Morningstar Runs the Numbers

Inspired by Harper's Index (with a tip of the hat to FiveThirtyEight's Significant Digits blog), Morningstar Runs the Numbers uses a numbers-based approach to highlight recent Morningstar research, along with some outside news stories.

4 Emory Zink says that although 2018 was a difficult environment for bonds, short-term bonds were relatively strong performers, primarily due to the ederal Reserve's slow and steady hiking of short-term interest rates. She found four standout funds that merit particular attention.

$1 billion With the announcement from Janus that Bill Gross is due to retire, Eric Jacobson takes a look at the PIMCO co-founder's impact on asset management. Although he leaves a towering legacy, Gross struggled with Janus Henderson Unconstrained. As of December 2018, the fund had less than $1 billion in assets.

8 Top-notch active fund managers found some buying opportunites in the stock market slide in the fourth quarter. Since the market has risen this year, their purchases are not all buys today. But these eight stocks are likely worthy additions to many investors' watchlists.

13% Eric Compton takes a deep dive on Wells Fargo, the rare U.S. bank with a wide economic moat. Our base-case projections incorporate long-term returns on equity of just over 13%, well in excess of the bank's 9% cost of equity.

$442 billion We think the news of the merger of BB&T and Sun Trust looks favorable. The move would create a superregional with roughly $442 billion in assets, the sixth-largest U.S.-based bank.

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