June 6, 2008

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments effective July 1, 2008. No ratings changes are recommended.

Derek L. Young has been named sole portfolio manager of Fidelity Asset Manager 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60% and 85% (with retail and Advisor share classes), Fidelity Asset Manager 70%, Fidelity Advisor Asset Manager 70%, Fidelity VIP Asset Manager Portfolio, Fidelity VIP Asset Manager: Growth Portfolio, all of which he has been co-managing with Richard C. Habermann, who is retiring from Fidelity after 40 years with the firm.  Young has also been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Broad Market Opportunities Fund, succeeding Habermann.  Young will continue to co-manage Fidelity Strategic Real Return Fund (with retail and Advisor share classes), Fidelity Strategic Dividend & Income Fund (with retail and Advisor share classes), Fidelity Four-in-One Index Fund, Fidelity Strategic Income Fund, Fidelity Advisor Strategic Income Fund, VIP Strategic Income Portfolio, and Fidelity Global Balanced Fund.  Young joined Fidelity in 1996 as director of risk management for Fidelity Management Trust Company (FMTC). He later served as senior vice president of strategic investment services and marketing for FMTC and served as a member of the FMTC Trust Committee. He assumed responsibility for Fidelity Strategic Income Fund, VIP Strategic Income Portfolio, Fidelity Strategic Dividend & Income Fund, and Fidelity Four-in-One Index Fund in 2005.  He also began co-managing Fidelity Strategic Real Return Fund in 2005.  Young began managing Fidelity Global Balanced Fund in 2006.  In 2007, he began managing VIP Asset Manager Portfolio, VIP Asset Manager: Growth Portfolio, Fidelity Strategic Income Fund, Fidelity Advisor Strategic Income Fund, Fidelity VIP Strategic Income Portfolio, Fidelity Strategic Dividend & Income Fund (with retail and Advisor share classes), and Fidelity Strategic Real Return Fund (with retail and Advisor classes). Prior to joining Fidelity, Young was a manager in the Risk Strategy Consulting Practice for KPMG.  From 1991 to 1995, he worked for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve as a senior financial analyst and then as a supervisory financial analyst.  He began his career at Empire Financial Services in 1986 where he was a vice president.

June 5, 2008

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments effective June 1, 2008. No ratings changes are recommended.

Vincent Montemaggiore has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Banking Portfolio, succeeding Ramona Persaud. After joining Fidelity in 2004 as an equity research intern following supply chain technology companies, Montemaggiore joined Fidelity’s equity research department full time in 2005 following advertising and publishing companies. In 2006, he took on additional research coverage on industrial conglomerates and managed Fidelity Select Industrial Equipment Portfolio from 2007 until 2008. He has most recently taken on research coverage on banks. Prior to joining Fidelity, he worked as an investment banking analyst in New York from 2002 to 2003 at De Guardiola Advisors, Inc., and from 2000 until 2002 at Putnam Lovell Securities, Inc. focusing on mergers and acquisitions within the financial services industry.
 
Ramona will be transitioning to a new role as a research analyst in Fidelity’s Global Research Team supporting Bill Bower, who manages Fidelity Diversified International Fund. As part of the transition, she will also relocate to FMRCo’s London office.

May 20, 2008

Fidelity has launched a new international fund. The Fidelity Emerging Europe, Middle East, Africa Fund (EMEA Fund, ticker symbol FEMEX) has been Buy-rated by me; in sum, it's a play on the underlying commodities -- crude oil and gold -- and not much else. Still, held in tandem with Emerging Markets (FEMKX), you can create a global emerging markets play which has slightly lower volatility (and I'd wager slightly more promising return potential) than holding either the commodities only, or only one or the other fund.

May 9, 2008

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments effective May 9, 2008. No ratings changes are recommended.

Charles L. Myers has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Small Cap Value Fund (with retail and Advisor share classes), succeeding Thomas Hense, who has taken on a new senior management role within Fidelity Management & Research Company (FMRCo). Chuck will continue to manage Fidelity Small Cap Retirement Fund, for which he assumed responsibilities in 2006. He joined Fidelity’s small-cap team in 1999. From 2001 to 2003, he worked as a research analyst in Fidelity’s London office following European telecommunications operators. Upon his return to the Boston office, Chuck re-joined the small- cap team and in 2004 became a portfolio assistant on Fidelity Low Priced Stock Fund. Chuck co-managed Fidelity Small Cap Growth Fund and Fidelity Advisor Small Cap Growth Fund with Lionel T. Harris from 2005 until 2006. Prior to joining Fidelity, he was a summer associate for Morgan Stanley Asset Management in London, analyzing the global pharmaceutical and U.S. managed care industries. Chuck also served as an equity research associate for Morgan Stanley in New York in the summer of 1997. From 1994 to 1997, he was director of investments and a member of the board of directors for the University of Pennsylvania’s Student Federal Credit Union. Tom has been appointed group chief investment officer (CIO) for FMRCo and, in this new position, will oversee the Small-Cap portfolio management team. Tom also will assume leadership of the High-Income Division, succeeding Rob Lawrence, who has announced his intention to retire at the end of June.

May 1, 2008

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments effective May 1, 2008. No ratings changes are recommended.

Brian Wilhelm has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Insurance Portfolio, succeeding Stephen Hermsdorf.  Since joining Fidelity in 2006 as an equity research analyst, Wilhelm has been following companies in the property casualty insurance and reinsurance industries.  Previously, he spent 10 years at Dowling & Partners; a Connecticut-based equity research firm specializes in analysis of the insurance industry.  Wilhelm began his tenure at the firm as an analyst and concluded as a partner. 

Maurice FitzMaurice has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Defense and Aerospace Portfolio, succeeding Andrew Hatem. FitzMaurice joined Fidelity's High-Income Division in 1998, and has covered a wide variety of sectors as an analyst including energy, utilities, media, real estate, consumer products, retail and airlines.  Currently, he is manager of Fidelity Select Air Transportation Portfolio and Fidelity Select Transportation Portfolio, both of which he began managing in 2007.  Previously, FitzMaurice covered equities within the airline and rail sectors.  He also managed the high-yield portions of Fidelity Balanced Fund, Fidelity Advisor Balanced Fund, and VIP III Balanced Portfolio from October 2006 until June 2007, and -- from November 2005 until October 2006 -- managed the high-yield portion of Fidelity Total Bond Fund.  Prior to joining Fidelity, FitzMaurice worked for Lehman Brothers as an analyst in the Investment Banking Division from 1994 until 1996.

Jonathan Kasen has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Industrial Equipment Portfolio, succeeding Vincent Montemaggiore.  Kasen joined Fidelity in 2006 as an equity analyst following industrial distribution, machinery, electrical products, and mid-cap diversified industrial stocks. Prior to joining Fidelity, he was a summer intern at Fred Alger Management in New York City in 2005.  From 2001 to 2004, Kasen was an equity research analyst, covering mainly health-care and technology companies, at Hellman Jordan Management Company -- a specialty equity investment firm in Boston. 

John Sheehy has been named sole portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Paper and Forest Products Portfolio, which he has been co-managing with Justin Bennett.  Since joining Fidelity in 2006 as an equity research analyst, Sheehy has been following companies in the paper and packaging sectors.  From 1998 until 2005, he was an audit manager covering consumer products and manufacturing firms for Deloitte LLP in New York.

April 8, 2008

Fidelity has launched its new 130/30 Large Cap Fund. This Buy-rated fund invests in both long and short positions, with the value of the long positions minus the short positions to be equal to 100% of the funds assets. It will normally invest 130% of the fund’s assets in long positions and 30% in short positions although these values may vary. The fund seeks long-term growth and invests in growth and value, as well as foreign and domestic large cap companies. Click here for the press release.

April 1, 2008

The following portfolio manager appointments will be effective April 1, 2008, no ratings changes are recommended: 

Joanna Bewick has been named co-portfolio manager of Fidelity Strategic Income Fund, Fidelity Advisor Strategic Income Fund, VIP Strategic Income Portfolio, Fidelity Strategic Dividend & Income Fund (retail and Advisor classes), and Fidelity Strategic Real Return Fund (retail and Advisor classes), all of which she will manage with Derek L. Young.  Bewick joined Fidelity in 1997 as a research analyst in Fidelity’s Fixed- Income Division.  In 2000, she joined Fidelity Management Trust Company (FMTC) and became a senior vice president and senior investment analyst.  In this role, she led a team conducting portfolio optimizations, asset allocation studies and asset and liability analyses for Fidelity’s institutional investors.  In 2006, Bewick left Fidelity to follow the financial services sector as a vice president and fixed- income analyst at JP Morgan Asset Management. She returned to Fidelity in October 2007 to work in the Global Asset Allocation Group. Prior to joining Fidelity, Bewick worked for Federated Investors from 1990 to 1997, beginning as a senior fund accountant, then as an account administrator from 1994 through 1995 and, in 1995, as a fixed- income investment analyst.

