Unlike traditional long only strategies, which are typically benchmarked to a market index and tend to rise and fall with them, absolute return strategies focus on delivering returns that are largely independent of broader market movements. Rather than trying to outperform benchmark indexes, their primary objective is to preserve capital and generate steady returns over time.
“Portfolio diversification is always relevant,” said Jones. “Investors seek access to strategies that do not rely on equity or bond markets going up. It is particularly relevant today because markets remain quite macro-driven and, at times, volatile.”
Jones said a market-neutral absolute return strategy provides investors with access to pure alpha, with market beta stripped out. This means that rather than trying to predict the direction of markets, the fund seeks to capture the difference between the companies the managers like and do not like.
“The fund does not take directional bets on the equity market,” said Jones. “It is a source of uncorrelated returns, designed to provide defensive characteristics and seek to deliver positive returns during periods of market uncertainty.”
At the same time, Jones added a market-neutral approach helps to naturally hedge unwanted risk-factor exposures and style biases, ensuring that research-lead, bottom-up stock selection remains the primary driver of absolute risk and return.

Launch date

24 September 2020

Source: Fidelity International, 30 June 2026