According to Moody’s, the third quarter could be upbeat for mutual fund companies.

Morningstar recently announced changes to its Morningstar Analyst Ratings system, now applying this forward-looking rating to ETFs. In addition, ETFs will now be combined into the same relevant peer group alongside mutual funds for the traditional Morningstar one to five-star rating calculated quantitatively using backward-looking performance and risk data. 

There are many financial industry conferences hosted every year. Each event requires a hefty "investment" of time and resources. Choosing which conferences to attend each year can be a daunting task. 

Plenty of financial industry conferences are hosted every year. Choosing which ones to attend or “invest in” is no easy task. We have compiled and analyzed a number of them to help you make a strategic decision. 

One of the conferences atop many investment professionals’ list is the annual Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago, IL. This year’s event took place June 13-15 at McCormick Place and featured presentations from Vanguard, Franklin Templeton Investments, AQR Capital Management and others, including a comedic performance from SNL legend Darrell Hammond.

Market Volatility Is Here To Stay. How Are Some Investors Dealing With It?

The first half of the year saw the market heading toward stability and growth for the first time in years. 

US Investors May Fear They've Missed the Boat on this Recent Market Rally

-US equity funds shed $8.2 billion in the week ending July 20

-US bond funds captured almost double that amount

US Equity Funds Hit Record Outflow

In June, active US equity funds went through the largest one month outflow since October of 2008. Morningstar released a summary of June 2016 asset flows, and it had some nervously wringing their hands.  

Morningstar reported that active US equity funds suffered the largest monthly outflow since October of 2008.

Active managers had a tough time in June.  In fact, they’ve had a tough twelve months: active managers have lost over $315 billion in assets over the past year according to Morningstar. 

Small funds have tough choices to make if they want to survive.

First, as a fund owner, you can choose to grow through acquisition, picking and choosing among the many funds looking for an exit strategy. 

Morningstar reported estimated U.S.mutual fund and exchange-traded fund asset flows for February 2016.