FidelityConnects

Hugo Lavallée, portfolio manager, believes that 2020 showed why active management is important. Hugo, who for Canadian investors, manages Fidelity Canadian Opportunities Fund and Fidelity Greater Canada Fund, brings a contrarian strategy that aims to identify value in out-of-favour stocks. Currently Hugo believes that ESG investing had been less understood in North America, leading to investing opportunities. Hugo’s main focus has been on the “E” (environmental), but he notes that his peers at Fidelity do a great job looking at the “S” and “G” (social and governance). Hugo explains that with the current vaccine rollout, travel and leisure is likely to make a strong comeback, and he is primarily focused on the pent-up demand that he feels we’ll see in travel and leisure this year.

Recorded on January 27, 2021.

Le gestionnaire de portefeuille Patrice Quirion est notre invité aujourd’hui. M. Quirion gère les Fonds Fidelity Actions mondiales – Concentré et Actions internationales – Concentré. M. Quirion se dit optimiste à l’égard des marchés dans l’ensemble pour 2021, et il explique à l’animateur Charles Danis que son mandat mondial lui permet de saisir les occasions à l’échelle de la planète. Il se réjouit des possibilités offertes au Royaume-Uni et dans les marchés émergents. Aujourd’hui, M. Quirion partage également ses réflexions sur l’inflation, les marchandises, les placements ESG et les annonces concernant les vaccins.

Date : 3 février 2021

From the progression of the vaccine rollout to the health of Canadian industries, portfolio manager Max Lemieux discusses his outlook for Canadian equities in 2021. Looking at consumer spending, Max notes that pent-up demand will likely increase the prices in travel and tourism. Interest rates at 0% are also encouraging people to buy big-ticket items, and some of the pent-up demand is already finding an outlet. He thinks it will be hard to see inflation persist in the long term, given current headwinds such as demographics. The transition to “green” is a major topic right now, and Max notes that there are many new names in Canada, compared with what has been seen in the last 15 years. He thinks a lot of these names have interesting and resilient business models.

Recorded on February 10, 2021.

Fidelity U.S. Growth Opportunities Class portfolio manager Kyle Weaver brings a value driven approach to growth investing to his fund, which was launched for Canadian investors in January 2020. Kyle looks at secular trends and where society is transitioning, rather than the market cycles. He looks at a 3 - 5 year horizon for companies, but that are currently trading at a reasonable price. This is a mix of current well-known blue-chip companies, but also the blue-chip companies of tomorrow. Also, Kyle reflects on 2020 and how his fund was positioned and performed during the market volatility in March and April. In 2019 Kyle joined the team of portfolio managers on the Fidelity NorthStar® and NorthStar® Balanced Fund.

Recorded on January 27, 2021.

Sustainable growth or flash in the pan? Our series on the future of digital currency continues: Fidelity Canada’s equity research analysts panel shares how they are approaching digital currencies, the foundations underpinning their growth and catalysts to watch for in 2021. Director of Research and portfolio manager Joe Overdevest notes that we’re still in the early days of cryptocurrencies. He compares Bitcoin to Google: that is, Google wasn’t the first search engine, but it gained popularity over the years; similarly, Bitcoin might eventually be surpassed by another cryptocurrency that becomes the standard. Bitcoin has, however, seen a tremendous increase in adoption in recent years.

Recorded on February 4, 2021.

Jurrien Timmer, Director of Global Macro, believes the reflation trade is in full force. The only indicator that is not quite moving is the dollar. Inflation expectations, along with nominal yields, are rising. From the perspective of the markets and the Federal Reserve, this is an acceptable development (because real rates will stay negative). Bitcoin and gold continue to interest Jurrien. Gold hasn’t seen much movement: it has been trading sideways for six months. Jurrien believes this is due to real rates; even though they are still negative, they aren’t becoming any more negative. Jurrien believes if big players continue to say they believe in Bitcoin, that will give the rest of investors more confidence.

Recorded on February 8, 2021.

In the 14th episode of the Fidelity ETF Exchange - powered by FidelityConnects, co-hosts Étienne Joncas Bouchard, Katrina Wilson and Himesh Patel provide their insights on the state of the Fixed-Income ETF market. The panel discussed topics such as what truly happened during March of 2020 in fixed-income markets, where do we currently stand from an investable universe standpoint for bonds, the case for active vs. passive fixed-income investing and many more.

Recorded on February 4, 2021.

Director of ETFs and Liquid Alternatives, Vivian Hsu, and Head of Quantitative Index Solutions Bobby Barnes discuss the implications for factor investing as different sectors and industries benefit from the increased vaccine rollout throughout 2021 and policy changes from a new U.S. administration. Vivian is seeing a lot of rotation within the different equity markets when talking about factors. She says in 2021, value momentum and dividend factors are the top three factors at play. Bobby says factors are just characteristics of stocks. More and more investors are taking advantage of having access to these products.  He sees there are pockets that are frothy and rightfully so when looking at certain factors that are behaving exactly as expected. As the economy reopens in 2021, Bobby says momentum is not likely to work as we see more rotation. Vivian also comments on the role of social media saying it has fuelled many of the headlines we see around the world.  This makes it harder to stay the course and leave out emotion when investing. She says diversification in your portfolio is key. 

Recorded on February 5, 2021.

Portfolio manager Patrice Quirion shares his perspectives on global market valuations and opportunities for 2021. Patrice feels good about the market entering 2021. He’s a contrarian investor that focuses on out-of-favour areas like cyclicals, industrials and manufacturing types of businesses, and the prices are currently quite reasonable. Patrice thinks inflation is more of a concern for next year, but that it is coming; there is too much liquidity in the system, and we are positioned for a strong comeback. We also have pressure from minimum wages that will trickle in, loose interest rate and monetary conditions and the Central bank is in no rush to cool down the economy. 

Recorded on February 3, 2021.

Portfolio manager Ramona Persaud reflects on 2020, a year that required immense flexibility and resilience. Ramona took a defensive approach at the beginning of the year, and shares how Fidelity’s research resources allowed her and other portfolio managers to get ahead of the pandemic. If you’re looking for dividends, today’s podcast is for you. Ramona believes that value wins over, quality enhances downside protection, and capital allocation drives income. Ramona thinks of income as an outcome of her process, rather than a target. In all her funds, she is looking for good investment return, with low levels of volatility and reasonable income, and this generally equates with strong risk-adjusted returns. She believes valuation drives returns and quality drives downside protection and can also drive income. If Ramona focuses on valuation and quality, income can be a natural outcome of the process.

Recorded on January 27, 2021.