FidelityConnects

Every month, portfolio manager Jeff Moore brings his unique perspectives on global fixed income markets, using a multi-sector lens. This month he welcomes special guest Dan Tremblay, head of ESG fixed income investing for Fidelity. Jeff and Dan look at a big question being posed right now: if the rise of ESG investing demonstrates a fundamental shift in the overall investing landscape? Dan describes ESG investing as a dynamic, evolving topic that the investment marketplace is focusing on. Dan also notes there is a lot of quantitative analysis being done to study the correlation between a companies focus on the ESG pillars, and economic outcomes over the longterm. Jeff comments on how Europe is used as an example of how ESG is more ingrained and can be a roadmap for how the trends are heading for North America.

Recorded on April 21, 2021.

Cette année, Daniel Dupont célèbre 20 ans de carrière chez Fidelity et 10 ans à titre de gestionnaire du Fonds Fidelity Grande Capitalisation Canada. Il est également à la barre du Fonds Fidelity Étoile du Nord, aux côtés de Joel Tillinghast et Kyle Weaver. Accompagné de l’animateur Charles Danis, M. Dupont passe la dernière année en revue. À l’affût des titres bon marché et déterminé à offrir une protection contre le risque de perte en période baissière, M. Dupont était très emballé par les nombreuses occasions présentes en mars 2020. Il a orienté le Fonds de manière plus dynamique en préconisant un style qu’il définit comme empreint d’une patience agressive; il est prudent et cherche à protéger le capital au besoin, mais saute à pieds joints sur les occasions qui se présentent.

Date : 14 avril 2021

Fidelity’s Director of Global Macro, Jurrien Timmer, provides his weekly global macro and markets update. Jurrien shares that during the last few months there has been more clarity in the U.S. in terms of reopening and the vaccine rollout. Growth estimates when earnings season began were for a 23% gain, one week later it was revised to a 30% gain. In general, typical market cycles last at least 5 years and Jurrien believes we are out of the early cycle phase. In today’s podcast Jurrien also unpacks the mid-April drop in the price of bitcoin.

Recorded on April 19, 2021.

Investment director Tom Stevenson provides his view on UK’s position in the markets as its slowly comes out of COVID-19 lockdowns.  Tom says the UK is still 10% below the peak level it reached prior to the pandemic, but lots of commodities are doing well including – industrials, energy, and financials.  He also provides insights on China’s economic bounce-back and what it means for global economies. He notes that China is taking a different stance than the US in that China is more concerned about reducing risk, financial stability and not allowing their debt mountain to get any bigger.

Portfolio manager Dan Dupont discusses his views on investing in Canada and globally in 2021. Fidelity Canadian Large Cap Fund can invest up to 49% outside of Canada, and this year Dan is celebrating his 10-year anniversary managing Fidelity Canadian Large Cap Fund. Dan’s focus is looking to buy stocks that are cheap, and to protect on the downside. In March 2020 Dan was excited because there were so many opportunities presenting themselves. He tilted his fund to be more aggressive, and Dan describes his style as aggressive patience: defensive with capital protection when needed, but aggressive when he sees opportunities.

Recorded on April 14, 2021.

Sector strategist Denise Chisholm joins us again to share her perspectives on sectors and factors. Denise focuses on trends, history and data. As a market historian, Denise says we are seeing an earnings recovery like no other. Also, always being focused on sectors, today Denise will look at energy and industrials, financials and U.S. bank earnings. Denise unpacks the historical ranges for normal P/E ratios for value vs. growth and large cap vs. small cap. Denise will also expand on how she sees inflation unfolding.

Recorded on April 15, 2021.

More and more investors are aligning their investments with their values. Today, ESG Analyst Courtney Bedell discusses becoming an analyst in this emerging field and how her work is leading to positive impact for investors and the world. Courtney reflects on the overall growth of ESG investing, and shares that environmental, social, and governance are the three key pillars used to assess companies from a social responsibility standpoint. The ESG analyst team creates internal ESG ratings for companies, which includes focusing on which issues are financially material to a specific company.

Recorded on April 9, 2021.

Ruthann Pritchard, institutional portfolio manager, and Bruno Crocco, portfolio co-manager, discuss the investment thesis and mechanics of the rolldown strategy and current asset allocation themes in the Fidelity ClearPath® Portfolios. In choosing a single fund, you get a diversified portfolio, and the fund automatically adjusts the investment mix for your time horizon. The farther away from your goal the more stocks your Portfolio will hold for growth, and the closer you get to your target date, the more bonds and cash your Portfolio will hold to preserve gains and generate income. These automatic adjustments can make you less vulnerable to market swings as you approach your goal. Ruthann and Bruno explain the ClearPath® strategy, the various research and resources that go into the decisions, and how they use active management and Fidelity’s top managers as building blocks for these ClearPath® portfolios.

Recorded on April 13, 2021.

Jurrien Timmer, Director of Global Macro, notes that 91% of stocks in the S&P 500 are above their 50-day moving average. To Jurrien this demonstrates a robust early-cycle bull market. Jurrien also looks at the big inflation question being discussed now - with inflation coming and an accommodative Federal Reserve, is inflation really going to be transitory or will it be structural? Additionally, Jurrien uses Japan as an example to show that money printing does not automatically have to lead to currency debasement or hyperinflation. Jurrien also presents some new findings on cryptocurrency trends, demands and comparisons to gold. With the recent momentum surrounding cryptocurrencies, Jurrien thinks the development of official digital currencies from central banks (Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, etc) may not be far off. For more of Jurrien’s findings follow him on LinkedIn, or Twitter @TimmerFidelity.

Recorded on April 12, 2021.

On this episode, we welcome Bobby Barnes, Head of Quantitative Index Solutions and Vivian Hsu, Director of ETFs and Liquid Alternatives, to the show.  Bobby and Vivian help map out where flows are headed as the market reaches what seems to be a global economic expansion.  Bobby says right now we are in the early cycle of the market and that tends to be a tailwind for things like value and dividends.  He says if investors want to be opportunistic, they can make tilts in their portfolios to these stocks.  Vivian shares where she thinks flows are going and that’s into equities.  Fixed income flows are positive, but have had a tougher first quarter.  ESG inflows year-to-date are at $2.8 billion in Canada and this has already surpassed the 2020 full year ESG inflows of $2 billion. 

Recorded on April 9, 2021.