Fidelity's Podger looks to boost EM exposure as manager considers cutting US position

Nearly half of fund positioned towards US

Fidelity manager Jeremy Podger is considering reducing his £2.5bn Global Special Situations fund's 47% weighting in the US in favour of emerging markets.

The manager has nearly half of his portfolio allocated to US equities but said he is now looking outside this market for areas where companies are trading at lower valuations. At present, the S&P 500 is on an elevated P/E of 25.7 compared to the MSCI Emerging Markets index on 16.  "We may well reduce the US weighting, and it is entirely possible it will reduce by around 5% subject to the opportunities we find. We are very bottom-up driven, so will be looking for domestic plays into improving growth outside the US. "We are around 10% below the benchmark weight but because other mark...