Yesterday, the sharp stock market sell off spooked many investors. Several equity sectors were down more than 2% and the selling was broad-based. The cause of the sell off was a combination of mixed signals about the U.S. economy and the increase of geopolitical risks in Argentina, the Ukraine and the Middle East.
While equities closed lower again today, the late afternoon rally increased the likelihood of the return of a more stable market next week. The Fidelity China Region Fund (FHKCX) held up the best during the sell off and may continue to do so should the equity sell of resume in September. The FHKCX chart shows that the strong bullish trend is still intact and the relative strength vs. the S&P 500 continued to increase during the sell off.
Treasury bonds often serve as safe haven in volatile markets. It is widely expected that interest rates will rise in the near future, which should cause the price of long-term Treasury bonds to fall, not to rise. Consequently, a continued bull market for Treasuries may serve as a cautionary signal for equity investors (see Spartan Long Term Treasury Bond Fund chart below). Also, we are approaching the seasonally weak September-November period when most of the market crashes occurred. Taken together, the market action should caution investors to steer away from high risk investments until conditions stabilize.
Buy and sell signals for Fidelity funds are available at FidelitySignal.com
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Fidelity Trends 