Yesterday Vanguard announced two proxy proposals designed to give the firm greater flexibility in choosing advisors. The proposals were among several others, including the election of two new trustees, Sarah Bloom Raskin and Deanna Mulligan.The two proposals related to advisors would allow Vanguard to change a fund's subadvisors without first getting shareholder approval via proxy. Skipping this step would save Vanguard considerable time and expense when adding or subtracting subadvisors. They already have this approval with 48 funds; this new proposal would simply extend it to the rest of the lineup.This change would give shareholders less direct oversight over Vanguard's funds, but as a practical matter, choosing subadvisors is ultimately best left to the firm itself. Of course, shareholders always have the option of voting with t… Full Story

PowerShares Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt provides equal-weighted exposure to the U.S.-dollar-denominated emerging-markets sovereign and quasi-sovereign bonds with at least three years until maturity. The exchange-traded fund targets bonds with the biggest zero-volatility spread and equally weights each country and issuers within each country. The fund has a cost advantage over its emerging-markets bond Morningstar Category peers and has outperformed most of them so far. However, its committee-based country-selection process is not consistent and repeatable, which limits the fund to a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Neutral.This portfolio's credit-rating distribution is on par with its category peers. The split between the investment-grade and below-investment-grade groups is roughly half and half. That said, the sub-investment-grade … Full Story