Financial Services Roundup: Market Talk

The latest Market Talks covering Financial Services. Exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

1643 EST — Portfolio managers at Fidelity’s Canadian unit say they are “significantly underweight” on Canada banking stocks. In a note to clients on Tuesday, Fidelity managers say the economic outlook in Canada is much weaker than the US, citing the country’s poor productivity record. Fidelity managers say Canadian banks face headwinds given the conjuncture of much higher interest rates and historically high debt levels. Homeowners in Canada need to renew about C$700 billion in mortgages this year and next at higher rates. “The common refrain that Canadian bank stocks are attractive because they’re ‘cheaper than their historic average valuations’ is not compelling,” they say. “The E in the P/E could be quite wrong if the Canadian consumer retrenches hard.” ([email protected]; @paulvieira)