William W. Irving has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Mortgage Securities Fund, Fidelity Advisor Mortgage Securities Fund, and Fidelity Intermediate Government Income Fund, succeeding Brett Kozlowski. Irving will continue to manage Fidelity Government Income Fund, Fidelity Advisor Government Income Fund, Fidelity Ginnie Mae Fund, Fidelity Inflation Protected Bond Fund and Fidelity Advisor Inflation Protected Bond Fund. He will also continue to manage Spartan Short-Term Treasury Bond Index Fund, Spartan Intermediate Treasury Bond Index Fund and Spartan Long-Term Treasury Bond Index Fund. Irving joined Fidelity’s Fixed- Income Division in 1999 as a quantitative analyst, and has been managing taxable bond portfolios since 2004.  Prior to joining Fidelity, he was a senior member of the technical staff at Alphatech in Burlington, Massachusetts from 1995 to 1999.  He also was a member of the technical staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts from 1987 to 1995.

Jess Tan has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Southeast Asia Fund succeeding Allan Liu.  Liu will continue to manage equity portfolios available exclusively to overseas investors.  Tan joined Fidelity as an equity research analyst covering the Asia-Pacific regional markets in 2000. After covering the regional consumer (retail, food/beverage/ tobacco) and regional gaming industries, she went on to cover the Asia-Pacific media and telecommunications sectors. In 2002, Tan began managing Asia-Pacific equity funds available exclusively to overseas investors.  Previously, Tan was a fund manager at American International Group. She began her career as an equity research analyst at HLG Securities in 1994.

Colin Stone has been named co-portfolio manager of Fidelity International Small Cap Fund (a retail fund with Advisor share classes), joining existing co-managers Wilson Wong and Tokuya Sano. Stone will be responsible for the fund’s investments in Europe and non-Asian countries and succeeds Ben Paton. Stone will continue to manage European funds available exclusively to overseas investors, including one of the largest European smaller companies funds, which he has managed since its launch in 1995. Stone joined Fidelity’s (FIL Limited) equity research department in London in 1987.  He followed European companies in several industries including, engineering, leisure, oil, and oil services from 1987 to 1993.  From 1993 to 1995, he served as associate director of investment management and was promoted to director of investment management in 1995.  He has been managing offshore pan-European funds since 1990, and managed Fidelity Nordic Fund from 1995 through 1998.  Prior to joining Fidelity, Stone was an offshore petroleum engineer for Britoil, PLC, from 1984 to 1986.

March 1, 2008

The following portfolio manager appointments will be effective March 3, 2008, no ratings changes are recommended: 

John Sheehy has been named co-portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Paper and Forest Products Portfolio.  John will manage the fund with the current manager Justin Bennett.

Peter Dixon has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Leisure Portfolio, succeeding Geoff Kuli.

February 6, 2008

The following portfolio manager appointment is effective February 6, 2008, no ratings changes are recommended: 
 
Ramin Arani has been named sole portfolio manager of the equity portion of Fidelity Puritan Fund, which he has co-managed with Stephen R. Petersen since February 2007. George Fischer will continue to manage the bond portion of the fund. Petersen will continue to manage Fidelity Equity-Income and VIP Equity Income Portfolios.

January 14, 2008

Magellan Reopens to New Investors!

Finally! Two or so years ago, October 2005, I received a phone call that told me the former manager, Bob Stansky, was stepping down and that the incoming manager would be Harry Lange (former manager of Capital Appreciation). On the news, we issued a Special Hotline and immediately updated our web site with an alert – based on this news I was moving Magellan from a Sell to a Buy. Why? For the first time in a decade, Magellan was back in the hands of a go-anywhere global growth manager whose stock picking skills were a perfect match. (Today, Magellan’s foreign stock weighting is up from 4% under Stansky to 28% under Lange.) Since that time, and in particular over the last several quarters, Harry Lange has done what most others thought couldn’t be done; he’s turned Magellan around: He returned Magellan to a growth fund with a global orientation. That makes it high time for Fidelity to re-open it – something I’ve been calling for since Lange took over. And, with the marketing prospect of an out-performing Magellan, I think we just may get a good answer sometime in the near future. 

Harry Lange has managed Magellan since October 2005. Prior to this he managed Capital Appreciation (3/96-10/05), Select Computers (5/92-3/96), Select Electronics (1/94-3/95), and Select Technology (10/93-3/96). Lange also managed Select Capital Goods (now a component of Select Industrial Equipment) in 1988. Prior to joining Fidelity in 1987, he was employed as a vice president at Wellington Management. Lange has also worked at Chevrolet and at Idanta Partners. He earned a BSE from the General Motors Institute in 1975 and an MBA from Harvard in 1983.

Click here for the official Fidelity press release.

Click here for a PDF snapshot of Magellan's history and performance.

January 11, 2008

No ratings changes result from this manager change.

Effective January 11, 2008, Richard D. Manuel, Jr. has been named sole portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Financial Services Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Financial Services Fund, and VIP Financial Services Portfolio, which he has co-managed with Brian J. Younger since February 2007. Manuel also will continue to manage Fidelity Select Home Finance Portfolio, which he has managed since 2006.

January 9, 2008

Manager Change
Tobias W. Welo has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Materials Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Materials Fund and VIP Materials Portfolio, succeeding Duffy Fischer. Welo will continue to manage Fidelity Select Industrials Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Industrials Fund, and VIP Industrials Portfolio.

Matthew S. Schuldt has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Chemicals Portfolio, also succeeding Fischer.

January 4, 2008

Manager Change
Effective January 4th, 2008: Three days after our manager rankings revealed that bottom-ranked Bahaa Fam, Manager of Mid-Cap Growth, was "the biggest disappointment of the year", Fidelity announced he would no longer be running the fund.  Effective today, Patrick L. Venanzi has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Mid Cap Growth Fund (with retail and Advisor share classes), succeeding Bahaa W. Fam, who has taken on a new venture capital role within Fidelity Biosciences.

December 14, 2007

No ratings changes are recommended as a result of the following manager change.

Effective January 1, 2008, Sammy Simnegar has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Aggressive International Fund, Fidelity Advisor International Capital Appreciation Fund, VIP International Capital Appreciation Portfolio and the non-U.S. portion of Fidelity Advisor Global Capital Appreciation Fund, succeeding Darren Maupin, who has made a personal decision to retire from mutual fund management. Darren was also managing the international portion of the Asset Manager funds, which - similar to the approach with the domestic equity portion - will now be managed under a central fund structure. The change was effective December 10.

December 1, 2007

No ratings changes are recommended as a result of the following manager change.

Effective December 1, 2007:
Harlan Carere has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Advisor Capital Development Fund, succeeding Adam Hetnarski. Hetnarski will continue to co-manage Fidelity VIP Contrafund Portfolio as a member of the Multi-Manager Group. Carere joined Fidelity International Limited (FIL) in 2000 as an equity research analyst following the technology sector.  He subsequently served as technology sector leader in FIL’s London office and managed a global technology fund available exclusively to overseas investors. In 2003, he moved to Boston and began following transportation stocks.  He managed Fidelity Select Transportation Portfolio and Fidelity Select Air Transportation Portfolio from January 2004 to January 2005. He also managed Fidelity Select Biotechnology Portfolio and Fidelity Advisor Biotechnology Fund from October 2004 to October 2005.  He then managed Fidelity Select Pharmaceuticals Portfolio from January 2005 until July 2006 and Fidelity Select Health Care Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Health Care Fund, and VIP Health Care Portfolio from March 2005 to August 2006.  He joined the Capital Appreciation Group as a portfolio manager in April 2006.  Since then, he has been assisting Harry Lange on Fidelity Magellan Fund.  Prior to joining Fidelity, Carere was an equity analyst intern with Berman Capital and was an associate intern with Goldman, Sachs & Company, both in New York.  Previously, he served as director of marketing for Umbra Ltd. in Toronto, Canada. He began his career as chairman and founder of The Spectrum Corporation—a designer, manufacturer and retailer of clothing and accessories in Toronto.

