Fidelity

Managers are setting up portfolios for a pull-back in equity markets, looking at put options and moving more defensive as several indicators post sell signals.

The return of high-profile funds to the top of the performance charts is shaking up the UK equity rankings, just as the asset class returns to favour.

Fidelity Special Situations fund manager Sanjeev Shah has warned investors that equities are at risk of a significant pullback this year as valuations approach multi-year highs.

Former Cofunds head of commercial Russell Lancaster is joining Fidelity as sales director.

The ‘great rotation' out of fixed income and into equities is pushing funds' assets towards maximum capacity, which could result in top-performing funds soft-closing in the coming months.

Fidelity is launching a short-duration version of bond manager Ian Spreadbury's £3.3bn MoneyBuilder Income fund.

China's economic growth picked up in the fourth quarter of 2012, but data for the year as a whole showed the country recorded its slowest growth for 13 years.

Fidelity's head of research for European equities, Henk-Jan Rikkerink, has outlined eight core themes revealed in a recent survey of the group's investment professionals.

2012 was a mixed year for markets, with developed market equities recovering from a summer sell-off to make marginal gains, while some segments of the property and bond markets outperformed.

Investment strategists and asset allocation heads have labelled last week's fiscal cliff deal a ‘short-term fix', which could spark a fresh round of sovereign debt downgrades in the coming months.