When headlines affect stock markets, the question that investors should ask themselves is, "Is this systemic for the economy and markets?" The long-term impact depends on whether this geopolitical development escalates into something that is systemically important to the fundamentals that drive the stock market. The fundamentals that drive the stock market are earnings, interest rates, and valuation.

Fidelity does not provide legal or tax advice. The information herein is general in nature and should not be considered legal or tax advice. Consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific situation.

"As we begin 2020, 3 reasons make me believe international stocks may be more attractive than US stocks for the next year or 2," says Bill Bower, portfolio manager of Fidelity® Diversified International Fund (FDIVX).

The first, Bill says, is "mean reversion." US equity markets have outperformed the rest of the world for much of the past decade, but that's not true for longer time periods.

Prior to recent history, he notes, international stocks, represented by the MSCI All Country World ex USA Index, had handily outperformed the US bellwether S&P 500® for most multiyear periods.

"I think it's a matter of time before the longer-term trends win out," Bill says.

The second reason is valuation, according to Bill. He points to Fidelity research showing that, throughout 2019, price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios of US stocks have remained above their long-term historical averages, dating back to 1926. Conversely, the P/E ratios of non-US developed- and...

Legendary investors, such as Ben Graham, Peter Lynch, Joel Greenblatt and even Warren Buffett, have shared part of the blueprints to their investing success. Investors can learn a tremendous amount from studying philosophies and disclosed strategies of these great investors.

Join us on January 16th as Justin Carbonneau, vice president at Validea.com, walks us through some of the strategies that trading legends use in today’s market. Validea tracks investing models based on the strategies of guru investors and other time-tested approaches from books and academic investing studies. During the presentation, Justin will discuss the investment criteria used in each of these top-ranked models, giving you concrete examples you can use in your stock screening and idea generation process. He will also share a few keys to success when it comes to running systematic strategies.

Where you live has a big impact on your lifestyle and finances. Your home helps determine lots of expenses, including utilities, insurance, taxes, and maintenance. The financial planning process can help to clarify your housing goals, and look at the long-term financial impact of different options.

Political events matter to financial markets if they affect fundamental drivers of market performance, such as earnings growth, profit margins, and cost of capital. The current impeachment proceedings haven't affected those fundamental market drivers. The current situation is similar to Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1998, which didn't move markets.

While financial and work-related factors are the primary reasons people continue to work, nonfinancial factors like family, health, and lifestyle ultimately cause people to pull the trigger to retire. Wellbeing in retirement is not just about money, or even intellectual stimulation. It's largely about the freedom to do what you want, when you want. As you enter a stage of preretirement, consider working with an advisor to help shape strategies for Social Security, health care, and cash flow in retirement.

When Peter Lynch began work at Fidelity 50 years ago, you could buy lunch for less than a dollar, you had to wait for the mail to read an annual report, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hadn’t hit 1,000.

Much has changed—but not Peter Lynch's boyish fascination with stocks. Looking spry in a dark blue suit, yellow tie, and sneakers, he recently popped into Fidelity's Chart Room (where market trends were once hand-drawn and posted on the walls) to share some of his investing wisdom with Viewpoints.

For the 13 years that Lynch ran Fidelity's Magellan® Fund (1977–1990), he earned a reputation as a top performer, increasing assets under management from $18 million to $14 billion (as of 1990). Since then, Lynch has mentored virtually every equity analyst at Fidelity. He also authored several top-selling books on investing, including One Up on Wall Street and Beating the Street, and has been a generous contributor to the Boston...

With a Roth IRA, you make contributions with money on which you've already paid taxes. You're able to withdraw your contributions tax- and penalty-free at any time, for any reason. Any earnings have the potential to be withdrawn tax-free in retirement, provided that certain conditions are met.1

Geopolitical risks. Trade wars, Brexit, and looming elections linger as likely trade risks. Earnings expectations. The bar may become particularly high for year-over-year comparable earnings expectations in the wake of the tax cut that went into effect last year. The estimated earnings decline heading into the Q1 reporting period was 4%, according to FactSet. An aging business cycle. The US is firmly in the late stage of the business cycle amid uneven global growth.

For many couples, the process of merging assets and finances begins well before marriage, especially with more couples living together before tying the knot. Bringing your partner into your finances can be an exciting process, as it signals a new level of commitment to your relationship. Nevertheless, honesty, trust, and awareness are critical to ensure both partners are protected and happy.

If you’re planning to merge assets with your partner—or have already started—consider the following, which may help the process go more smoothly and end successfully

What does technical analysis have in common with a cholera outbreak in London in 1854? In both cases, it's about the power of pattern recognition.

After several weeks of an increasing number of people getting sick, resulting in hundreds of deaths, without being able to determine the cause, British physician John Snow decided to plot the locations of afflicted residents in London's Soho district on a map. By looking at this chart (see city map), he was able to determine that a centrally located public water pump near Broad Street was the source.

Without the aid of germ theory, which had yet to be discovered, this simple visualization helped Dr. Snow uncover the source of the problem. It is this type of pattern recognition that is at the heart of technical analysis—and how charts can help you invest.

Of course, as was the case with Dr. Snow's efforts to solve the London cholera outbreak, charts are just one tool that may...

Last fall, the Trump Administration issued an executive order that directed the Treasury Department to review the rules for required minimum distributions from qualified retirement plans. Retirement Report readers have been anxiously awaiting news since then. Finally, more than a year later, there is a new development to report: The IRS has issued new proposed life expectancy tables to calculate RMDs.

There are only a handful of decisions that can truly change the course of your life. Divorce is one of them.

In this webcast, unbiased experts discuss the many challenges created by divorce.

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Spot trading opportunities in real-time with clear, actionable alerts from Real-Time Analytics. Be in the know when a stock hits a new high or low, crosses over a key technical level, experiences an unusual spike in intraday volume compared to its historical average volume, and more.

Investment losses can help you reduce taxes by offsetting gains or income. Even if you don't currently have any gains, there are benefits to harvesting losses now, since they can be used to offset income or future gains. If you have more capital losses than gains, you can use up to $3,000 a year to offset ordinary income on federal income taxes, and carry over the rest to future years.

Even small differences in costs can have an impact on returns. Consider transaction costs and commissions. Investors should understand how the difference between the buying and selling prices of exchange traded funds (ETFs) affects returns.