November 16, 2007

November 1, 2007

No ratings changes are recommended as a result of the following manager change.

Effective November 1, 2007:
Jane Y. Liou has been named portfolio manager of Select IT Services Portfolio, succeeding Benjamin Hesse. Hesse will continue to manage Select Brokerage and Investment Management, for which he assumed responsibility in June 2007.  Since joining Fidelity in 2004 as an equity research analyst, Liou has been following companies in the apparel sector and then was a generalist in the IT services and software sectors.  She previously served as an analyst at SPO Partners, a private equity firm, from 1999 to 2002.  Liou began her career at Goldman Sachs, where she served as an investment banking analyst from 1997 to 1999.

October 26, 2007

Portfolio Manager Appointment
Effective October 25, 2007: The Multi-Manager Group led by Robert Stansky and including John Avery (Industrials and Materials), Matthew Friedman (Energy), Adam Hetnarski (Technology), Steven Kaye (Health Care), Robert Lee (Consumer Staples), John Roth (Consumer Discretionary), Douglas Simmons (Telecommunications Services and Utilities, and Pierre Sorel (Financials), has been named portfolio manager of VIP Contrafund Portfolio, succeeding William Danoff. Danoff will continue to manage Fidelity Contrafund and Fidelity Advisor New Insights Fund. Portfolio managers in the Multi-Manager Group will manage individual sector or sectors of the broad portfolio. As group manager, Stansky is responsible for managing daily cash flows, directing risk management and overseeing the broad portfolio. Participation by the portfolio managers in the group is in addition to their current managerial responsibilities. John Avery continues to manage Fidelity Fund; Matthew Friedman continues to manage Fidelity Value Strategies Fund, Fidelity Advisor Value Strategies Fund, and VIP Value Strategies Portfolio; Adam Hetnarski continues to manage Fidelity Advisor Capital Development Fund; Robert Lee continues to manage Fidelity Select Consumer Staples Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Consumer Staples Fund, and VIP Consumer Staples Portfolio; John Roth continues to manage Fidelity New Millennium Fund; and Douglas Simmons continues to manage Fidelity Utilities Fund, Fidelity Select Utilities Growth Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Utilities Fund and VIP Utilities Portfolio.

Fidelity has long been the 800 lb gorilla in the no-load mutual fund room -- but over the last several years, when it comes to fund sales, team-managed American funds (despite their onerous front-end loads) have been the top banana. American funds are team managed and broker sold - both good for the business' bottom line and, for the most part, not punitive for investors in their funds. But, American funds lack the broad diversification of Fidelity's lineup - making it a poor choice for a one-stop shop, even if it was a no-load shop. (My top 3 spots based on quantity and quality of offerings: Fidelity by a mile, Vanguard trailing, and T. Rowe Price trailing Vanguard.) Moreover, Fidelity's team-managed funds will be run as a composite of individual manager's contributions to their area of expertise - not ruled by an investment committee.

Not A Performance, But A Business Decision
Net, net (and apples to apples) the performance differential between American's team managed funds that correlate with Fidelity's single managed ones is basically indistinguishable; they're both pretty good. But, from a business perspective, American's team-managed model wins. Fidelity's moderate move into team-managed funds does a few things; first, it creates even more choices for Fidelity investors. Second, it enables Fidelity to not have to close a fund if it gets too big, and then go through the expense of launching and marketing a clone fund to replace it; all they have to do in their team-managed funds is add another manager. Second, it's an insurance policy for Fidelity; if a star manager leaves from a fund they run and whose performance track record they own, assets could follow that manager out the door. With a team-managed fund, assets are likely to be stickier by virtue of one manager leaving will have no (or at least not as much of a) noticeable impact.

Investor Impact
I don't care if 100 monkeys typing in buy and sell orders, outperforms one rocket scientist in an ivory tower. For us, what matters most is the track record of the manager to team of managers -- are the returns better than the benchmark, better than the peer group, and within our risk tolerance range? If the answer to any one of those questions is no, team-managed or not, it's time to sell.

Stansky Backdrop
When Stansky "left" Fidelity and his underperforming tenure managing their flagship Magellan fund I said that I expected him to re- emerge running a new type of product. While it took two years, we now can see that Stansky never left the building -- but is he a good choice to lead the team- managed products? I'd argue in his favor for managing managers; he's deeply respected and well regarded by his peers and juniors; he knows how to manage the slings and arrows of what can be a very public position, and he has the knowledge base to deliver expert and experienced guidance. But, the numbers won't lie -- and he'll have to be able to deliver out-performance, not simply relative to his benchmark, and not just to his Fidelity peers, but versus the 800 lb gorilla in the team-managed fund room, American funds.

In addition, effective November 1, Advisor New Insights will be reopened to new accounts. The fund has been closed since April 2006. With the fund closed over the past year and a half, cash flows have slowed considerably. In addition, through the manager transition on VIP Contrafund, Danoff is handing over a significant portion of his total assets under management to the MMG. In light of these two factors, Fidelity believes that the time is right to make this fund available again to advisor clients.

October 3, 2007

Fidelity Launches Innovative,New Life Cycle Income Distribution Funds

Fidelity Investments announced today that it has launched new retirement income products and services for both individual investors and advisors. The goal is to make it easier for retirees to convert their savings into regular, monthly income payments that can last the duration of their retired years. The new products include the Fidelity Income Replacement Funds (similar to the Fidelity Freedom Funds) and the Fidelity Growth and Guaranteed Income deferred variable annuity. Fidelity also has expanded their online resources to make it easier for investors and advisors to build retirement income portfolios. To find out more go to Fidelity.com and click on “Income Products”. Click here for the full press release.

October 1, 2007

No ratings changes are recommended as a result of the following manager changes.

Effective October 1, 2007:
Derek L. Young has been named co-portfolio manager of Fidelity Asset Manager 20%, Fidelity Asset Manager 50%, Fidelity Asset Manager 85%, (each with retail and Advisor share classes), Fidelity Asset Manager 70%, and Fidelity Advisor Asset Manager 70%, which he will manage with current manager Richard C. Habermann. 

Andrew J. Dierdorf has been named co-portfolio manager, with current co-manager Christopher L. Sharpe, of all of the Fidelity-managed 529 College Savings Plans, succeeding Jonathan A. Shelon.

Stephen M. DuFour has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Worldwide Fund, succeeding Jeffrey S. Feingold, and will manage the U.S. portion of the fund.

Maurice FitzMaurice has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Transportation Portfolio, succeeding Lindsay Connor.

September 1, 2007

No ratings changes are recommended as a result of the following manager changes.

Effective September 3, 2007
Robert Rowland has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Advisor Japan Fund, succeeding Dale O. Nicholls. Nicholls will continue to manage Fidelity Pacific Basin Fund, for which he assumed responsibility in 2004, and other Pacific–region funds available exclusively to overseas investors. Rowland will continue to manage Fidelity Japan Fund, for which he assumed responsibility in April 2007, and other Japanese equity portfolios available exclusively to overseas investors. Rowland joined Fidelity Investments Japan in Tokyo in 1995 as an equity research analyst, and followed companies in the semiconductor, semiconductor equipment, precision equipment, and automobile sectors. He was appointed portfolio manager in 2000, and has since managed a number of Japanese equity portfolios. Prior to joining Fidelity, Rowland worked as a Japanese equity analyst at Barclays de Zoette in Tokyo from 1993 to 1995. He also served as a Hong Kong equity analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo from 1992 to 1993.

August 7, 2007

Surprise Management Change
In a surprise and surprising announcement, Ellyn McColgan announced she is leaving Fidelity to pursue new opportunities. Ellyn had been viewed as a likely heir apparent when Ned Johnson steps down from his current role (sometime in the next several years). But, it appears that Ellyn didn’t want to wait out the succession and instead devised her own transitional plans. While the impact of her decision to leave won’t affect shareholders in any way, I do view her departure as a blow to Fidelity’s senior management lineup. Moreover, I view her role as one which will likely be filled temporarily by Rodger Lawson, the returning President of FMR Co, as one which could be filled from outside the current management ranks, much the way Fidelity’s new institutional company has been filling its human capital orders. I’m sorry to see Ellyn go; she was a true leader and an exemplary senior officer. Click here for the official press release.

Additional Manager Changes
No ratings changes are recommended as a result of these changes.

