Goldsborough did offer a more upbeat take on Fidelity’s proposed fixed-income ETFs. On Friday, Fidelity filed registration for an investment grade bond fund and a limited-term bond fund, along with a total bond fund.
Those are in addition to registrations filed earlier this year for a corporate bond fund and a mortgage securities fund.
“There has been a lot of interest on the fixed-income side among actively managed ETFs,” Goldsborough said. “You can add a lot of value in fixed income, and Fidelity has a lot of existing expertise in this area.”
Fidelity currently has one ETF on the market, the Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Index Tracking Fund (ONEQ). This passive fund is up more than 20 percent year-to-date and has produced annualized gains of nearly 8 percent since is launch in September 2003. The fund’s expense ratio is 0.30 percent, and its asset base is just under $300 million.