Following the stock market crash triggered by the COVID19 crisis in March 2020, the U.S. dollar started to decline compared to the basket of major currencies (Chart 1).
The declining dollar makes international investments attractive for U.S. investors. We think that if the dollar continues to decline in 2021, the Fidelity Diversified International Fund (FDIVX) will continue to perform well (Chart 2).
Emerging markets have outperformed developed markets in Europe and the U.S. since the market recovery started in May of 2019. The Fidelity Emerging Markets Fund (FEMKX) has a stellar long-term track record and may be a great way to play the continuation of this trend (Chart 3).
For aggressive investors, the rapid growth of Asian markets can offer an appealing opportunity. Asian markets declined to a lesser extent during the COVID19 market crash than the U.S. market and recovered faster in the aftermath. The chart of the Fidelity Southeast Asia Fund (FSEAX) shows how strong and steady this trend has been (Chart 4).
As a word of caution, we’d like to remind our readers that in our view, global stock markets are highly overbought right now due to the combination of large fiscal stimuli, and dovish monetary policy. Consequently, we anticipate a correction in the near future. However, we think that the trends of relative outperformance by international markets can continue in 2021, and investors will likely have an opportunity to buy at lower prices.
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Fidelity Trends 