Effective August 1, 2007 Matthew J. Conti has been named co-portfolio manager of Fidelity Total Bond Fund (with retail and advisor share classes), succeeding Eric Mollenhauer. Ford O'Neil continues to serve as the portfolio manager for Total Bond Fund. Mollenhauer will assume portfolio manager responsibilities for several floating rate high income portfolios, mainly holding institutional assets. Conti will continue to manage Fidelity Focused High Income Fund and Fidelity Advisor High Income Fund. He also will continue to manage the high-yield portions of Fidelity's Asset Manager Funds, as well as high-yield portfolios for institutional clients. Since joining Fidelity in 1995 as an analyst, Conti has covered high-yield bond investments in a number of industries, including telecommunications, cable/media, auto/transportation, and retailing. In 2000, he assumed responsibility for the high-yield portions of the Asset Manager Funds and institutional high-yield portfolios. Conti began managing Fidelity Advisor High Income Fund in 2001 and Fidelity Focused High Income Fund in 2004.

August 6, 2007

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments. No ratings changes are recommended as a result of these changes.

Effective September 4, 2007: Christopher L. Sharpe has been named co-manager of the Fidelity Freedom Funds and Fidelity Advisor Freedom Funds, succeeding Ren Y. Cheng. Cheng has been named Chief Investment Officer of Fidelity’s Global Asset Allocation Group, which he will continue to lead -- overseeing the firm’s lifecycle and asset allocation portfolios. Sharpe will co-manage the Freedom and Advisor Freedom Funds with current co-manager Jonathan A. Shelon. Shelon has been named co-manager, with current co-manager Sharpe, of the VIP Freedom Portfolios, VIP Investor Freedom Portfolios, and VIP Freedom Lifetime Income Portfolios, also succeeding Cheng.

Derek L. Young has been named sole portfolio manager of Fidelity Strategic Income Fund, Fidelity Advisor Strategic Income Fund, Fidelity VIP Strategic Income Portfolio, Fidelity Strategic Dividend & Income Fund (with retail and Advisor share classes), and Fidelity Strategic Real Return Fund (with retail and Advisor classes), all of which he has been co-managing with Sharpe.

August 1, 2007

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments. No ratings changes are recommended as a result of these changes.

Effective August 1, 2007, S. Joseph Wickwire, II has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio (with retail and Advisor classes), succeeding Daniel Dupont.

Matthew J. Conti has been named co-portfolio manager of Fidelity Total Bond Fund (with retail and advisor share classes), succeeding Eric Mollenhauer.

July 16, 2007

Fidelity Makes a Management Change

Fidelity today named Rodger Lawson, a longtime Prudential Financial executive, as president of FMR Corp., the holding company for Fidelity’s businesses, replacing Bob Reynolds who left Fidelity back in April of this year. This marks a return to Fidelity for Lawson. From May 1985 to May 1991 Lawson was managing director and chief executive officer of the retail arm of Fidelity Investments. During that time period, Fidelity’s retail assets under management grew from about $22 billion to $83 billion, and customer accounts grew from 3 million to 7 million. Said Edward C. Johnson 3rd, Fidelity chairman and chief executive officer, “Rodger has the breadth of financial services experience, as well as experience with Fidelity, which makes him ideally suited for this job.” Rodger will take his place as president on August 6. He will be responsible for Fidelity Employer Services Company; Fidelity Investments Distribution and Operations Company, and Fidelity Technology Group.

Smart Move
The return of Rodger Lawson as President of FMR (Fidelity’s mutual fund company), is excellent news with precedents that bode well for Fidelity’s funds (click here for the official press release). Rodger’s experience both as a former President of FMR Co, and more recently running a similar and competitive business, will yield invaluable insights to Fidelity’s mutual fund company. And while that news is, in and of itself, good news for Fidelity, the better news is that for Fidelity Investor members, we can expect a greater emphasis on marketing to Fidelity’s past core message: their mutual funds. Lately, Fidelity has been heavily marketing their platform as an excellent place to do business; and they’re right. It is. But they’ve been doing a less stellar job marketing their own mutual funds which has created the impression that they’re not worth marketing – wrong! I expect the return of Rodger to be the first shoe of Magellan’s re-opening to drop at a time in the near future as a way to say that Fidelity is not only back, but leading the pack. This isn’t just rhetorically feel-good news for investors like us, the more money that flows into the funds, the lower the overall expense ratio will be – and the more fully invested the funds will remain.

July 1, 2007

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments. No ratings changes are recommended as a result of these changes.

Effective July 1, 2007, Robert Galusza has been named lead portfolio manager of Fidelity Short-Term Bond Fund, Fidelity Advisor Short Fixed-Income Fund, and Fidelity Ultra-Short Bond Fund (with retail and advisor share classes). Rob will co-manage the funds with current manager Andrew J. Dudley.

In addition, Matthew Friedman has been named assistant portfolio manager of Fidelity Value Fund, Fidelity Advisor Value Fund and VIP Value Portfolio, while the funds’ portfolio manager, Rich Fentin, takes a leave of absence from the firm. Matt will continue to manage Fidelity Value Strategies Fund, Fidelity Advisor Value Strategies Fund and VIP Value Strategies Portfolio for which he assumed responsibilities in 2006.

June 25, 2007

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments. No ratings changes are recommended as a result of these changes.

Effective June 25, 2007, Edward Best has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Large Cap Growth Fund and Fidelity Advisor Large Cap Growth Fund, succeeding Bahaa W. Fam. Fam continues to manage Fidelity Mid Cap Growth Fund and Advisor Mid Cap Growth Fund as well as institutional portfolios for Pyramis Global Advisors.

Effective June 21, 2007, Fidelity Nordic Fund will reopen to new investors. Nordic Fund was closed to new accounts on March 14th of this year, in an effort to give all fund shareholders the opportunity to vote on the proposed merger into Fidelity Europe Fund. That merger proposal did not pass at the recent shareholder meeting. Though a majority of shareholder votes agreed with the proposal, the in-favor votes failed to exceed the two-thirds threshold required to pass the measure. Fidelity and the fund’s Board thought that Nordic Fund shareholders could potentially benefit from investing in the larger, more diversified Europe Fund. However, Fidelity respects the vote results and the shareholder decision.

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments. No ratings changes are recommended as a result of these changes.

Effective June 1, 2007, Benjamin Hesse has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Brokerage and Investment Management Portfolio, succeeding Yolanda Taylor.

Wilson Wong has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity China Region Fund, succeeding K.C. Lee.

Additionally, the performance benchmark for Fidelity China Region Fund is changing from the Hang Seng Index to the MSCI Golden Dragon Index, effective June 1, 2007.

Effective May 15, 2007 Daniel E. Kelley has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Construction and Housing Portfolio, succeeding Nora Creedon. Kelley joined Fidelity's equity research department in 2005, and has most recently been serving as an equity research analyst following office, residential, and specialized Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

Effective May 14, 2007 Fidelity Investments announced the launch of two new share classes of Fidelity California (CA), Massachusetts (MA), New Jersey (NJ) and New York (NY) AMT Tax Free Money Market Funds. The two new classes, Institutional Class and Service Class, will be available to institutional clients and high net worth investors either directly or through intermediaries, such as banks and broker dealers. In addition, Fidelity announced the lowering of expenses on the funds’ existing retail share classes.

May 1, 2007

Please note the following portfolio manager appointment effective May 1st. No ratings changes are recommended as a result of this change.

Melissa M. Reilly has been named portfolio manager of Europe Capital Appreciation, Advisor Europe Capital Appreciation, and co-portfolio manager of Global Balanced Fund, succeeding Darren Maupin. Maupin will continue to manage Aggressive International, Advisor International Capital Appreciation, VIP International Capital Appreciation, and Advisor Global Capital Appreciation, for which he assumed responsibilities in October 2006.

Matthew Sabel has been named portfolio manager of Advisor Health Care and VIP Health Care, succeeding Aaron Cooper, who has assumed a new role as a managing director of research. Sabel will continue to manage Fidelity Select Health Care Portfolio and Fidelity Select Medical Delivery Portfolio, for which he assumed responsibilities in 2006 and 2005, respectively.

Edward (Eddie) Lee Yoon has been named portfolio manager of Select Medical Equipment and Systems, also succeeding Cooper.

Fund Announcements
Also effective May 1st, Fidelity has announced that it has reopened Fidelity New Millennium to new accounts. Since former manager Neal Miller retired last July, the fund has diminished by 40% in size. Fidelity believes that reopening the fund at this point is likely to benefit shareholders by attracting new assets that will offset, at least partially, recent outflows.

