Sector Rotation: Top 3 Financial Sector Mutual Funds

Companies in the financial services industry, such as brokers and banks, have rallied impressively in the last few weeks. In our view, increased dividends and buy backs, and the prospect of deregulation can support a long-term bull market in the financials sector.

To find the best financial sector mutual funds for the current market environment, we utilized the fund ratings provided by our sister site, Fidelity Sector Report.

The top-rated fund is the Fidelity Select Brokerage Fund (FSLBX):

Another strong performer is the Fidelity Select Consumer Finance Fund (FSVLX). FSVLX primarily invests in credit card companies and mortgage REITs:

Our third favorite is the Fidelity Financial Services Fund (FIDSX):

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Sector Rotation: Is it Time to Take Profits in High-Soaring Media Stocks?

According to economic cycle theory, the economy follows a regular cycle moving from recession to recovery, and back into recession over a period of several years. Historic studies have shown that when the economy starts to recover from a recession, the consumer discretionary sector (cyclicals) is often the first to make gains closely followed by technology and industrials.

While we have not had a recession since the stock market low in 2009, the strong performance of the technology, consumer cyclicals (see Chart 1.) and industrials sectors in the last six months have raised the possibility of starting a new market cycle without a serious correction.

Chart 1.

Starting a new market cycle without even a relatively small correction is a possibility, but would be very unusual. That is why we are on the lookout for early signs of a market pullback.

One of the cautionary signs is that media stocks, an important sub-sector of the consumer discretionary sector, reversed their uptrend today (see downgrade by FidelitySectorReport.com) due to multiple companies reporting a significant fall in advertising revenues:

Chart 2.

The strongest sub-sector in the consumer discretionary space now is the leisure sub-sector (see Chart 3.) with names like Starbucks, Las Vegas Sands, and Marriott. We think that leisure stocks are long-term bullish, but short-term overbought, ready for a pullback:

Chart 3.

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Conservative Investments Lead the Market in 2016

After high market volatility in 2015, it is not surprising to see that investors are favoring conservative investments in 2016. We’d like to highlight here a trio of conservative sector funds, which show improving relative strength compared to the S&P 500 index.

The Fidelity Select Utilities Fund (FSUTX) returned an impressive 14.5% in the last three months, surpassing the 2.77% return by the benchmark Fidelity Spartan 500 Index Fund (FUSEX) in the same period:

The Fidelity Select Telecomm Fund (FSTCX) is at a new all-time high level and returned 10.17% in the last three months:

The Fidelity Select Consumer Staples Fund (FDFAX) reached an all-time high too, and returned 6.32% in the last three months:

Read more about investment strategies at FidelitySignal.com.

 

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Real Estate Funds at All-Time High Levels

A stealth rally is under way in real estate equity and income investments, while most of the financial media is focused on developments around oil and other natural resources.

The Fidelity Real Estate Portfolio Fund (FRESX) is now at a new all-time high level surpassing the previous high reached in January of 2015:

Our favorite investment in this space is the Fidelity Real Estate Income Fund (FRIFX) that is also at a new all-time high:

Read more about investment strategies at FidelitySignal.com.

 

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Best Bond Funds for 2016

After the market turmoil in the second half of 2015, new trends have emerged in 2016. One of the important new trends is that the long-term Treasury yield index reversed direction and going lower:

Lower long-term interest rates coupled with the strengthening U.S. economy makes bond investments attractive again. The Fidelity U.S. Bond Index Portfolio Fund (FBIDX) is a great way to participate in the new investment environment, because FBIDX invests in both Treasury and corporate bonds.

One of our long-term favorites is the Spartan Municipal Bond Fund (FHIGX). This fund has been making steady gains since October 2015 and we believe that the improving economy should continue to strengthen the credit worthiness of issuers and increase demand for municipal bonds.

Read more about investment strategies at FidelitySignal.com.

 

5 Top Fidelity Mutual Funds to Watch in 2015

Summary

• A technical screen of Fidelity mutual funds shows that new investment areas emerged in 2015 to lead the market
• The natural resources sector, which includes energy, has the potential to provide market-beating returns. On the other hand, investors shouldn’t expect low volatility, because commodity prices can fluctuate in a wide range
• International markets, most notably Asia and Europe, may outperform U.S. equities this year

From time-to-time, it is important to take a broad view of the market, so we can better understand the changing conditions and dynamics. Five month ago, back in November 2014, our momentum screen showed that the top 10 Fidelity mutual funds were all equity funds representing the consumer, health care and transportation sectors of the U.S. economy (see article).

