Morningstar has launched the Morningstar US Real Asset Index, a diversified portfolio of liquid assets that traditionally provide a hedge against inflation, including Treasury inflation-protected securities, real estate investment trusts, and commodity stocks and futures.
The index holds approximately 40% TIPS, 30% commodities futures, 15% REITs, and 15% commodity stocks, including both companies involved with resource extraction and master limited partnerships engaged in resource transportation and processing. Morningstar reconstitutes the index semi-annually.
"Since early 2010, more than 20 new funds have been launched that allocate between several real asset classes,” stated Sanjay Arya, senior vice president of Morningstar Indexes.
“The Morningstar US Real Asset Index will allow investors to better benchmark their real return investments and gain a deeper understanding of the benefits of adding a broad spectrum of inflation-hedged assets to their portfolios."