositary Receipt. |
Derivative Financial Instruments Outstanding as of Period End
Futures Contracts | ||||
($000) | ||||
Expiration | Number of Long (Short) Contracts | Notional Amount | Value and Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation) | |
Long Futures Contracts | ||||
E-mini S&P 500 Index | March 2024 | 63 | 15,342 | (59) |
Euro Stoxx 50 Index | March 2024 | 32 | 1,613 | 29 |
S&P ASX 200 Index | March 2024 | 4 | 501 | 11 |
Topix Index | March 2024 | 9 | 1,561 | 127 |
108 |
Forward Currency Contracts | |||||||
Contract Settlement Date | Contract Amount (000) | Unrealized Appreciation ($000) | Unrealized Depreciation ($000) | ||||
Counterparty | Receive | Deliver | |||||
Citibank, N.A. | 2/15/24 | AUD | 4,123 | USD | 2,759 | — | (53) |
BNP Paribas | 2/15/24 | CAD | 24,775 | USD | 18,386 | 45 | — |
BNP Paribas | 2/15/24 | CAD | 5,886 | USD | 4,397 | — | (18) |
Citibank, N.A. | 2/15/24 | CHF | 2,922 | USD | 3,443 | — | (51) |
Deutsche Bank AG | 2/15/24 | EUR | 2,264 | USD | 2,479 | — | (31) |
BNP Paribas | 2/15/24 | HKD | 13,319 | USD | 1,706 | — | (1) |
BNP Paribas | 2/15/24 | JPY | 608,077 | USD | 4,243 | — | (102) |
State Street Bank & Trust Co. | 2/20/24 | TWD | 99,171 | USD | 3,213 | — | (36) |
State Street Bank & Trust Co. | 2/15/24 | USD | 76,898 | AUD | 114,800 | 1,546 | — |
UBS AG | 2/16/24 | USD | 30,548 | BRL | 149,693 | 379 | — |
Toronto-Dominion Bank | 2/15/24 | USD | 72,626 | CAD | 97,214 | 305 | — |
Royal Bank of Canada | 2/15/24 | USD | 57,922 | CHF | 49,067 | 969 | — |
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. | 2/15/24 | USD | 46,552 | EUR | 42,466 | 629 | — |
Citibank, N.A. | 2/15/24 | USD | 63,808 | GBP | 50,145 | 251 | — |
BNP Paribas | 2/15/24 | USD | 6,184 | GBP | 4,875 | 5 | — |
Barclays Bank plc | 2/15/24 | USD | 63,735 | HKD | 497,686 | 46 | — |
State Street Bank & Trust Co. | 2/15/24 | USD | 4,815 | HKD | 37,602 | 3 | — |
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. | 2/15/24 | USD | 4,126 | IDR | 64,142,370 | 62 | — |
Toronto-Dominion Bank | 2/15/24 | USD | 76,326 | INR | 6,350,488 | — | (104) |
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. | 2/15/24 | USD | 5,148 | INR | 428,325 | — | (7) |
State Street Bank & Trust Co. | 2/15/24 | USD | 985 | INR | 81,925 | — | (1) |
UBS AG | 2/15/24 | USD | 215,822 | JPY | 30,857,153 | 5,664 | — |
State Street Bank & Trust Co. | 2/15/24 | USD | 51,771 | KRW | 68,189,021 | 629 | — |
Deutsche Bank AG | 2/15/24 | USD | 11,737 | MXN | 199,423 | 180 | — |
State Street Bank & Trust Co. | 2/15/24 | USD | 8,834 | NOK | 91,384 | 142 | — |
Toronto-Dominion Bank | 2/15/24 | USD | 1,248 | NZD | 1,999 | 26 | — |
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. | 2/15/24 | USD | 13,622 | SGD | 18,086 | 131 | — |
BNP Paribas | 2/20/24 | USD | 67,110 | TWD | 2,071,470 | 745 | — |
Goldman Sachs International | 2/20/24 | USD | 6,249 | TWD | 195,713 | — | (21) |
11,757 | (425) |
AUD—Australian dollar. |
BRL—Brazilian real. |
CAD—Canadian dollar. |
CHF—Swiss franc. |
EUR—euro. |
GBP—British pound. |
HKD—Hong Kong dollar. |
IDR—Indonesian rupiah. |
INR—Indian rupee. |
JPY—Japanese yen. |
KRW—Korean won. |
MXN—Mexican peso. |
NOK—Norwegian krone. |
NZD—New Zealand dollar. |
SGD—Singapore dollar. |
TWD—Taiwanese dollar. |
USD—U.S. dollar. |
At January 31, 2024, the counterparties had deposited in segregated accounts securities with a value of $11,259,000 in connection with open forward currency contracts.
