The first quarter of 2018 saw a return of volatility to our marketplace. And, when all was said and done, and while much ado was made of the fact that major market averages like the Dow and the S&P 500 ended down a bit more than 2% for the quarter, I think we can acknowledge that within any long-term investing timeline, a little rain must fall. My investment forecast for reasonable gains (born of solid fundamentals) hasn’t changed, but my emphasis has—from cautiously optimistic to optimistically cautious.... Read more
On days when fear takes a back seat, fundamentals continue to drive markets upwards. On days when fear has the upper hand, our defensive positioning and the risk management skills of the managers we invest in will continue to defend our hard-won gains well.... Read more
A whirlwind of a first quarter is in the books, and it seems there is little time to reflect as we move towards May in a market environment much changed from the start of the year. Fears and fundamentals are still going head to head, and it can feel less like an even-Steven boxing match between two similar weight opponents and more like combating the many-headed Lernaean Hydra of Greek myth. On days when fear has the high ground, fundamentals have a hard time standing on the two legs of low interest rates and economic data that remain supportive of... Read more
| Model | YTD | 5-Year (Annualized) |
|---|---|---|
| Global Quant | 2.3% | 13.5% |
| Aggressive Growth | 0.6% | 11.6% |
| Growth | 0.4% | 11.3% |
| Growth & Income | -0.7% | 9.9% |
| Income | -1.8% | 6.6% |
| Annuity Growth | 0.3% | 8.7% |
| Annuity Growth & Income | 0.3% | 7.9% |
A high correlation between funds may mean that your portfolio of funds is not as diverse as you might want it to be. While other tools may compare funds only to the S&P 500, you can use this tool to determine how closely the performance of one Fidelity fund tracks that of any other Fidelity fund. Compare all the funds that you own. To diversify, look for funds that have low correlation with one another.
Jim Lowell is Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning independent newsletters Fidelity Investor and Fidelity Sector Investor. Through his newsletters, Jim advises individual investors seeking superior performance from their Fidelity investments. He has also written several books on investing, Investing from Scratch (revised edition, Penguin, 2006) and What Every Fidelity Investor Needs to Know (Wiley, 2007) among them. Read more
Jim Lowell adheres to the Cardinal Rule of Mutual Fund Investing: Buy the manager! He makes sure his subscribers, also known as “Fidelity’s Fortunate Few,” are protected and invested in Fidelity’s best funds.
Learn moreThese long-term sector investments are selected based on Jim’s proprietary Fidelity Sector Investor fund-scoring system and set to deliver big profits.
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