There has been a lot going on in the international equity space lately. 

Harbor International was named International Manager of the Year by Morningstar.  The Hakan Castegren lead fund has had more than just a good year.  Check out the long term track record of this fund and you will see how good they have done.

Dodge and Cox is launching a new Global (combination of U.S. and International stocks) fund and also reopened (Feb 4th) their excellent Stock and Balanced Funds

Also Dodge and Cox International decided to hedge some of their exposure to the Euro and Pound Sterling.  This is the first time the fund has done any currency hedging and they made it known that they don’t take such steps lightly.

Marketwatch posted an article about the T. Rowe Price Africa and Middle East fund that was launched last year.

Middle Eastern countries, seeking to diversify oil riches, have long been major investors in the world’s leading industries. Now the Middle East itself is attracting interest from intrepid U.S. investors, who see a region with rapidly growing, well-run businesses and an ambitious goal of becoming less reliant on the oil that has made it so wealthy.

Access to these frontier markets has become easier and cheaper for buyers in the past few months. One of the newest offerings comes from T. Rowe Price Group Inc.

Speaking of Frontier Market funds, Fund Alarm mentioned that Fidelity is about to launch a new Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa fund

Fidelity Emerging Europe, Middle East, Africa Fund seeks capital appreciation by investing in companies located in “emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa issuers and other investments that are tied economically to the EMEA region.” Manager is Adam Kutas, who has worked at Fido since 1996 as “a research analyst and manager,” though it’s not clear what he managed. Expenses capped at 1.25%, minimum investment of $2500.