In addition, Fidelity will be creating three new enhanced Large Cap index funds: Large Cap Value Enhanced Index, Large Cap Core Enhanced Index, and Large Cap Growth Enhanced Index.

Effective April 23, 2007

Please note the following portfolio manager appointment effective April 23rd. No ratings changes are recommended as a result of this change.

Jeffrey S. Feingold has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Advisor Strategic Growth Fund and VIP Growth Stock Portfolio, succeeding Brian J. Hanson, who has assumed a new role as managing director of research in Fidelity’s equity research organization.

Effective April 19, 2007: Changes at the Top

Fidelity announced that Bob Reynolds, its COO and second-in-command, is retiring and Ned Johnson is assuming a more proactive role while Abigail Johnson (Ned’s daughter and heir apparent) will be joined by rising star Ellyn McColgan as the trinity that will lead Fidelity forward. For reasons that I will detail below, I think that this is welcome news for shareholders and employees alike.

First, I want to say goodbye to Bob Reynolds; a key figure at Fidelity for as long as I’ve been tracking the company and a significant contributor to not just Fidelity’s retirement plan business but the retirement planning business as a whole. Bob’s success in that role, while invisible to most, means that he’s got a thumbprint on nearly everyone’s 401(k) plan. And while his more than 20 years of hard labor in the mines at Fidelity have earned him a retirement kitty that most would envy and only a handful could best, I think he deserves the fruits of his labors as much as he deserves to learn how to rest.

That said, Fidelity’s announcement about significant changes at the top of their management pyramid have been a while in coming. I view it as a necessary reshuffling at the top based on several missteps in their various businesses as well as come confusion about the message and mission of its core fund business. Nearly two years ago, Fidelity launched Pyramis Global Advisor, its bid for an institutional money management firm, and to this day it’s hard to know who is running that show, let alone what its products are; that’s like opening the barn door only to remember that you forgot to put horses in the stalls in the first place. Over the past several years, Fidelity has seen several heads of FMR Co., the mutual fund firm we know inside and out, come and go – a sign to me that management was treading lightly trying to figure out what the top brass wanted them to do rather than stepping boldly based on where they knew the business had to go.

With the ascension of Ellyn McColgan, the days of whine and poseurs are over. She’s a no-nonsense, driven, leader who has earned her stripes the best way: she has consistently executed well on every role she’s been assigned to and has earned the respect of her mentors, seniors, peers, and rank and file who know her to demand excellence based on her example and not some text book theory of how to succeed in business. Moreover, to meet her is to know that this is not someone who is simply interested in running a big business well; she is passionate, deeply passionate, about Fidelity and seeing Fidelity not simply maintain but increase its leadership role as the flagship financial services firm for shareholders like you and me. This passion has been evident from her start at Fidelity, and has only increased; a fact that is never lost on anyone who has dealt with her, worked for her, or simply listened to her.

Ellyn’s role, which I view (rightly or wrongly) as complementary (not secondary) to Abigail’s, means that we have a dynamic partnership at the top at the time when Fidelity needs it most – not just based on recent indirection and indecision, but also with due regard for securing a better future for itself and us. Enabling Ellyn and Abby to work in tandem while Ned is still calling the overall course, means that he can see if this is the best leadership team to lead Fidelity into the future, a future that must proceed without him at some point in time. I will be watching them as closely as he will, but I suspect neither of us will be disappointed.

Don’t mistake my words for flowery or faint praise. When missteps are made, you know I point them out. But this time around, I think Fidelity is taking a clear and distinct step in the right direction.

Effective April 10, 2007

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments effective April 10th. No ratings changes are recommended as a result of these changes.

John M. Harris has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Consumer Discretionary Portfolio , Fidelity Advisor Consumer Discretionary Fund, and VIP Consumer Discretionary Portfolio, succeeding Martin Zinny.

Evan Hornbuckle has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Retailing Portfolio, also succeeding Martin Zinny.  

Effective April 2, 2007

Robert Rowland has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Japan Fund succeeding Yoko Ishibashi.

Duffy Fischer has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Materials Portfolio and Fidelity Advisor Materials Fund, succeeding Jody J. Simes. 

Effective March 1, 2007

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments effective March 1st. No ratings changes are recommended as a result of these changes.

Stephen M. DuFour has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Focused Stock Fund, succeeding Robert J. Haber. While I hate to see Haber taken off this fund, incoming manager DuFour has been among our more highly ranked managers (when he ran Equity Income II, for example), so it’s welcome news to see him returning to the fray.

Gavin Baker has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Wireless Portfolio, Fidelity Select Telecommunications Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Telecommunications Fund, and VIP Telecommunications Portfolio succeeding Brian J. Younger.

Stavros Koutsantonis has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Environmental Portfolio succeeding Douglas Simmons.

Vincent Montemaggiore has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Industrial Equipment Portfolio succeeding Christopher S. Bartel.

Effective February 5, 2007

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments. No immediate ratings changes are recommended.

Jason Weiner has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Growth Discovery Fund, succeeding Adam Hetnarski.

Jeffrey S. Feingold has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Trend Fund, succeeding Ramin Arani.

Ramin Arani has been named as an additional portfolio manager of Fidelity Puritan Fund.

Christopher T. Lee and Paul Jackson have been named co-portfolio managers of Fidelity Select Electronics Portfolio and Fidelity Advisor Electronics Fund, succeeding James Morrow.

Brian J. Younger and Richard D. Manuel, Jr. have been named co-portfolio managers of Fidelity Select Financial Services Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Financial Services Fund, and VIP Financial Services Portfolio succeeding Charles W. Hebard.

Effective January 5, 2007

New Managers, No Change in Ratings: No ratings changes are recommended in light of the manager changes noted below.

Steven J. Buller has been named portfolio manager of International Real Estate, succeeding Matthew D. Lentz . Buller continues to manage Fidelity Real Estate Investment Portfolio.  Buller joined Fidelity in 1992 as an analyst in the High-Income Division, where he followed a variety of industries and later focused on distressed and bankrupt securities.  In 1995, he joined Fidelity International Limited, in London, where he was responsible for establishing a credit process for the Fixed-Income Group.  He managed Fidelity Select Environmental Services Portfolio from 1997 to 1998, and took over Fidelity Real Estate Investment Portfolio in October 1998.  He also managed Fidelity Advisor Real Estate Portfolio from 2002 to 2004 and VIP Real Estate Portfolio from 2002 to 2005.  He assumed responsibility for Fidelity’s institutional real estate accounts in 2002.  Buller also previously managed Fidelity International Real Estate Fund from 2004 to 2006.

Effective January 4, 2007

Yun-Min (Charlie) Chai has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio, succeeding James Morrow. Morrow will continue to manage Fidelity Advisor Diversified Stock Fund, Fidelity Select Electronics Portfolio, and Fidelity Advisor Electronics Fund. Chai will continue to manage Fidelity Advisor Technology Fund, VIP Technology Portfolio, Fidelity Select Communications Equipment Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Communications Equipment Fund, and Fidelity Select Networking and Infrastructure Portfolio. Chai joined Fidelity’s equity research department in 1997 following trucking, air-freight, and select auto- parts stocks.  From 1999 to 2001, he covered life insurance stocks.  In 2001, be began covering department store and specialty apparel stocks until May 2003, when he assumed responsibility for Fidelity Select Communications Equipment Portfolio and Fidelity Advisor Communications Equipment Fund.  Chai began managing Fidelity Select Networking and Infrastructure Portfolio in July 2004 and began managing Fidelity Advisor Technology Fund and VIP Technology Portfolio in January 2005. 

Benjamin Hesse has been named sole portfolio manager of Fidelity Select IT Services Portfolio, which he has co-managed with Morrow since March 2006. Hesse joined Fidelity in 2005 as an equity research analyst following the processing and analytics industries. Previously, Hesse also served as a small-cap generalist at Credit Suisse Asset Management in the summer of 2004.

Mayank Tandon has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Software and Computer Services Portfolio, succeeding Kelly S. Cardwell. Tandon joined Fidelity in March 2006 as an equity research analyst following IT services and software companies.  Prior to joining Fidelity, Tandon served as a research analyst covering a broad spectrum of companies across multiple industries including business services, IT consulting and computer services at Janney Montgomery Scott from 1998 to 2006. Tandon also served as a research analyst at INNOVA Securities from 1996 to 1998, covering emerging markets securities in the Asia/Pacific region.

