Notes

"The Swiss Helvetia Fund (SWZ) is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through investment in equity and equity-linked securities of Swiss companies. The Fund will invest primarily in equity and debt securities of Swiss companies. The Fund does not intend to enter into transactions to reduce currency risk.
http://www.swz.com/default.cfm

Switzerland is a quasi-EU member. It doesn't use the Euro, and the Swiss franc moves independently of other currencies.

Swiss interest rates have been significantly lower than in the US or Europe for a while; the general expectation is for them to increase.

Switzerland is a good way to play global and emerging markets:
http://tinyurl.com/2ojshx

There seem to be no oil & gas companies in Switzerland, or at least, in this fund. (There are some utilities.) There are many pharmaceutical and financial companies.

The yield varies, usually between 5-10%.

More info: http://www.etfconnect.com/select/fundpages/global.asp?MFID=3902

17JUL07 $18.73

Fees: 1.17%
Discount to NAV: 10.9% (historically the discount has been around 13%)
There has been significant insider buying for the last year.

Thoughts: The discount to NAV and the management fee are decent. Insider buying is steady. The fund has significant exposure to large-cap companies with significant global reach. The combination of growth, yield, and discount makes a persausive argument for buying.

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