Morningstar Debuts Global Equity Indexes

The indexes family will serve as the foundation for the next generation of Morningstar “strategic beta” indexes. The firm’s scope of indexes now spans 45 countries in both developed and emerging markets.

Morningstar’s new index family comprises global, regional and country-specific indexes using a transparent, rules-based methodology with a focus on the investability of the underlying securities. The global equity indexes can help investors with:

• Market monitoring – Comprehensive and non-overlapping, the indexes allow investors to analyze performance trends and market movements around the globe;
• Asset allocation – The global equity indexes reflect the risk and return profiles of each developed and emerging market country and can help investors build better model portfolios; and
• Attribution analysis – Investors can use the indexes to perform attribution analysis to understand what drives a manager’s or portfolio’s performance.

The indexes are available with end-of-day returns and constituent data in Morningstar Direct, the firm’s research platform for institutions. The company plans to add the indexes to Morningstar Advisor Workstation and Morningstar.com investment platforms for advisers and individuals.

Morningstar also plans to roll out real-time calculations early next year for the development of market monitoring tools and strategic beta indexes. Morningstar defines strategic beta indexes as those that seek to either improve performance or alter the level of risk relative to a standard benchmark.

“As more investors, advisers and institutions take a global perspective to investing, the index family will provide meaningful, consistent worldwide views across market capitalizations and regions to provide a deeper understanding of market behavior throughout the globe,” Sanjay Arya, head of Morningstar Indexes, said in a statement.

More information and a complete list of the new global equity indexes are available here.

Morningstar’s index business is part of the Morningstar Investment Management group. Morningstar is a provider of independent investment research.