What Investors Were Researching in August

After rebounding in July, the market took a turn in August as worries about the Fed's taper dominated. The broad-based Morningstar US Market Index lost more than 3% in the month. 

Decent, but far from spectacular, economic reports in the month did little to ease worries that the Fed is planning to pull back on its quantitative easing programs as soon as September. Morningstar director of economic analysis Bob Johnson described the reports as the "perfect storm" to hit both stocks and bonds. But the reports were generally strong enough that the Fed feels it has the cover to taper its purchases, but not so strong that the market could ignore the impact of rising rates. And rates did keep rising. The 10-year Treasury note was yielding 2.78% at the end of the month, up slightly from 2.74% at the beginning of August and considerably higher than the sub-2% rates seen just a few months ago.

The news out of Europe was generally better-than-expected. Strong growth in Germany seemed to have pulled the eurozone out of recession. The underlying debt and currency woes remained, but a growing economy is a sign that Europe may have the space it needs to tackle its competitiveness issues. Decent export data from China also eased fears that emerging markets were on the verge of a significant slowdown. 

Against this backdrop, what were investors checking out on Morningstar.com during the month? Below are the 25 most-viewed stock, mutual fund, and exchange-traded fund Analyst Reports in August.

Most Viewed Stock Analyst Reports in August 2013
Name	Ticker	Moat	Star Rating	August Return
American Tower	AMT	Narrow		-1.8%
Apple	AAPL	Narrow		8.3%
Berkshire-Hathaway	BRK.A	Wide		-4.0%
Potash Corp	POT	Wide		2.2%
General Electric	GE	Wide		-5.0%
Transocean	RIG	Narrow		-3.1%
J.C. Penney	JCP	None		-14.5%
Enbridge	ENB	Wide		-7.2%
American Elec Power	AEP	Narrow		-6.6%
IBM	IBM	Wide		-6.1%
Exxon Mobil	XOM	Wide		-6.4%
Apache	APA	Narrow		6.8%
Intel	INTC	Wide		-4.8%
Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	Wide		-6.9%
National Oilwell Varco	NOV	Wide		5.9%
ITC Holdings	ITC	Wide		-2.7%
Gilead Sciences	GILD	Narrow		-1.8%
Procter & Gamble	PG	Wide		-3.0%
Canadian Natural Res	CNQ	Narrow		-1.3%
Cenovus Energy	CVE	Narrow		-2.9%
Chevron	CVX	Narrow		-3.5%
ArcelorMittal	MT	Narrow		-1.6%
Spectra Energy	SE	Wide		-7.2%
Yamana Gold	AUY	None		8.4%
Suncor Energy	SU	Narrow		7.7%
Source: Morningstar, Return Data as of Aug. 31, Star Ratings as of Sept. 5.

Many firms from the energy and basic materials sectors were among the most researched last month. This isn't too surprising given that Morningstar's equity analysts consider these two sectors the most undervalued today.  American Tower (AMT) took the most researched spot this month, as investors showed interest in one of the few moat stocks that had a Morningstar Rating of 5 stars.  Apple (AAPL) remained near the top of the most researched list after shares rose on news that activist investor Carl Icahn was pushing the company to buy back more stock. 

Most Viewed Open-End Fund Analyst Reports in August 2013
Name	Ticker	Morningstar Category	Star Rating	August Return
Oakmark Intl	OAKIX	Foreign Lg Blend		-1.8%
Vanguard Wellington	VWELX	Mod Allocation		-2.2%
Vanguard Div Growth	VDIGX	Large Blend		-2.6%
Dodge & Cox Intl Stk	DODFX	Foreign Lg Blend		-2.9%
T. Rowe Cap App	PRWCX	Mod Allocation		-1.9%
T. Rowe Equity Inc	PRFDX	Large Value		-3.1%
Dodge & Cox Bal	DODBX	Mod Allocation		-2.0%
Vanguard Cap Opp	VHCOX	Large Growth		-2.1%
Vguard Selectd Value	VASVX	Mid-Cap Value		-1.8%
PCAP Oddsy Agg Grth	POAGX	Mid-Cap Growth		-0.1%
Dodge & Cox Stock	DODGX	Large Value		-2.8%
Vguard Wellesley Inc	VWINX	Cons Allocation		-1.9%
PRIMECAP Odssy Stk	POSKX	Large Blend		-1.9%
Fidelity Sm Cap Discov	FSCRX	Small Blend		-3.0%
Artisian Intl Value	ARTKX	Foreign Lg Blend		-0.7%
FPA Crescent	FPACX	Mod Allocation		-1.2%
Mairs & Power Grth	MPGFX	Large Blend		-3.4%
Dodge & Cox Income	DODIX	Interm-Term Bond		-0.5%
Fidelity Contrafund	FCNTX	Large Growth		-1.5%
TRP Short-Term Bond	PRWBX	Short-Term Bond		-0.3%
Met West Ttl Rtn Bnd	MWTRX	Interm-Term Bond		-0.4%
Vanguard Bal Index	VBINX	Mod Allocation		-2.0%
Berwyn Income	BERIX	Cons Allocation		-0.2%
Sequoia	SEQUX	Large Growth		-1.4%
Yacktman	YACKX	Large Blend		-2.0%
Source: Morningstar, Data as of Aug. 31, Star Ratings as of Sept. 5.

Investors showed interest in foreign equities in August with both  Oakmark International (OAKIX) and  Dodge & Cox International Stock (DODFX) landing in the top five. Equity-focused portfolios dominated the most researched mutual funds with only a handful of fixed-income and allocation funds making the cut. 

Most Viewed ETF Analyst Reports in August 2013
Name	Ticker	August Return
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation	VIG	-3.4%
Vanguard High Div Yield	VYM	-3.9%
Vanguard FTSE Europe	VGK	-1.3%
WisdomTree Emerg Mkt Sm Cp Div	DGS	-4.4%
Vanguard FTSE Emerg Markets	VWO	-3.1%
Vanguard REIT Index	VNQ	-6.9%
Vanguard Total Stock Market	VTI	-2.8%
Shares Gold Trust	IAU	6.0%
PowerShares Senior Loan Port	BKLN	-0.4%
Vanguard Total Inl Stock	VXUS	-1.7%
Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US	VEU	-1.7%
iShares Nasdaq Biotech	IBB	-2.1%
iShares S&P U.S. Pref Stock	PFF	-1.9%
WisdomTree Emerg Mkt Equity	DEM	-0.6%
WisdomTree Small Cap Div	DES	-5.0%
ALPS Alerian MLP	AMLP	-1.4%
Vanguard Value	VTV	-3.6%
iShares MSCI Emerg Market Min Vol	EEMV	-3.4%
PIMCO Enchanced Short Maturity	MINT	0.0%
PowerShares FTSE RAFI US 1000	PRF	-3.4%
PowerShares FTSE RAFI US 1500	PRFZ	-3.3%
SPDR Dow Jones Global Real Estate	RWO	-5.2%
iShares MSCI EAFE	EFA	-5.2%
JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index	AMJ	-2.5%
SPDR Gold Shares	GLD	6.1%
Source: Morningstar, Data as of Aug. 31.

The continued search for income was very evident among the most researched ETFs in August. Three out of the top four researched securities were dividend funds. The strong performance of gold funds didn't go unnoticed in the month, with both
 iShares Gold Trust (IAU) and  SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) landing in the top 25. There was also continued interest in less mainstream asset classes such as master limited partnerships, bank loans, and commercial real estate.