Tobias Welo has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Industrials Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Industrials Fund, and VIP Industrials Portfolio, succeeding Christopher S. Bartel. Bartel continues to manage Fidelity Select Industrial Equipment Portfolio. Since joining Fidelity in 2005, Welo has been a diversified equity analyst supporting the value group. Prior to joining Fidelity, Welo was a director for BlackRock, Inc., in Boston. There he served as an equity analyst, with a broad range of non-financial coverage, and as assistant portfolio manager for BlackRock.  From 1999 to 2002, Tobias was a vice president and analyst for Boston Partners, covering multiple industries including consumer, industrials, and basic materials.

J. Justin Bennett has been named sole portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Paper and Forest Products Portfolio, which he has co-managed with Bartel since April 2006. Bennett joined Fidelity in 2005 as an equity research analyst following paper and forestry, packaging, and radio frequency identification companies. Previously, Bennett served as an equity research associate at Morgan Stanley for five years.

Lindsay B. Connor has been named sole portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Transportation Portfolio, which she has co-managed with Bartel since March 2006. Connor joined Fidelity in 2005 as an equity research analyst following airline, air-freight and logistics, and railroad stocks. Prior to joining Fidelity, Connor was a summer intern at William Blair & Company, L.L.C., in Chicago, where she served as a sell-side research associate covering the specialty and generic pharmaceuticals industries. From 2002 to 2003, she was an investment banking associate covering specialty and generic pharmaceuticals at Edgemont Capital Partners, a Healthcare Merchant Banking firm in New York. From 2000 to 2001, Connor was an investment banking analyst in the Global Consumer group at Citigroup/Salomon Smith Barney in New York.

Effective January 2, 2007:Manager Changes
Brent Bottamini has been named sole portfolio manager of Latin America Fund and Advisor Latin America Fund. Since 2005, Bottamini has co-managed the funds with Adam Kutas, who is relocating to London to follow various sectors in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Bottamini joined Fidelity's High-Income Division in 1998, and subsequently followed the building materials, consumer products, food and beverage, and publishing industries. He has served as an equity research analyst in Fidelity's Latin America Research Team since 2003, and has co-managed Fidelity Latin America Fund and Fidelity Advisor Latin America Fund since 2005.

William W. Irving has been named portfolio manager of Government Income Fund succeeding George A. Fischer. Fischer will continue to manage the investment-grade bond portions of Fidelity Puritan Fund and Fidelity Balanced Fund. Irving will continue to manage Fidelity Advisor Inflation Protected Bond funds, Fidelity Ginnie Mae Fund, and Fidelity Advisor Government Investment Fund. Irving joined Fidelity's Fixed Income Division in 1999 as a quantitative analyst, and has been managing taxable bond portfolios since 2004. Prior to joining Fidelity, Irving was a senior member of the technical staff at Alphatech in Burlington, Massachusetts from 1995 to 1999. He also was a member of the technical staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts from 1987 to 1995.

Effective December 1, 2006: New Manager, No Change in Ratings
Duffy Fischer has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Chemicals Portfolio, succeeding Christopher S. Bartel. No rating changes are recommended as a result of this change. Bartel continues to manage Fidelity Select Industrial Equipment Portfolio, Fidelity Select Industrials Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Industrials Fund, and VIP Industrials Portfolio, and co-manages Fidelity Select Paper and Forest Products and Fidelity Select Transportation portfolios.  Fischer joined Fidelity earlier this year as an equity research analyst following commodity and diversified chemical companies.  From 1999 to 2006, he worked at Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York City, first as an associate analyst covering the agriculture industry and providing support coverage of basic and specialty chemical companies, and then as a vice president, equity investments, managing the industrial/cyclical investment book and following the basic materials (including chemicals) and agriculture sectors. 

Effective November 9, 2006: New Managers, One Ratings Change
Fidelity’s latest manager changes bode well for the most part; but there’s one manager whose return to the retail spotlight we’ll keep a skeptical eye on. Effective immediately, Independence is downgraded to a Sell on news of the manager change (see below). To view Rob Bertelson’s (the incoming manager to Independence) track record, click here.

Jennifer S. Uhrig has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund, succeeding John B. McDowell and Brian J. Hanson. McDowell is retiring from portfolio management after 20 years of managing equity mutual funds at Fidelity. Hanson will continue to manage Fidelity Advisor Strategic Growth Fund and Fidelity VIP Growth Stock Portfolio. Uhrig has been managing Fidelity Advisor Equity Growth Fund and VIP Growth Portfolio since 1997. She joined Fidelity as an equity research analyst in 1987. Uhrig subsequently managed Fidelity Select Retailing, Fidelity Select Developing Communications, and Fidelity Select Telecommunications portfolios. She was named portfolio manager of Fidelity Mid-Cap Stock Fund in 1994 and Fidelity Advisor Mid-Cap Stock Fund in 1996, both of which she managed until 1997. Prior to joining Fidelity, Uhrig was a research associate with Fred Alger Management, a pension fund manager, in New York, from 1983 to 1985.

Jason Weiner has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Advisor Equity Growth Fund and Fidelity VIP Growth Portfolio, succeeding Uhrig. Weiner has been managing Fidelity Independence Fund, Fidelity Fifty Fund, and Fidelity Advisor Fifty Fund since 2003, and serving as associate portfolio manager of Fidelity VIP Contrafund since March 2006. Weiner joined Fidelity's equity research department in 1991. He subsequently followed the retail, technology, air transportation, business services, biotechnology, retail office products, personal computers and computer workstation industries. Weiner managed Fidelity Select Air Transportation Portfolio from 1994 to 1996, Fidelity Select Computers Portfolio from 1996 to 1997, Fidelity Export and Multinational Fund from 1997 to 1998, Fidelity VIP Contrafund from April to September 1998, Fidelity Discovery Fund from 1998 to 2000, and Fidelity OTC Portfolio from 2000 to 2003.

Robert C. Bertelson has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Independence Fund, succeeding Weiner. Bertelson will continue to manage the equity portions of VIP Asset Manager and VIP Asset Manager Growth, which he has managed since January 2006. He joined Fidelity as an equity research analyst in 1991, and managed Fidelity Select Energy Portfolio from 1992 to 1994 and Fidelity Select Industrial Equipment Portfolio from 1994 to 1996. Bertelson also managed Fidelity Convertible Securities Fund from 1996 to 1997, Fidelity OTC Portfolio from 1997 to 2000, and Fidelity Aggressive Growth Fund from 2000 to 2002. From 2002 to 2006, he managed the equity portion of Fidelity Asset Manager 20% (formerly Fidelity Asset Manager Income).

Peter Saperstone has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Fifty Fund, and Fidelity Advisor Fifty Fund, also succeeding Weiner. Saperstone will continue to manage Fidelity Advisor Mid Cap Fund, which he has managed since 2001. He joined Fidelity in 1995 as an equity research analyst following the textile and apparel industries. Saperstone managed Fidelity Select Construction and Housing Portfolio from 1996 to 1997, and Fidelity Select Air Transportation Portfolio and Fidelity Select Defense and Aerospace Portfolio from 1997 to 1998. He also managed Fidelity Select Telecommunications Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Telecommunications & Utilities Growth Fund, and Fidelity Utilities Fund from 1998 to 2000. From 2000 to 2001, he managed Fidelity Convertible Securities Fund, and began managing Fidelity Advisor Mid Cap Fund in 2001. Saperstone also served as a co-portfolio manager of Fidelity Advisor Global Capital Appreciation Fund from 2005 to 2006. Prior to joining Fidelity, Saperstone worked as an equity research analyst for Gabelli & Company, Inc., from 1993 to 1995.

C. Robert Chow has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Equity Income II Fund, succeeding Stephen M. DuFour. Chow will continue to manage Fidelity Advisor Equity Income Fund, which he has managed since 1996. He also manages equity portfolios exclusively for Canadian and overseas investors. Chow joined Fidelity in 1989 as an equity research analyst. As an analyst, he followed the consumer finance, telecommunications equipment, paper and forest products, computers, oil and gas, conglomerates, insurance and household products industries. He also managed Fidelity Select Paper and Forest Products, Fidelity Select Computers, Fidelity Select Technology, and Fidelity Select Insurance portfolios, and served as a portfolio assistant on several diversified equity funds. Prior to joining the firm, Chow was an engineer with TRW, Inc., from 1984 to 1988. He also worked in sales support at Hewlett-Packard Company from 1982 to 1983.

