Monday morning brings a host of new categories for fixed-income mutual funds. Morningstar's John Rekenthaler took the wraps off the new categories in an article published on the fund trackers' Web site.

The new ratings brings heirarchy ("It's a tree, not a branch") to the 13 sectors. The three levels are: Super Sector, Primary Sector, and Secondary Sector. There are six Super Sectors, which divide into 17 Primary Sectors, which in turn are formed by 72 Secondary Sectors, explains Rekenthaler. Got that?

He explains that the ratings also provide greater detail with up to 72 possible descriptions (up from 17 before).

Not everyone did. A commenter posting under the moniker "phildmet" wrote: "With the old system I was happy just to know how much foreign holding was corporate and how much was governmental. Like an orphan residing in an English workhouse I was grateful for my morning gruel. Now it appears the gruel is exchanged for nettle soup with fish heads. I guess something is better then nothing." 

Edited by: Hung Tran


Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE