8 Burning Questions for the Morningstar Investment Conference

The Morningstar Investment Conference is just two weeks away: June 13-15. Whether you attend in person or track our reports online, we have a full agenda, and there should be a lot to talk about. Here are some questions I hope to have answered.

1) What’s everyone selling?

When we were wrapping up the agenda in late January, I thought there’d be a lot of bargain-hunting to discuss. I even named my panel, "Bargains Amid the Chaos." Alas, the markets have rallied a fair amount since then, especially any securities related to the energy industry, and now it may be more about where to take profits. I’ll put that question to my panelists: Charles de Vaulx of

2) Will the Fed hike rates this summer?

The Fed’s Open Market Committee meeting overlaps with the last two days of our conference, so we’ll be talking about what it will do and, once we learn the results, about what will be next. No doubt we’ll hear about what the Fed

should

be doing, too. On June 13,

3) What are good innovations in the fund industry, and what are the gimmicks? Vanguard CEO William McNabb should have plenty to share on this subject. But I'm also interested to hear what AQR's Cliff Asness and Research Affilliates' Rob Arnott have to say on a variety of topics including industry innovation.

4) How can we improve the union of planners, investors, and securities? Sometimes good planners, good investors, and good investments lead to great results, but other times those good ingredients somehow lead to bad results. Don Phillips, Steve Wendel, Bill Bernstein, Blair duQuesnay, David Blanchett, Jonathan Guyton, and Christine Benz will have quite a lot to share on how we can improve the investment experience for investors.

5) What does the Fiduciary Rule mean for the investment world? The fund industry and the brokerages of the world are still sifting through the rule and working on what adjustments they'll need to make. We'll hear from Anthony Serhan of Morningstar Australia, who saw firsthand the adoption of similar rules in Australia. We've also gathered Tricia Rothschild and Michael Wong to weigh in on the rule in the United States and what they're hearing from practitioners.

6) How has sustainable investing changed? We've rolled out our new Morningstar Sustainability Ratings, and we will have three thoughtful industry leaders to discuss where we're headed. Lynne Ford of Calvert, Karina Funk of Brown Advisory, and Ingrid Dyott of Neuberger Berman will chat with Morningstar's Jon Hale about this big topic.

7) There’s still something worth buying, right?

Maybe there are more sells than buys, but I’m sure there some appealing investments out there.

, and

.

8) What are the best mutual funds? OK, I actually do know what our analysts are going to say in answer to this question, but you might not. That's why you will want to hear from Karin Anderson, Katie Reichart, Kevin McDevitt, and Leo Acheson as they share their best ideas.