A. Security Valuation: Securities are valued as of the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 4 p.m., Eastern time) on the valuation date. Equity securities are valued at the latest quoted sales prices or official closing prices taken from the primary market in which each security trades; such securities not traded on the valuation date are valued at the mean of the latest quoted bid and asked prices. Securities for which market quotations are not readily available, or whose values have been affected by events occurring before the fund’s pricing time but after the close of the securities’ primary markets, are valued by methods deemed by the valuation designee to represent fair value and subject to oversight by the board of trustees. These procedures include obtaining quotations from an independent pricing service, monitoring news to identify significant market- or security-specific events, and evaluating changes in the values of foreign market proxies (for example, ADRs, futures contracts, or exchange-traded funds), between the time the foreign markets close and the fund’s pricing time. When fair-value pricing is employed, the prices of securities used by a fund to calculate its net asset value may differ from quoted or published prices for the same securities. Investments in Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund are valued at that fund's net asset value.
B. Foreign Currency: Securities and other assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars using exchange rates obtained from an independent third party as of the fund’s pricing time on the valuation date. Realized gains (losses) and unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on investment securities include the effects of changes in exchange rates since the securities were purchased, combined with the effects of changes in security prices. Fluctuations in the value of other assets and liabilities resulting from changes in exchange rates are recorded as unrealized foreign currency gains (losses) until the assets or liabilities are settled in cash, at which time they are recorded as realized foreign currency gains (losses).
C. Futures Contracts: The fund uses index futures contracts to a limited extent, with the objective of maintaining full exposure to the stock market while maintaining liquidity. The fund may purchase or sell futures contracts to achieve a desired level of investment, whether to accommodate portfolio turnover or cash flows from capital share transactions. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are imperfect correlation between changes in market values of stocks held by the fund and the prices of futures contracts, and the possibility of an illiquid market. Counterparty risk involving futures is mitigated because a regulated clearinghouse is the counterparty instead of the clearing broker. To further mitigate counterparty risk, the fund trades futures contracts on an exchange, monitors the financial strength of its clearing brokers and clearinghouse, and has entered into clearing agreements with its clearing brokers. The clearinghouse imposes initial margin requirements to secure the fund’s performance and requires daily settlement of variation margin representing changes in the market value of each contract. Any securities pledged as initial margin for open contracts are noted in the Schedule of Investments.
Futures contracts are valued at their quoted daily settlement prices. Fluctuations in the value of the contracts are recorded as an asset (liability).
D. Forward Currency Contracts: The fund enters into forward currency contracts to protect the value of securities and related receivables and payables against changes in future foreign exchange rates. Risks associated with these types of forward currency contracts include movement in the values of the foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar and the ability of the counterparties to fulfill their obligations under the contracts. The fund mitigates its counterparty risk by entering into forward currency contracts only with a diverse group of prequalified counterparties, monitoring their financial strength, entering into master netting arrangements with its counterparties, and requiring its counterparties to transfer collateral as security for their performance. In the absence of a default, the collateral pledged or received by the fund cannot be repledged, resold, or rehypothecated. The master netting arrangements provide that, in the event of a counterparty’s default (including bankruptcy), the fund may terminate the forward currency contracts, determine the net amount owed by either party in accordance with its master netting arrangements, and sell
or retain any collateral held up to the net amount owed to the fund under the master netting arrangements. The forward currency contracts contain provisions whereby a counterparty may terminate open contracts if the fund’s net assets decline below a certain level, triggering a payment by the fund if the fund is in a net liability position at the time of the termination. The payment amount would be reduced by any collateral the fund has pledged. Any securities pledged as collateral for open contracts are noted in the Schedule of Investments. The value of collateral received or pledged is compared daily to the value of the forward currency contracts exposure with each counterparty, and any difference, if in excess of a specified minimum transfer amount, is adjusted and settled within two business days.
Forward currency contracts are valued at their quoted daily prices obtained from an independent third party, adjusted for currency risk based on the expiration date of each contract. Fluctuations in the value of the contracts are recorded as an asset (liability).
E. Various inputs may be used to determine the value of the fund’s investments and derivatives. These inputs are summarized in three broad levels for financial statement purposes. The inputs or methodologies used to value securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
Level 1—Quoted prices in active markets for identical securities.
Level 2—Other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.).
Level 3—Significant unobservable inputs (including the fund’s own assumptions used to determine the fair value of investments). Any investments and derivatives valued with significant unobservable inputs are noted on the Schedule of Investments.
The following table summarizes the market value of the fund’s investments and derivatives as of January 31, 2024, based on the inputs used to value them:
Level 1 ($000) | Level 2 ($000) | Level 3 ($000) | Total ($000) | |
Investments | ||||
Assets | ||||
Common Stocks—North and South America | 1,192,936 | — | — | 1,192,936 |
Common Stocks—Other | 152,763 | 582,537 | — | 735,300 |
Preferred Stock | — | 5,052 | — | 5,052 |
Temporary Cash Investments | 22,068 | — | — | 22,068 |
Total | 1,367,767 | 587,589 | — | 1,955,356 |
Derivative Financial Instruments | ||||
Assets | ||||
Futures Contracts1 | 167 | — | — | 167 |
Forward Currency Contracts | — | 11,757 | — | 11,757 |
Total | 167 | 11,757 | — | 11,924 |
Liabilities | ||||
Futures Contracts1 | 59 | — | — | 59 |
Forward Currency Contracts | — | 425 | — | 425 |
Total | 59 | 425 | — | 484 |
1 | Includes cumulative appreciation (depreciation) on futures contracts and centrally cleared swaps, if any, as reported in the Schedule of Investments. |