If you have been looking for International Bond - Emerging fund category, a potential starting could be Fidelity New Markets Income (FNMIX). FNMIX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

We classify FNMIX in the International Bond - Emerging category, an area rife with many investment choices. International Bond - Emerging funds focus on fixed income securities from emerging nations from around the globe. This usually results in exposure to economies like China, Brazil, India, South Africa, and Indonesia, just to name a few. Funds here offer geographic diversification, but they can also introduce currency risk into the picture as well.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FNMIX. Since Fidelity New Markets Income made its debut in May of 1993, FNMIX has garnered more than $1.58 billion in assets. Timothy Gill is the fund's current manager and has held that role since January of 2019.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. FNMIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 1.06% and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -0.38%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.

It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.

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. FNMIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 10.73% compared to the category average of 13.58%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 11.56% compared to the category average of 14.62%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

FNMIX carries a beta of 0.23, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 1.93, 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 28.16% in medium quality bonds, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 55.45%, 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 0.84% compared to the category average of 0.94%. From a cost perspective, FNMIX is actually cheaper than its peers.

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

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity New Markets Income ( FNMIX ) has a neutral 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 average choice for investors right now.

Don't stop here for your research on International Bond - Emerging funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare FNMIX to its peers as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.

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