Fidelity Adds Funds and Share Classes to Index Lineup

Fidelity Investments announced a series of enhancements to its line-up of index mutual funds, including the launch of three new equity funds, replacing the Spartan brand name, and expanding the availability of institutional share classes.

With the expansion, the firm now offers 19 equity, fixed-income and hybrid index mutual funds, 13 Fidelity Freedom Index Funds, and 12 passive ETFs.

Colby Penzone, senior vice president for Fidelity’s Investment Product Group, says the enhancements build on Fidelity’s ongoing commitment to “provide access to a wide-array of high-quality, low-cost index funds, as well as managed solutions.”

The three new funds are the Fidelity Large Cap Growth Index Fund, the Fidelity Large Cap Value Index Fund, and the Fidelity Total International Index Fund. Each new fund is offered with multiple share classes “at very competitive prices.” These include both institutional ($5 million minimum investment, generally) and “institutional premium” ($100 million and up) share classes.  

“Each fund will attempt to replicate the performance of its respective index, before expenses, by normally investing at least 80% of its assets in securities included in the index,” the firm explains.

Additional details include the following:

• Fidelity Large Cap Growth Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of stocks of large capitalization U.S. companies. The fund will normally invest at least 80% of its assets in securities included in the Russell 1000 Growth Index.
• Fidelity Large Cap Value Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of stocks of large capitalization U.S. companies. The fund will normally invest at least 80% of its assets in securities included in the Russell 1000 Value Index.
• Fidelity Total International Index Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the total return of foreign developed and emerging stock markets. The fund will normally invest at least 80% of its assets in securities included in the MSCI ACWI (All Country World Index) ex USA Investable Market Index (IMI) and in depository receipts representing securities included in the index.

Additionally, Fidelity has replaced the “Spartan” brand within its line-up of index mutual funds with the Fidelity name. For example, the Spartan 500 Index Fund is now named the Fidelity 500 Index Fund. “This move creates consistency in branding across Fidelity’s diverse product line,” according to the firm. “As part of this effort, Fidelity has also renamed two of its four underlying index fund share classes. The Fidelity Advantage Class has been renamed ‘Premium Class’ and the Fidelity Advantage Institutional Class has been renamed ‘Institutional Premium Class.’”

Finally, Fidelity also expanded the availability of its index mutual fund line-up. Effective immediately, the company’s Institutional share classes (Institutional and Institutional Premium) are available to investors on and off the Fidelity platform, both retail and intermediary, provided they meet eligibility requirements.

For more information about, visit www.fidelity.com.