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Is FNMIX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Well, Fidelity New Markets Income (FNMIX - Free Report) would not be a good potential starting point right now. FNMIX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

FNMIX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Since Fidelity New Markets Income made its debut in May of 1993, FNMIX has garnered more than $2.31 billion in assets. The fund's current manager, Timothy Gill, has been in charge of the fund since January of 2019.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 3.13%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 4.72%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of FNMIX over the past three years is 11.08% compared to the category average of 13.79%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 9.28% compared to the category average of 11.55%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

This fund has a beta of 0.83, meaning that it is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, FNMIX has a positive alpha of 0.32, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

Ratings

Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, FNMIX has 37.93% in medium quality bonds, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 32.09%, giving FNMIX an average quality of BBB. This means that it focuses on medium quality securities.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, FNMIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.80% compared to the category average of 1.12%. FNMIX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity New Markets Income ( FNMIX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Fidelity New Markets Income ( FNMIX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Bond, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.


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