Foreign Closed-ends With Special Appeal

Article Excerpt

SWISS HELVETIA FUND $15.79 (New York symbol SWZ; CWA Rating: Conservative) invests mainly in large-capitalization Swiss stocks. The manager of the fund is Hottinger Group, which, as Banque Hottinger, dates back to 1786. Swiss Helvetia Fund will gain along with a pick-up in the U.S., one of Switzerland’s largest markets. Continued growth in the U.S. will help the exportoriented Swiss economy, particularly if it stimulates growth in Europe, its largest market. Switzerland is likely to show positive growth again in 2006, and it stands to benefit from a continued global economic rebound. The fund’s top holdings are Roche Holdings (pharmaceuticals), 14.2%; Novartis AG (health care and pharmaceuticals) at 13.5%; Nestle SA (food & beverages manufacturing), 13.5%; UBS AG (banking), 9.0%; Zurich Financial Services AG (insurancebased financial services), 4.9%; Credit Suisse Group (global financial services), 4.7%; Swiss Reinsurance (global reinsurer), 4.4%; ABB Ltd. (power and automation technologies), 4.0%; Syngenta (agricultural science), 3.3%; and Logitech (computer accessories), 3.2%. The industry exposure of the stocks in…