FidelityConnects · Oct 17, 2026 · 30m · 20m saved
With John Dance, Portfolio Manager of the Fidelity Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund
Emerging markets are home to about 80% of the world's population and only about 25% of the global stock benchmark, John Dance, portfolio manager of the Fidelity Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund, said in a FOCUS2026 session published on FidelityConnects.
Some of the advisors in his audience hold less of the asset class than its benchmark weight. John's case is that the opportunity shows up company by company rather than in the index, and that emerging markets may be one of the best places in the world to invest in artificial intelligence.
"I think of emerging markets as a stock-picking market. It's so broad, and there's lots of pervasive opportunities." — John Dance
John holds 75 to 85 stocks. He picks them from about 400 that a machine-learning tool his team built in 2017 and 2018 narrows down from a universe of roughly 8,500. The session was recorded on October 5, the day after Brazil's first-round election.
The full segment is covered here so you can skip it. 30 minutes of audio, 10 minutes of reading.
Here are the 15 calls that matter.
Key Takeaways
Emerging markets are about 80% of the world's population but only about 25% of the global benchmark
John uses AI as a first- or second-year analyst, most of all to read filings in languages he does not speak
Taiwan is his top conviction, with GDP per capita of $42,000 and growth of 11% this year
About 3.5–4% of Korea's population faced a margin call in July, which leaves John more cautious on Korea than on Taiwan
John divides Chinese innovation into atoms, molecules and electrons, and puts China's AI models 3–7 months behind the US
Brazil's election could open room for rate cuts after years of real rates near 9%
India and Korea are his two biggest underweights, and AI puts India's 5 million IT-outsourcing jobs at risk
1. A Majority-EM Mandate
John defines the fund by where a company's business is, not only where its shares trade. A Canadian-listed mining company whose assets are all in Brazil and Guyana qualifies.
John Dance owns companies whose economic interests are, or are becoming, mostly in emerging markets
"The mandate is a focus on emerging markets... the economic interests of the companies that I own should either be coming from or on the way to being majority from emerging markets." — John Dance
He framed the opportunity by comparing the size of these economies with their weight in the indexes investors track.
"That's 80% of the world's population, 65, 70% of the PPP-adjusted GDP, but only 25% of the market-cap-weighted global benchmark." — John Dance
