It appears there are definite signs of life over at Fidelity Investments, the mutual fund giant that has so far resisted throwing itself fully into the exchange traded fund (ETF) arena.

Last year, many of the company’s trademark funds went from lagging to leading. This may not be enough to make up for lost time over the past several years, reports Suzanne McGee for Barron’s but it does help. The average annual return was at 12.7% annually compared to 12.82% for the S&P. Some insiders believe this is the start of a golden turnaround for the mutual fund specialists. Veteran managers like Harry Lange and Will Danoff, along with newbie
Jason Weiner, are on board and ready to relive the mega status by
posting the returns they earned in the 1970s-mid 1990s.

The big question is, will investors respond to the improvements in research and management and get back into funds they’ve abandoned in recent years? Or will investors write off mutual funds for good and stick with ETFs?

It’s going to get interesting.

Tags: S&P 500