Scott Offen has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Advisor Equity Value Fund, also succeeding DuFour. Offen will continue to manage Fidelity Value Discovery Fund, which he has managed since 2002, and serve as co-manager of Fidelity Strategic Dividend & Income Fund and Fidelity Advisor Strategic Dividend & Income Fund, which he has done since earlier this year. Offen joined Fidelity as an equity analyst in 1985, and has managed several Fidelity equity funds including Fidelity Select Life Insurance Portfolio from 1988 to 1990, Fidelity Select Brokerage and Investment Management Portfolio from 1990 to 1993, and Fidelity Select Paper and Forest Products Portfolio from 1993 to 1996. He also managed Fidelity Select Food and Agricultural Portfolio from 1996 to 1999; Fidelity Select Energy Portfolio, Fidelity Select Natural Resources Portfolio and Fidelity Advisor Natural Resources Fund from 1999 until 2002; and Fidelity VIP Natural Resources Portfolio from 2001 to 2002.

Richard B. Fentin has been named portfolio manager of VIP Value Portfolio, also succeeding DuFour. Fentin will continue to manage Fidelity Value Fund, which he has managed since 1996, and Fidelity Advisor Value Fund, which he has managed since 2003. Fentin joined Fidelity in 1979 as an equity research intern and became a full-time analyst the following year. He subsequently was named research assistant for Fidelity Magellan ® Fund and was portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Precious Metals Portfolio from 1981 to 1983. From 1983 to 1987, Fentin managed Fidelity Growth Company Fund and, from April 1992 to December 1992, he managed Fidelity Value Fund. Fentin managed Fidelity Puritan ® Fund from 1987 to 1996, and Fidelity Value Strategies, Fidelity Advisor Value Strategies and VIP Value Strategies funds from 2005 to 2006.

James Morrow has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Advisor Diversified Stock Fund, succeeding Timothy M. Cohen. Morrow will continue to manage Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio, Fidelity Select Electronics Portfolio, and Fidelity Advisor Electronics Fund, and co-manage Fidelity Select IT Services Portfolio. Morrow joined Fidelity in 1998 as an equity research intern following the auto retailers and auto parts industries. He joined Fidelity full-time as an equity research analyst following the broadcasting and wireless towers industries in 1999. Morrow managed Fidelity Select Business Services and Outsourcing Portfolio from 2001 to 2003, when he began covering semiconductor equipment stocks. He assumed responsibility for Fidelity Select Electronics Portfolio and Fidelity Advisor Electronics Fund in 2004, and Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio in 2005. He also managed Fidelity Select Computers Portfolio from 2005 to 2006.

Effective October 9, 2006: Manager Change

Keith Quinton has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Disciplined Equity Fund, succeeding Steven Snider ; no rating change is recommended . Snider will continue to manage institutional money for Pyramis Global Advisors. Quinton will continue to manage Fidelity Tax Managed Stock Fund and Fidelity Advisor Tax Managed Stock Fund, which he has managed since 2004. Since joining Fidelity in 2001, Quinton has managed several funds for institutional investors and funds available exclusively to overseas investors. Prior to joining Fidelity, Quinton was a vice president and quantitative analyst at MFS Investment Management. From 1997 to 2000, he was a senior quantitative analyst at Santander Global Advisors responsible for co-developing via back testing and statistical analysis an international quantitative stock selection process based on sector-relative and country-relative models. From 1995 to 1997, Keith was senior vice president in the quantitative equity research department at Putnam Investments. From 1988 to 1989, he was an equity strategist for Eberstadt Fleming. From 1989 to 1995, Mr. Quinton served as a vice president at Falconwood Securities Corporation, where he was responsible for all aspects of investment management for a $100 million trust fund. Keith began his career in the financial services as a senior quantitative analyst at Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1983.

Effective July 1, 2006: New Portfolio Manager Appointments

Member's note: There are no rating changes triggered by these announcements, but I fully expect that New Millennium will open soon as a result of this manager change (and I suspect Magellan will also re-open soon due to its manager change of last October).

John D. Roth has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity New Millennium Fund, succeeding Neal Miller. Roth has managed Fidelity Select Consumer Industries Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Consumer Industries Fund, and VIP Consumer Industries Portfolio since 2004. Roth joined Fidelity full-time in 1999 as an equity research analyst following electric and gas utility companies after serving as an equity research intern. Roth also managed Fidelity Select Utilities Growth Portfolio from 1999 to 2002 and Fidelity Select Chemicals Portfolio from 2002 to 2004. Prior to joining Fidelity, he was an equity trader with Tucker Anthony in Boston from 1992 to 1997.

Martin G. Zinny and Robert A. Lee have been named co-portfolio managers of Fidelity Select Consumer Industries Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Consumer Industries Fund, and VIP Consumer Industries Portfolio, succeeding Roth. Zinny and Lee also will serve as co-sector leaders of the consumer industries equity research group. Zinny will continue to manage Fidelity Select Retailing Portfolio, which he has managed since 2005. He joined Fidelity in 2001 as an equity research analyst following the utilities industry and managed Fidelity Utilities Fund from 2002 to 2003, when he began following the retailing industry. Zinny previously served as an equity analyst during a summer internship at MFS Investment Management in Boston in 2000 and as an investment associate within the global equity research group at Putnam Investments in Boston from 1997 to 1999. He also worked at KPMG Peat Marwick LLP in Boston from 1993 to 1997, most recently as a supervising senior. Lee will continue to manage Fidelity Select Food and Agriculture Portfolio, which he has managed since 2004. He joined Fidelity in 2001 as an equity research analyst following the business services and supply chain technology industries. In 2003, he began following the restaurant industry, and added food and beverage stocks to his responsibilities in 2004. Prior to joining the company, Lee was a summer associate in equities with Goldman Sachs in New York in 2000. From 1998 to 2000, he was a financial analyst with Adshel Inc. in New York. Lee also served as a financial analyst with Chase Securities Inc. in New York from 1995 to 1998.

Fidelity announced two fund manager changes effective June 1, 2006; there are no rating changes recommended.

Richard D. Manuel, Jr. has been named portfolio manager of Select Home Finance, succeeding Valorie Friedholm. Manuel recently joined Fidelity from Riversource Investments (formerly a division of American Express) in Boston, where he served as an equity research analyst following financial services companies since 2002. Previously, he followed financial services companies as an equity research analyst for Putnam Investments from 1995 to 2002.

Alton “Lee” Miles III has been named portfolio manager of Select Automotive, succeeding Anmol Mehra. Miles recently joined Fidelity from Bernstein Investment Research & Management/Alliance Capital in New York, where he was a vice president and equity research analyst following global auto manufacturers. From 1999 to 2003, Miles was an engagement manager with a focus on telecommunications for McKinsey & Company in Stamford, Connecticut. In 1998, he served as an associate in Mergers and Acquisitions for BT Wolfensohn in New York. From 1996 to 1997, Miles was a senior bank consulting analyst with MasterCard International in Purchase, New York. He began his career in 1994 as a bank consulting analyst with First Manhattan Consulting Group in New York.

Both Valorie Friedholm and Anmol Mehra are transitioning into new assignments; Valorie will become a diversified analyst working with the value group and Anmol will work as a diversified analyst with the mid-cap group.

Member Alert: Two Funds to Close effective April 28, 2006
Fidelity Growth Co and Mid Cap Stock to close to new investors, effective April 28th (click here to read the Press Release). My Buy-ratings remain unchanged. My Alternative for Growth Co will be announced next week. It's another "soft close" meaning that investors who own shares in these funds will continue to be able to invest more money in them. The comes swiftly on the heels of soft closing Contrafund; a move which I suggested indicated that manager Will Danoff was finding it hard to put the inflow of new assets to work and was, as a result, running with an historically high average cash position of North of 9% -- meaning, in shirt, that he would be prone to trailing his market benchmark in the vent of a sustained rally by virtue of his cash position alone. But today's news isn't suggestive of similar concerns: Wymer is managing Growth Co in a fully invested manner (0.3% in cash); and with a mere $30 billion in assets, this fund has room to grow. Ditto for Shep Perkins' Mid Cap Stock which is running with 0.9% in cash and weighing in at $11 billion in assets. In all three cases, performance has nothing to do with the issue of needing to close the fund (as was clearly the case with Magellan) and which, I continue to hope will be re-opened. While I can't see an obvious manager or management rationale for closing these two funds at this juncture, there maybe something more strategic up Fidelity's sleeve in the form of registering a new class of shares for these funds which can be traded similar to Vanguard's VIPERs -- as exchange traded funds. Our searches for supporting evidence has turned up nothing -- but that doesn't mean we won't continue to search.

