Bloomberg barclays us universal index
The Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index , or the Agg , is a broad base, market capitalization -weighted bond market index representing intermediate term investment grade bonds traded in the United States. Investors frequently use the index as a stand-in for measuring the performance of the US bond market. In addition to investment grade corporate debt, the index tracks government debt , mortgage-backed securities MBS and asset-backed securities ABS to simulate the universe of investable bonds that meet certain criteria. Index funds and exchange-traded funds are available that track this bond index. The index has been maintained by Bloomberg L. In , mortgage backed securities were also added to the index, which was renamed the US Aggregate Index and was backfilled with historical data to
Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index
The Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index , or the Agg , is a broad base, market capitalization -weighted bond market index representing intermediate term investment grade bonds traded in the United States. Investors frequently use the index as a stand-in for measuring the performance of the US bond market. In addition to investment grade corporate debt, the index tracks government debt , mortgage-backed securities MBS and asset-backed securities ABS to simulate the universe of investable bonds that meet certain criteria.
Index funds and exchange-traded funds are available that track this bond index. The index has been maintained by Bloomberg L. In , mortgage backed securities were also added to the index, which was renamed the US Aggregate Index and was backfilled with historical data to The index was acquired by Bloomberg L. Upon its acquisition, Bloomberg and Barclays announced that the index would be co-branded for an initial term of five years.
The Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index is a market capitalization -weighted index, meaning the securities in the index are weighted according to the market size of each bond type. Most U. Municipal bonds , and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities are excluded, due to tax treatment issues.
The index includes Treasury securities , Government agency bonds, Mortgage-backed bonds , Corporate bonds , and a small amount of foreign bonds traded in U. The average maturity as of December 31, was 4. Many index funds and exchange-traded funds attempt to replicate before fees and expenses the performance of the Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index. Fund managers sometimes subdivide the different parts of the Aggregate by maturity or sector for managing individual portfolios.
The Municipal section of the index is the only part of the index that cannot be used for this purpose - because municipal debt is issued by so many different entities, the Municipals in the Aggregate are only intended to be representative, and Bloomberg maintains separate indices for maintaining Municipal-only portfolios.
Some investors have criticized the use of the Agg as a representation of the performance of the entire US fixed income universe. Because the benchmark was founded in the s, and some of its data dates back to only , a time when interest rates began to decline from all-time highs, the index has only seen a few years of negative returns.
The exclusion of high yield, foreign-denominated and municipal bonds, as well as certain mortgage backed securities also limits the index. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Why some investors want a new standard for bonds". Retrieved November 5, Bloomberg Professional Services. July 10, Retrieved November 1, Wall Street Journal. April 2, FA Mag. Retrieved Categories : Bond market indices Lehman Brothers Barclays. Namespaces Article Talk.
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Flagship fixed-income benchmarks include the U.S., Euro, Asia-Pacific, and Global Aggregate Indices, U.S. Municipals, High-Yield and Emerging Markets. Index performance for Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Universal Total Return Index Value Unhedged U (LC07TRUU) including value, chart, profile & other market.
However, its heavy emphasis on low-yielding Treasury and agency bonds makes it more conservative than most of its active peers and easy to beat. Yet, the fund still maintains considerable exposure to government-backed bonds, which account for about half of the portfolio, balancing out the increased credit risk. The fund efficiently tracks the Bloomberg Barclays US Universal Index, and it is currently the only fund replicating the index. Also, its fee is one of the lowest in the intermediate-term bond Morningstar Category. But its cap-weighting approach leads to a Treasury-heavy portfolio that does not resemble holdings of its actively managed peers.
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