Fidelity International President Sees Early Signs of Bull Market

The current rise in the markets is not a bear market rally, but actually a turn for the better, according to Fidelity U.K. portfolio manager Anthony Bolton, Reuters reports.

Bolton, who is president of Fidelity International, is particularly enthusiastic about bank stocks, which he sees as beaten down but poised to be the first sector out of the crisis since it led us the way in. “They are among the cheapest stocks [and] the most under-owned stocks, and I think for those reasons they will do well. Financials that took us into the crisis will actually be the stocks that will lead us out of the crisis.”

Bolton, one of the top fund managers in the U.K. for the past 20 years, is also optimistic about consumer cyclicals.

“This is the very early stages of a new bull market, rather than a lot of other people who are thinking it’s a bear market rally,” Bolton said. “Economic data is starting to get less bad.” In addition, valuations are cheap and billions of dollars are on the sidelines, with U.S. money market funds rising by roughly $1 trillion in 2008.