Who’s Up, Who’s Down in Latest Morningstar Ratings

The positive-rated funds, referred to as Morningstar Medalists, account for about 13% of funds sold in the U.S. and close to 60% of assets under management. (Overall, the group’s analysts rate more than $11 trillion of U.S. investor assets, or some 67% of U.S. investor assets.)

Recently, the research group gave four alternative funds a Bronze rating, noting that the ratings system is “not an easy bar to clear” when it comes to alternatives.

The January 2017 updates are as follows:

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• T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Growth: Bronze (from Neutral)

Downgrades

• AQR Managed Futures Strategy: Bronze (from Silver)
• Gotham Absolut Return: Neutral (from Bronze)
• LKCM Small Cap Equity: Bronze (from Silver)
• Oppenheimer Equity Income: Neutral (from Bronze)
• RiverPark/Wedgewood: Bronze (from Silver)
• Royce Special Equity: Silver (from Gold)

New Ratings

• AB Discovery Growth, Neutral
• Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF, Neutral
• Eagle Mid Cap Growth, Neutral
• Fidelity Advisor Emerging Markets, Bronze
• Goldman Sachs Multi-Manager Alternatives, Neutral
• Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF, Neutral
• iShares Core Total USD Bond Market, Silver
• iShares National Muni Bond, Bronze
• iShares US Consumer Goods, Neutral
• iShares US Industrials, Neutral
• PowerShares Buyback Achievers ETF, Neutral
• SPDR Nuveen Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Bond ETF, Bronze
• SPDR Nuveen Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Municipal Bond ETF, Bronze
• Technology Select Sector SPDRs ETF, Bronze
• Touchstone Sustainability & Impact Equity, Neutral
• Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF, Neutral
• Vanguard Industrials ETF, Neutral
• Vanguard Tax-Exempt Bond ETF, Silver
• William Blair Macro Allocation, Bronze

— Check out 16 Best Fund Managers of 2016: Morningstar on ThinkAdvisor.