March 31, 2006 Contrafund Closing Update:
We broke the news before it was confirmed; now it has been confirmed (click here to read the Press Release) that Contrafund will close to new investors (but not existing shareholders or retirement plan participants) effective April 28th. Jason Wiener, who has worked closely with Will Danoff over the years, will also become the associate manager of VIP Contrafund; a move that could harbinger taking over that fund from Will in toto. (While closing funds has not been a harbinger of managers leaving, I’ll be watching closely. See your upcoming April issue for more developments and my take.)

New Portfolio Manager Appointments: No ratings changes are recommended -- Effective March 1, 2006:
Chris Bartel and Justin Bennett have been named portfolio managers of Fidelity Select Paper and Forest Products Portfolio, succeeding Anmol Mehra. Bartel will continue to serve as sector leader for Fidelity’s cyclical industries equity research group, and will continue to manage Fidelity Select Cyclical Industries Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Cyclical Industries Fund, VIP Cyclical Industries Portfolio, and Fidelity Select Industrial Equipment Portfolio.

Jim Morrow and Ben Hesse have been named portfolio managers of Fidelity Select Business Services and Outsourcing Portfolio, succeeding Nicola Stafford. Morrow will continue to serve as co-sector leader of the technology equity research group, and will continue to manage Fidelity Select Computers Portfolio, Fidelity Select Electronics Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Electronics Fund, and Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio.

Thomas Hense will assume portfolio management responsibilities for Fidelity Small Cap Value Fund, (with Advisor share classes), succeeding Katherine Lieberman. Hense also manages the U.S. small-cap core discipline for institutional clients, which he has been doing since 2004.

Charles L. Myers will assume management of Fidelity Small Cap Retirement Fund, succeeding Lionel Harris. Myers has been managing Fidelity Small Cap Growth Fund (with Advisor share classes) with Harris, who will continue to serve as that fund's portfolio manager. Myers began serving as a portfolio manager of Fidelity Small Cap Growth Fund in April 2005.

Effective February 5, 2007

Please note the following portfolio manager appointments. No immediate ratings changes are recommended.

Jason Weiner has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Growth Discovery Fund, succeeding Adam Hetnarski.

Jeffrey S. Feingold has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Trend Fund, succeeding Ramin Arani.

Ramin Arani has been named as an additional portfolio manager of Fidelity Puritan Fund.

Christopher T. Lee and Paul Jackson have been named co-portfolio managers of Fidelity Select Electronics Portfolio and Fidelity Advisor Electronics Fund, succeeding James Morrow.

Brian J. Younger and Richard D. Manuel, Jr. have been named co-portfolio managers of Fidelity Select Financial Services Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Financial Services Fund, and VIP Financial Services Portfolio succeeding Charles W. Hebard.

Effective January 5, 2007

New Managers, No Change in Ratings: No ratings changes are recommended in light of the manager changes noted below.

Steven J. Buller has been named portfolio manager of International Real Estate, succeeding Matthew D. Lentz . Buller continues to manage Fidelity Real Estate Investment Portfolio.  Buller joined Fidelity in 1992 as an analyst in the High-Income Division, where he followed a variety of industries and later focused on distressed and bankrupt securities.  In 1995, he joined Fidelity International Limited, in London, where he was responsible for establishing a credit process for the Fixed-Income Group.  He managed Fidelity Select Environmental Services Portfolio from 1997 to 1998, and took over Fidelity Real Estate Investment Portfolio in October 1998.  He also managed Fidelity Advisor Real Estate Portfolio from 2002 to 2004 and VIP Real Estate Portfolio from 2002 to 2005.  He assumed responsibility for Fidelity’s institutional real estate accounts in 2002.  Buller also previously managed Fidelity International Real Estate Fund from 2004 to 2006.

Effective January 4, 2007

Yun-Min (Charlie) Chai has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio, succeeding James Morrow. Morrow will continue to manage Fidelity Advisor Diversified Stock Fund, Fidelity Select Electronics Portfolio, and Fidelity Advisor Electronics Fund. Chai will continue to manage Fidelity Advisor Technology Fund, VIP Technology Portfolio, Fidelity Select Communications Equipment Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Communications Equipment Fund, and Fidelity Select Networking and Infrastructure Portfolio. Chai joined Fidelity’s equity research department in 1997 following trucking, air-freight, and select auto- parts stocks.  From 1999 to 2001, he covered life insurance stocks.  In 2001, be began covering department store and specialty apparel stocks until May 2003, when he assumed responsibility for Fidelity Select Communications Equipment Portfolio and Fidelity Advisor Communications Equipment Fund.  Chai began managing Fidelity Select Networking and Infrastructure Portfolio in July 2004 and began managing Fidelity Advisor Technology Fund and VIP Technology Portfolio in January 2005. 

Benjamin Hesse has been named sole portfolio manager of Fidelity Select IT Services Portfolio, which he has co-managed with Morrow since March 2006. Hesse joined Fidelity in 2005 as an equity research analyst following the processing and analytics industries. Previously, Hesse also served as a small-cap generalist at Credit Suisse Asset Management in the summer of 2004.

Mayank Tandon has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Software and Computer Services Portfolio, succeeding Kelly S. Cardwell. Tandon joined Fidelity in March 2006 as an equity research analyst following IT services and software companies.  Prior to joining Fidelity, Tandon served as a research analyst covering a broad spectrum of companies across multiple industries including business services, IT consulting and computer services at Janney Montgomery Scott from 1998 to 2006. Tandon also served as a research analyst at INNOVA Securities from 1996 to 1998, covering emerging markets securities in the Asia/Pacific region.

Tobias Welo has been named portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Industrials Portfolio, Fidelity Advisor Industrials Fund, and VIP Industrials Portfolio, succeeding Christopher S. Bartel. Bartel continues to manage Fidelity Select Industrial Equipment Portfolio. Since joining Fidelity in 2005, Welo has been a diversified equity analyst supporting the value group. Prior to joining Fidelity, Welo was a director for BlackRock, Inc., in Boston. There he served as an equity analyst, with a broad range of non-financial coverage, and as assistant portfolio manager for BlackRock.  From 1999 to 2002, Tobias was a vice president and analyst for Boston Partners, covering multiple industries including consumer, industrials, and basic materials.

J. Justin Bennett has been named sole portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Paper and Forest Products Portfolio, which he has co-managed with Bartel since April 2006. Bennett joined Fidelity in 2005 as an equity research analyst following paper and forestry, packaging, and radio frequency identification companies. Previously, Bennett served as an equity research associate at Morgan Stanley for five years.

Lindsay B. Connor has been named sole portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Transportation Portfolio, which she has co-managed with Bartel since March 2006. Connor joined Fidelity in 2005 as an equity research analyst following airline, air-freight and logistics, and railroad stocks. Prior to joining Fidelity, Connor was a summer intern at William Blair & Company, L.L.C., in Chicago, where she served as a sell-side research associate covering the specialty and generic pharmaceuticals industries. From 2002 to 2003, she was an investment banking associate covering specialty and generic pharmaceuticals at Edgemont Capital Partners, a Healthcare Merchant Banking firm in New York. From 2000 to 2001, Connor was an investment banking analyst in the Global Consumer group at Citigroup/Salomon Smith Barney in New York.

Effective January 2, 2007:Manager Changes

Brent Bottamini has been named sole portfolio manager of Latin America Fund and Advisor Latin America Fund. Since 2005, Bottamini has co-managed the funds with Adam Kutas, who is relocating to London to follow various sectors in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Bottamini joined Fidelity's High-Income Division in 1998, and subsequently followed the building materials, consumer products, food and beverage, and publishing industries. He has served as an equity research analyst in Fidelity's Latin America Research Team since 2003, and has co-managed Fidelity Latin America Fund and Fidelity Advisor Latin America Fund since 2005.

William W. Irving has been named portfolio manager of Government Income Fund succeeding George A. Fischer. Fischer will continue to manage the investment-grade bond portions of Fidelity Puritan Fund and Fidelity Balanced Fund. Irving will continue to manage Fidelity Advisor Inflation Protected Bond funds, Fidelity Ginnie Mae Fund, and Fidelity Advisor Government Investment Fund. Irving joined Fidelity's Fixed Income Division in 1999 as a quantitative analyst, and has been managing taxable bond portfolios since 2004. Prior to joining Fidelity, Irving was a senior member of the technical staff at Alphatech in Burlington, Massachusetts from 1995 to 1999. He also was a member of the technical staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts from 1987 to 1995.