Products December 23, 2003

Fidelity Closes Door on Popular Small-Cap Fund

December 23, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Faced with a whopping 66% increase in the value of the assets in the Fidelity Low-Priced Stock Fund this year, Fidelity Investments announced Tuesday that it is shuttering the popular small-cap offering.
Reported by

The only exception will be for retirement plan participants who already had the popular small-cap fund as a plan investment option; those plans may still be able to open new accounts, according to Fidelity. Plans won’t be able to add the fund after the closure. Those with existing accounts can keep adding money.

According to news reports, the Boston fund giant’s latest move represented the fifth time in the fund’s 14-year history that it had shut its doors to new accounts. The last time took place between May and November of 2002. As of November 30, the fund – which invests in stocks priced below $35 a share – had $25 billion in assets. Fidelity will open new accounts in the fund until 4 p.m. EST on December 31.

According to data from Financial Research Corp., Fidelity Low-Priced Stock Fund was the 12th-best-selling fund year-to-date through October, attracting $ 3.5-billion in new investor money.

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