Investment objective & strategy
As of July 29, 2025 · prospectusObjective. The Fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation. Any income received is incidental to this objective.
Strategy. In seeking long-term capital appreciation, the Fund will invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest significantly (at least 40%) in the securities of companies that are located, headquartered, incorporated or otherwise organized outside of the United States. These companies generally have market capitalizations in excess of $1 billion. The Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in emerging market countries (i.e., those that are generally in the early stages of their industrial cycles). The Funds investment strategy attempts to create a portfolio with similar risk, style, capitalization and industry characteristics as the MSCI World ex USA Index with the potential to provide excess … In seeking long-term capital appreciation, the Fund will invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest significantly (at least 40%) in the securities of companies that are located, headquartered, incorporated or otherwise organized outside of the United States. These companies generally have market capitalizations in excess of $1 billion. The Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in emerging market countries (i.e., those that are generally in the early stages of their industrial cycles). The Funds investment strategy attempts to create a portfolio with similar risk, style, capitalization and industry characteristics as the MSCI World ex USA Index with the potential to provide excess returns by allowing the Fund to hold a portion, but not all of the securities in the MSCI World ex USA Index. In managing the Fund, NTI attempts to achieve the Funds objective by overweighting those stocks that it believes will outperform the MSCI World ex USA Index and underweighting (or excluding entirely) those stocks that it believes will underperform the MSCI World ex USA Index. The Fund seeks to accomplish this goal by employing a strategy that uses statistics and advanced econometric methods to evaluate fundamental and quantifiable stock or firm characteristics (such as relative valuation, price momentum and earnings quality). The characteristics are combined to create a proprietary multifactor quantitative stock selection model that generates stock specific forecasts that are used along with controls intended to manage risk to determine security weightings. The Fund may use derivatives such as stock index futures contracts to equitize cash and enhance portfolio liquidity. NTI will normally sell a security that it believes is no longer attractive based upon the evaluation criteria described above. From time to time the Fund may have a focused investment (i.e., investment exposure comprising more than 15% of its total assets) in one or more particular sectors, countries and/or geographic regions. As of March 31, 2025, the Fund had focused investments in the financials and industrials sectors and in Japan and the European Union. MSCI Inc. does not endorse any of the securities in the MSCI World ex USA Index. It is not a sponsor of the International Equity Fund and is not affiliated with the Fund in any way.
Top holdings
As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT| Security | Ticker | Value | % of fund |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASML HOLDING NV | — | $4.51M | 2.39% |
| NOVARTIS AG-REG | — | $4.00M | 2.12% |
| Roche Holding AG CHF0.001 | — | $3.74M | 1.98% |
| Shell PLC ORD EUR0.07 | SHELL NA | $3.64M | 1.93% |
| Northern Institutional Funds GOVT PTFL | BNGXX | $3.19M | 1.69% |
| Mitsubishi Corporation | MSBHF | $2.88M | 1.53% |
| VERISURE HOLDING AB | — | $2.86M | 1.52% |
| Rio Tinto PLC ORD GBP0.10 | RTPPF | $2.66M | 1.41% |
| GSK plc ORD GBP0.3125 | GSK | $2.66M | 1.41% |
| BBVA | BBVXF | $2.61M | 1.38% |
Portfolio moves
Dec 31, 2025 → Mar 31, 2026How many positions this fund opened, exited, grew, trimmed, or left unchanged between its two most recent N-PORT snapshots — net changes between point-in-time reports, not a trade log.
Similar funds
Funds whose portfolios most overlap this one, by weight| Fund | Overlap | Net exp. |
|---|---|---|
| International Equity Index Fund · NOINX | 37% | 0.10% |
| Zacks Quality International ETF | 32% | 0.55% |
| Empower International Index Fund · MXINX, MXPBX | 32% | 0.25% |
Advisers
| Firm | Role |
|---|---|
| NORTHERN TRUST INVESTMENTS, INC. | Adviser |
Footnotes
- Expense ratio as of July 29, 2025, from the fund's prospectus.
- Net assets and holdings count as of March 31, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.
- Total return for calendar year 2025, before tax and after fund expenses. Computed by compounding the twelve monthly total returns the fund reported in its SEC N-PORT filings for 2025 (the latest prospectus does not yet chart this year).
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