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

Morningstar analysts have taken a fresh look at nearly 100 funds, giving just one an upgrade. They downgraded a handful of funds, while giving 19 new ratings.

According to the Chicago-based research group, the Morningstar Analyst Ratings represent analysts' views that a fund can outperform its peers on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. The five-tiered, qualitative scale has three positive levels — Gold, Silver and Bronze — as well as neutral and negative ratings.

To put the latest ratings adjustments into perspective, Morningstar analysts have given a Gold rating to 132 funds, a Silver rating to 297 funds, a Bronze rating to 479 funds, a Neutral rating to 394 funds and a Negative rating to 10 funds.

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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