Commentary

First Quarter 2026 Active Equity Allocation Report

Fidelity's quarterly active equity allocation analysis.

Key Takeaways
  • Our quarterly analysis reflects an increase in negative indicators for active equity performance in most global markets at the start of 2026, reversing a strong trend for these indicators for the second half of 2025.
  • Monthly return dispersion, which measures how much individual stock returns differ from each other, declined from the previous quarter, pointing to potentially fewer opportunities for managers to choose stocks that can outperform the market.
  • However, stock-level return correlation remained below the historical average for the major equity indices we track, suggesting opportunities for active selection, especially within the Russell Top 200 and S&P 500.
  • Also, the MSCI EAFE Index generated positive active management signals vs. history for three of the four major signal categories.
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First Quarter 2026 Active Equity Allocation Report