
There are plenty of reasons to own international stocks in a portfolio. Some investors want foreign stocks in their portfolios to round out their exposure to the global stock market and widen their investment opportunity set. Dan Lefkovitz, a strategist with Morningstar Indexes, estimates that US stocks now represent more than 63% of the market…
Indexes have changed a lot over the past century. What was once state-of-the-art is now antiquated. The first indexes used information that was available, not what was best for building a portfolio. Modern-day indexes have evolved over time to keep costs down and provide a better investment experience.A Brief History of IndexesThe first indexes were…
The US bond market is having a good year: The Morningstar US Core Bond Index was up nearly 5% during the first quarter of 2025. “Unsettled by the DeepSeek AI disruption, major policy uncertainty around tariffs, and fears of ‘stagflation,’ investors took a risk-off approach to the markets during the quarter,” explains Morningstar Indexes strategist…
It’s easy to become a hyperfocused investor. With so much investment information available, you can spend all your time chasing advisor suggestions, scrolling through financial articles, and screening mountains of performance data to find the most perfect investments.Not everyone can, or wants to, invest like that. For investors who desire a more hands-off option that…
Large-cap stocks have dominated in recent years, leaving the average mid-cap blend fund trailing the broader market. However, a few mid-cap blend funds have kept up, including the Vanguard US Momentum Factor ETF VFMO.To screen for the top-performing funds in this category, we looked for those with the best returns over the last one-, three-,…
Large-blend funds offer investors broad exposure to the stock market, combining the largest growth, blend, and value companies. To screen for the top-performing funds in this category, we looked for Morningstar Medalist funds with the best returns over the last one-, three-, and five-year periods. Eight large-blend funds made it through the screen. Notably, in…