If, say, American pension funds ignored the proposed index, it would not stand much of a chance.

ECONOMIST: Fund management: Indexing the globe | The

Among exchange traded funds holding a broad index of small companies, two stand out for low expense ratios and good liquidity: the Schwab U.S. Small Cap ETF ( SCHA ) and the Vanguard Small Cap ETF ( VB ).

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Investors have already marked down stock index futures and the dollar index has rebounded by 0.3% to stand at 74.11 after a poor start to the week.

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