Charlie Hebard and Michael Kim, portfolio managers on Fidelity Disruption™ Funds, and Denise Chisholm, Director of Quantitative Market Strategy, join us today to share their approach to thematic and disruption investing. Charlie believes that disruption is happening all around us and defines their strategy as investing in companies that have the potential to disrupt industries, whether that is through legacy companies or new companies that have the ability to change the landscape in that industry. According to Charlie, there are five themes that the team identified for Fidelity Disruption™ Funds and they are Technology, Communications, Medicine, Automation, and Finance. Denise expresses that themes, sectors, and factors are the building blocks to investing, where themes are grouping companies together based on underlying drivers. Michael feels that the markets have been choppy over the past year, and for Fidelity Disruption™ Funds, they are focused on a long-term investment thesis of each company, not expecting them to be disruptors during the next year but later on in each company’s life cycle. Michael says that there will be more volatility in these companies which they will take advantage of when prices are low, and his job is to try and smooth this volatility across the fund. At the moment, the team is not investing in private companies but is open to investing in companies that have recently gone public if they feel there is a potential for rapid growth over time.

Recorded on October 26, 2021.

Transcript (PDF): https://www.fidelity.ca/cs/Satellite/doc/transcript_podcast_hebard_kim_chisholm_oct26.pdf

Portfolio manager Sri Tella provides a look at fixed income investing in Canada, the U.S. and abroad. Sri looks at what’s on the horizon for Canadian consumers and potential moves by the Federal government. During the recent election a big fiscal package was promised and Sri unpacks what might be next. Energy is also a big story for Canada and globally. Sri shares his thoughts with host Pamela Ritchie, noting that the transition away from fossil fuels and a focus on renewables is a headwind for Canada, but Sri says it’s a drawn out transition that will take time. Sri shares that we’re seeing renewable sources of energy around the world that can’t keep up with demand, such as an increase in coal usage in China. So there is a shift to renewables, but it will take time. This results in Sri and the fixed income team looking at which companies can make that transition and investing accordingly. Looking at the big topic of inflation, Sri believes that inflation is going to be elevated and sees a perfect storm of late - base effects, reopening surge in demand, capacity taken out of manufacturing causing supply chain shortages, COVID spikes in manufacturing centres overseas, and natural disasters recently in manufacturing countries.

Recorded on October 22, 2021.

Joining the show today for a look at dividends is portfolio manager Don Newman. Don shares his dividend outlook, opportunities he is seeing currently, and how he is positioning Fidelity Dividend Plus Fund to add value now and in the future. Also, with inflation and the ability of our purchasing power to keep up with inflation on everyone’s minds, Don looks at what’s next for the Canadian consumer. Don explains that growing income is very important to Canadians, and with dividend-paying stocks you benefit from capital appreciation over time as earnings grow. This can be especially important in keeping up with inflation concerns and generating more income than money sitting in a bank account or GIC. Don explains what a dividend-paying company actually is, shares his investment approach as a “growth at a reasonable price” investor, and speaks about how he is also a Director of Research.

Recorded on October 21, 2021.

Transcript (PDF): https://www.fidelity.ca/cs/Satellite/doc/transcript_podcast_newman_21oct.pdf

Fidelity’s Director of Global Macro Jurrien Timmer, speaks about central banks, global growth, and wages with respect to job vacancy and unemployment rates in his global macro view episode. With regards to central banks across the globe and their policy responses, Jurrien shares that the responses of central banks he is seeing are different due to the different mandates the banks have. An example he emphasized was the European Central Bank choosing to focus on price stability whereas the United States Federal Reserve chose to have a dual mandate of full employment and price stability. Jurrien also noted that, in his opinion, the Bank of Japan is acting differently compared to the other central banks as they have very large debt stocks to monetize. In terms of global growth, Jurrien believes it will be slowing as China is becoming a drag on the global economy whereas in the past it would be China that would lift the global economy out of a slump. He believes this is because China would increase infrastructure spending and buy up copper & oil, creating a new global capital expenditure cycle. Lastly, Jurrien shares his thoughts on wages and if they can solve the conflicting signals between job vacancy and unemployment. He believes that it is not just a case of wages, but thinks wages are what clears the supply and demand imbalance while noting there are other things going on as well. Follow along with Jurrien’s charts on Twitter: @TimmerFidelity

Recorded on October 25, 2021.

Transcript (PDF): https://www.fidelity.ca/cs/Satellite/doc/transcript_podcast_timmer_25oct.pdf

Portfolio manager Steve DuFour joins the show today. Steve, who first joined Fidelity in 1992, manages Fidelity U.S. Focused Stock Fund for Canadian investors. His fund is a concentrated U.S. equity portfolio focused on investing in large-cap growth companies. Steve discusses his view on U.S. equity valuations in today’s market environment, where he is finding opportunities, and expands on his investment approach. Steve holds a firm focus on companies that are trading at a reasonable price, while expected to grow over the long term. Steve shares he is very interested in the future of hydrogen, explaining that wind and solar power have been reducing the reliance on coal, but hydrogen’s advantage is not being dependent on the weather. Steve also notes that one big area of focus during the economic reopening in the U.S. has been on casinos. In addition to physical casinos, Steve explains how the U.S. Supreme Court allowed online gambling a few years ago, so there are opportunities focusing on companies benefiting from this digital shift. Steve also discusses inflation, commodities and supply chains.

