Morningstar Inc. has introduced a new global suite of bond indexes that represent all major fixed-income markets and asset classes. The independent investment research company says the new indexes are designed to serve as portfolio benchmarks and building blocks for portfolio construction.

"Fixed income plays an essential role in helping investors achieve their financial goals," said Sanjay Arya, head of Indexes at Morningstar. "Understanding the underlying market is key to improving investment outcomes, and it is our belief that the democratization of information levels the playing field for everyone across the investment ecosystem. We have constructed a comprehensive global family of bond indexes that represent discrete asset class exposures, without any gaps or overlap."

Morningstar says the launch of a new index suite is part of the company’s broader investment in the fixed-income space. To help investors make more meaningful comparisons between mutual funds in the U.S., the company recently updated its fixed-income categories, forming intermediate core bond and intermediate core-plus bond categories. Additionally, to enable more accurate, consistent and comparable analysis, Morningstar is transitioning from manager-reported to calculated fixed-income data, effective July 31, 2019 for portfolios dated as of June 30, 2019. Select countries that offer calculated data today, such as Canada, will be transitioned to the global methodology in the near future, says the company.

To learn more about Morningstar’s Indexes, click here.