Fidelity launches two more zero-fee funds

Fidelity Investments said it will start two additional zero-expense-ratio mutual funds, stepping up its push to lure cost-conscious individual investors. The Fidelity Zero Large Cap Index Fund and the Fidelity Zero Extended Market Index Fund will be available beginning Tuesday, Fidelity said in a statement Wednesday. The fund manager has gathered about $1 billion since creating the industry's first free index mutual funds in early August: the Fidelity Zero Total Market Index Fund and the Fidelity Zero International Index Fund. Fidelity's initial salvo caught attention across the money-management industry as companies compete for customers by slashing expenses. (More: Fidelity's zero-fee funds unleash the power of free)​ "Fidelity is looking to improve its competitive positioning and marketing effort against other brokers including Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Vanguard and Bank of America with its Zero Index Fund launch and improve its net new asset levels," analysts at Credit Suisse Group led by Craig Siegenthaler wrote in a Sept. 4 note. Fidelity has about $7.2 trillion under administration, including $2.6 trillion of managed assets. Its new Large Cap fund will track an index of large-capitalization companies, while the Extended Market fund will track an index of small and midsize firms. (More: Mutual fund fee wars will encourage bad behavior)​