Recorded on October 21, 2021.

Transcript (PDF): https://www.fidelity.ca/cs/Satellite/doc/transcript_podcast_dufour_21oct.pdf

The topic of inflation continues to dominate headlines and that’s the topic of today’s show. David Wolf, portfolio manager and former policy advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Canada, shares his outlook on inflation, monetary policy, and the investment implications for global asset allocation. David shares that protecting against inflation in a thoughtful way isn’t easy to do, and he believes that the current inflation situation is a lot less transitory than people think and the Central Bank may want. He also shares it’s global, and that Canada is not alone, noting the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decisions have more ripple effects globally. Host Pamela Ritchie poses the question what can the consumer handle right now and how should investors be thinking when it comes to savings in their bank accounts with rising inflation. David also explains the strategy behind the new Fidelity Inflation Focused Fund, launched in September. The fund aims to invest in securities collectively resilient to inflation, an optimized balance between various inflation-focused asset classes in a single strategy.

Recorded on October 20, 2021.

Transcript (PDF): https://www.fidelity.ca/cs/Satellite/doc/transcript-podcast-wolf-oct20.pdf

In this episode of the Fidelity ETF Exchange - powered by FidelityConnects, co-hosts Étienne Joncas Bouchard and Himesh Patel sit down to recap notable trends and headlines in the Canadian ETF Industry for the third quarter of 2021. With the first nine months of the year behind us, the Canadian ETF industry has brought in a record $39B in net new assets (new calendar year record). Key topics of discussion today include the return of positive flows for fixed-income ETFs, continued growth for multi-asset ETFs, as well as a conversation on investment factor performance, and an outlook for the end of 2021.

Recorded on October 19, 2021.

Portfolio manager of Fidelity True North® Fund, Max Lemieux, joins us today for a discussion focusing on Canadian equities and where he is seeing opportunities as he looks ahead to 2022. We last heard from Max earlier this year, and host Pamela Ritchie gets Max’s thoughts on the recent market action, and adjustments he’s made to his portfolio. Some of those adjustments Max explains were removing some speculative positions and adding more quality and large cap names. Max reflects on the energy, financial and technology sectors in Canada, also sharing he typically likes to keep exposure to a single sector under 25% but is keeping an eye on financials specifically to move more tactically within that sector. When asked what has been a leading contributor to his success throughout 20 years of investing, Max believes it comes down to smart stock picking, and highlights the benefit of knowledge, experience, and the quality of Fidelity’s research team being extremely helpful.

Recorded on October 19, 2021.

Transcript (PDF): https://www.fidelity.ca/cs/Satellite/doc/transcript_podcast_lemieux_19oct.pdf

Catherine Yeung, Investment Director at Fidelity International, joins FidelityConnects again today. Catherine, who is based in Hong Kong, weighs in on developments in China, unpacks recent regulatory and policy changes and offers her thoughts on what investors need to know about investing in this current environment. Catherine provides an update on COVID restrictions in Hong Kong, sharing she has been back in the office quite a bit, cases are low, but borders remain closed and quarantine restrictions remain strict. Catherine also discusses investing opportunities in Asia, and how investors in North America should view investing in China. Catherine shares that Fidelity China Fund manager Jing Ning’s style is to consider policy change. Catherine notes that China remains an investable space with an understanding of the policy cycle, not being swept up in the policy-news headwinds, as well as having access to companies in the country. Among other topics, Catherine discusses inflation, energy, geopolitics, the upcoming Beijing Olympics, as well as the Evergrande developments and property in China. Catherine notes that property remains the backbone of the Chinese economy.

Recorded on October 15, 2021.

Transcript (PDF): https://www.fidelity.ca/cs/Satellite/doc/transcript_podcast_yeung_15oct.pdf

Jurrien Timmer, Director of Global Macro, joins us again today for his weekly look at the markets. Jurrien unpacks the story behind commodities having done well since March 2020, noting a similar story after the Spanish flu in the 1920’s. He also analyzes future expectations for inflation and U.S. Federal Reserve rate hikes. When debating if inflation is transitory or structural, Jurrien believes it’s a bit of both. Transitory because base effects wear off, cycle progresses, bottlenecks in supply chain become resolved. But also structural, with demographics as a structural driver of inflation. Jurrien shares people are quitting their jobs in the U.S. with the quit rate at 4.2 million in the U.S. People doing that because they think they can get a better job at a higher wage. Visit @TimmerFidelity on Twitter to follow along with Jurrien’s charts.

Recorded on October 18, 2021.

Transcript (PDF): https://www.fidelity.ca/cs/Satellite/doc/transcript_podcast_timmer_18oct.pdf