While equity funds continue to outperform bond funds, the picture is very different now. Mutual funds investing in energy and other natural resources, and international markets are the market leaders. At the same time, select U.S. sectors, such as utilities, are lagging:

Speculation about bottoming oil and commodity prices have caused an impressive rally in the natural resources sector. A great way to participate in the potentially long-term bullish trend in this sector is via the Fidelity Select Natural Resources Fund (FNARX).

The Fidelity China Region fund (FHKCX) is now the best year-to-date performer of all Fidelity mutual funds with a 20.97% gain.

Visit FidelitySignal.com for additional investment strategies.

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Emerging Investment Opportunities in International Markets

Quantitative Easing in Europe and in Japan has started to make a positive impact on equity prices in developing markets. In our view, one of the best ways to participate in this long-term trend is by investing in the Fidelity Diversified International Fund (FDIVX). FidelitySignal issued a BUY signal for the fund on February 8 and the fund was included in our Diversified Model Portfolio, as of that date.

The potentially stabilizing U.S. dollar and commodity prices, and the prospect of world-wide economic recovery in 2016 are making emerging market investments attractive again to investors seeking growth.

The Fidelity Southeast Asia Fund (FSEAX) provides a solid way to participate in the Chinese and other Southeast Asian markets. FidelitySignal issued a BUY signal for the fund on January 23 and the fund was included in our Aggressive Growth Model Portfolio, as of that date.

For investors seeking broad diversification across emerging markets including Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, the Fidelity Emerging Markets Fund (FEMKX) is our top rated choice. FidelitySignal issued a BUY signal for the fund on April 7 and the fund was included in our Megatrends Model Portfolio, as of that date.

Visit FidelitySignal.com for additional investment strategies.

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Stock Market is at All Time High Again; New Investment Opportunities Emerge

The chart of the Fidelity Spartan U.S. Equity Index Fund (FUSEX) shows that U.S. equities broke out from a volatile trading range that started in early December of last year. At the same time, the yield of Treasury bonds reversed course, which caused the Spartan Long-Term Treasury Bond Fund (FLBIX) to correct:

Mutual funds investing in the leading sectors have continued to advance this year, but may be ripe for a pullback now to their respective moving averages (blue lines on the charts):

 

As the equity market has turned more bullish again, sector rotation has intensified, as well. This is good news for investors, since new investment opportunities are emerging. One example is the Fidelity Select Materials Fund (FSDPX):

Read more about investment strategies involving these funds at FidelitySignal.com

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Long-Term Bullish Trend is Intact for U.S. Equities, in spite of Increased Volatility; Gold Forms a Bullish Double-Bottom Chart Pattern; It is Still Early to Invest in the Energy Sector or in International Equities;

It is always good to take a look at long-term trends when short-term volatility increases, in order to have a better sense of the market direction. While the widely anticipated stock market correction remains a possibility, in our view, the long-term bullish trend for U.S. equities is still intact.

The chart shows that the multi-year uptrend for the benchmark Fidelity Spartan U.S. Equity Index Fund (FUSEX) has not yet been interrupted by the recent market volatility:

In a recent article (see Best Fidelity Mutual Funds for 2015) we highlighted the most attractive investments for 2015. The selected mutual funds have continued to perform well in the last few weeks of trading. Especially, conservative sectors, such as real estate, utilities, medical equipment and consumer staples have outperformed the S&P 500 index:

Perhaps, the most interesting new development in 2015 is the renewed interest in buying gold mining stocks. The chart of the Fidelity Select Gold Fund (FSAGX) below shows a short-term bullish double bottom pattern and increased buying activity during the first two weeks of the New Year. However, gold has a long way to go before it can establish a long-term uptrend.

While gold is traditionally viewed as an inflation hedge, in the current deflationary environment precious metals are looked at as an alternate asset class that can potentially serve as a volatility hedge. We’d like to caution investors, that while gold can provide returns that have low correlation with equities, this sector is highly speculative and is more appropriate for the purposes of short-term trading than long-term investing.

As noted in earlier articles, we believe that it is still too early to diversify into the weakest sectors, such as natural resources (in particular energy), and into underperforming international markets.

The blue lines on the charts of the Fidelity Select Energy Fund (FSENX) and the Fidelity Latin America Fund (FLATX) indicate that the bearish downtrends that are still in place:

Read more about investment strategies involving these funds at FidelitySignal.com

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Top 10 Fidelity Mutual Funds

The broad-based rally for U.S. stocks continues, as we approach the seasonally bullish year-end period. The list of the top 10 Fidelity funds (see more at FidelitySignal) is dominated by sector funds representing a diverse set of industries, such as retailing, consumer finance, IT services, health care and transportation:

The top year-to-date performer is the Fidelity Select Transportation Fund (FSRFX) with 29.01% gain so far in 2014. The holdings of the fund include airline, shipping and railroad companies, which all benefit from declining energy prices.