Majority of active intermediate core bond, high-yield funds top passive funds

The majority of active intermediate core bond and corporate bond mutual funds and exchange-traded funds outperformed their average passive counterpart over the year ended June 30, according to data provided by Morningstar. However, 40% of active corporate bond funds had higher returns than passive funds.

The three bond categories had markedly lower percentages of active funds with returns above passive funds for the year ended June 30, 2022. Only 25% of corporate bond funds topped passive funds in that time, and it was 32.6% and 34.1% for high-yield bond funds and intermediate core bond funds, respectively.