Harvard's Portfolio

Harvard University's $36.9 billion endowment has suffered sharp losses but according to Indie Research it is placing some bets on undervalued international markets using exchange-traded funds.

Harvard's U.S.-listed equity holdings are quite diversified but have a definite international bias and Asia tilt similar to Chartwell ETF's approach.

Looking at Harvard's top U.S.-listed holdings at the end of the third quarter, the endowment's top-three positions were in ETFs: iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM), iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM), and iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ). Other ETFs among Harvard's top holdings included iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI), Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF(VWO), and iShares MSCI Taiwan Index (EWT).

Perhaps you should follow Harvard's forward looking strategy. So far this year emerging markets have suffered $48 billion in outflows compared to $98 billion of inflows from 2003-2007.