The Fidelity Spartan Long-term Treasury Bond fund (FLBIX, change: -1.28%) pulled back the most today out of all of the Fidelity funds we track. Nevertheless, FLBIX continues to be the best fund year-to-date with a 21.1% gain.
The Fidelity Spartan Long-term Treasury Bond fund (FLBIX, change: -1.28%) was the weakest performer today and continues the regression towards its trendline.
Mutual fund screens are provided by FidelitySignal.com
We have reported on the great bull market of the U.S. long term treasury bonds. The smart money in 2011 is in the Fidelity Spartan Long-term Treasury Bond fund (FLBIX), which has gained 30.07% year-to-date.
Fidelity Spartan Long-term Treasury Bond fund (FLBIX, change: 2.39%)
Mutual fund screens are provided by FidelitySignal.com
The Federal Reserve announced “Operation Twist” today, a plan to lower interest rates by buying long-term treasury bonds. The stock market reacted to the news in the afternoon with across the board selling. The clear winner of the day was the Fidelity Spartan Long-Term Treasury Bond fund.
Fidelity Spartan Long-term Treasury Bond fund (FLBIX, change: 2.56%)
No stock market sector was immune to the news with several sectors loosing more than 5% in a single day! The funds with the largest losses were the energy services, the automotive and the real estate sectors funds. The market conditions continue to be extremely dangerous for equity investors.
Fidelity Select Energy Services fund (FSESX, change: -5.57%)
Fidelity Select Automotive fund (FSAVX, change: -5.22%)
Fidelity Real Estate Investment fund (FRESX, change: -5.17%)
Mutual fund screens are provided by FidelitySignal.com
Broad-based selling continued around the globe today due to increasing worries about the resolution of the Euro debt crisis. With almost all sectors and international markets dropping sharply there was no place to hide, with the exception U.S. treasury bonds.
However, as the bull run in treasuries is approaching an overbought condition and the dollar strengthening against all major currencies, that safest investment for individual investors may be dollar denominated money market funds.
The Fidelity Europe fund (FIUEX) dropped a whopping 3.72% today on renewed Euro debt worries and is approaching its support level.
Mutual fund screens are provided by FidelitySignal.com
While the stock market selling continues, the bull market in treasury bonds accelerates.
The Fidelity Spartan Long-term Treasury Bond Index fund (FLBAX) closed up 2.67%
Three days ago we cautioned investors about the continued bearish outlook for the stock market. Today, negative economic reports and renewed worries about the European debt crisis triggered another sell-off globally. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the selling to continue.
The Fidelity Spartan 500 Index fund (FUSEX) dropped 4.44% today.
The silver lining is that the U.S. stock market has not yet broken below the recent lows, which can act as a support level. Furthermore, there are still a few areas where gains have been made. For example, investors continued to rotate into the safety of U.S. treasury bonds resulting in a 1.68% gain by the Fidelity Spartan Long-Term Treasury Bond Index fund (FLBAX).
The Fidelity Spartan Long-Term Treasury Bond Index fund (FLBAX) gained 1.68% as investors continue to rotate into the safety of U.S. treasury bonds.
The stock markets around the globe continue to be volatile after the S&P 500 index dropped more than 20% in August from the July peak. As we said in our earlier post, the stock market continues to be in a bearish downtrend. Today’s news about the weakness of the German economy and the disappointment about the impact of the meeting of the French and German leaders kept the market in negative territory.
A Wall Street adage says, “There is a bull market somewhere”. The smart money always seems to find its way away from declining assets into areas of growth. So where is the smart money now?
To answer the smart money question we ran the following screen: identify Fidelity mutual funds, which are uptrending (the net asset value is above the 100-day moving average) and continue to show positive results for the year. The results may surprise you.
Best investments of 2011
The best performing Fidelity mutual fund of 2011, as of August 16, using this criteria is by far the Fidelity Inflation-Protected Bond fund (FINPX), which is up 9.45% for the year:
The Fidelity Inflation-Protected Bond fund (FINPX) is up 9.45% year-to-date.
Another great performer is the Fidelity Spartan Long-Term Treasury Bond Index fund (FLBAX), which is up 6.57% year-to-date. The recent surge in the price of FLBAX shows the flight to quality, as investors rotated out of stocks in the recent market turmoil.
The Fidelity Spartan Long-Term Treasury Bond Index fund (FLBAX) is up 6.57% year-to-date.
Fidelity Trends 