There have been years of mild flirtations with corporate tax reform that would incent companies to permanently repatriate overseas funds.
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Special Offer: Overseas funds account for 35% of Jim Lowell's ETF portfolio.
Should the dollar regain momentum, the currency differential that juiced foreign indexes will work in reverse, and U.S. investors riding high on overseas funds could get hammered.
Overseas pension funds represented the same percentage of the total investment volume in 2011.
After many years of stellar, U.S.-fund-beating performance, overseas stock funds recorded a dismal 2011.
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Like many other financial companies, the bank's been looking to raise new capital, but at least it hasn't had to resort to overseas investment funds or general stock sales.
As overseas investors divert funds from overbought Wall Street to Hong Kong, Wharf's stock price has been inching up.
Almost half of Lowell's aggressive growth portfolio is invested overseas in Fidelity funds like Aggressive International (nasdaq: FIVFX - news - people ), Emerging Markets (nasdaq: FEMKX - news - people ) and New Markets Income (nasdaq: FNMIX - news - people ).
And like Japanese banks, the Chinese ones gather deposits from thrifty households but lend only some of these back out, mainly to companies, parking the vast excess in government bonds and with the central bank (although the Chinese government, unlike Japan's debt-laden government, is a net creditor that invests these excess funds overseas).
Funds sent overseas illegally by Chinese officials have become part of that push.
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On November 23rd the government said private insurers could enter the market and that foreign insurers could buy stakes of up to 26% in them (and increase their influence to 40% if friendly institutional funds or overseas Indians invest alongside).
It will also raise the limit for investors seeking to put yuan funds, raised overseas, in China's markets.
They can use mutual funds to go overseas and get some international exposure.
Also, consider using funds to get overseas fixed-income exposure.
In Eastern Europe's small towns, Western Union offices have sprung up to disburse funds from relatives working overseas.
Sharp is considering a host of measures to raise funds, including selling overseas factories and securitizing future payments from customers.
Denver-based Marketocracy member Gary Tucker specializes in buying the American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) of overseas companies, exchange-traded funds and closed-end funds.
"In captivity, white lions are ambassadors for their species, helping to raise important funds for conservation projects overseas, " the wildlife park said.
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Those funds are probably a typical range of mutual-fund investments a mixture of large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap U.S. stock funds, a few bond funds and maybe an overseas stock fund or two.
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American mutual funds have gradually increased their overseas allocation of equities since 2003 from 15% to 22.5% of assets, says Mr Jen.
In the first year that they were able to put their public-pension money into private funds, half was invested overseas, says Mr Jacobson.
Using some of his mother's retirement money, Mr. Okutomi had earlier bought several mutual funds that invest mainly in overseas equities and real-estate investment trusts.
One could argue that the seeming anomaly of the relatively strong yen might reflect a seasonal effect: the repatriation of funds by Japanese firms' overseas operations near the end of the financial year.
Sovereign-wealth funds, which are investment funds owned and generally operated by overseas governments, have invested in both private-equity managers and the biggest Wall Street firms over the past several years.
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At the very least, it is a prescription for the diversion of limited funds away from pressing domestic and overseas spending requirements, even as new precedents are created that will further erode discipline in international lending.
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This, in turn, would drive private sector funds away from the American market and towards overseas soils, where governments are recognizing the importance of investing in energy innovation, manufacturing, and markets.
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To be sure, some of the overseas investments are being made by wealthy individuals with discretionary funds, while a majority of Japan's small investors still prefer to invest in the home market.
And yet Barclays won the votes - because its shareholders come from all over the world, and many of its overseas owners, along with other investors, such as hedge funds, aren't particularly fussed about bankers' pay.
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Arguably, if a domestic transfer took place but with the understanding that the funds would at least in part find their way overseas as part of the criminal intent, such a transfer would, it seems, be prohibited.
In March 2011, the coalition announced a shake-up of overseas aid with ending of direct development aid to 16 countries and funds being "tightly focused" on those most in need.
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