Trading signals and online forecasts S&P 500

AUDUSD: RBA has decided on the future course of monetary parametersLocal strengthening of the Australian currency allows the AUDUSD pair to test the 0.6699 mark."Bullish" momentum finds support in the RBA's decision to adjust the interest rate from 3.60% to 3.85% and the FX residual indicator to 3.75%, contrary to analysts' forecasts that the agency would leave the key indicator unchanged. According to comments by Philip Lowe, the head of the regulator, in an accompanying letter, the previous meeting was marked by officials' decision to take a wait-and-see approach to assessing the impact of inflation on the economy. As noted by the Board of Governors, consumer prices have slowed considerably, but it will take at least two years for consumer prices to return to the upper allowable threshold of 3.35%. In turn, the national labor market continues to be affected by contradictory factors and unemployment is at its lowest point in 50 years. Thus, the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to resume its price correction activity by tightening monetary parameters, and Lowe said that the hawkish vector will be maintained in the future, if necessary.Resistance levels: 0.6740 and 0.6850.Support levels: 0.6670, 0.6560.GBPUSD: pair intends to update the maximum peak of May 2022Successful fixing of asset positions above 1.2450 the GBPUSD pair has taken the May 2022 peak at 1.2650 as a target."The Brit is strengthening ahead of the Bank of England meeting announced for May 11, at the end of which analysts expect to hear about an increase in the interest rate. The officials may take a brave step and strengthen the cost of borrowing by 0,50% at once because the consumer prices still reflect a double-digit figure. The pound will get additional impetus for support in case the market estimates are justified, which will help develop a long-term upward trend. Meanwhile, analysts at the International Monetary Fund note the need for caution on the part of the Bank of England and the ECB in raising interest rates, given the potential risks that could increase financial stress and also have an impact on Treasury yields. Economists advocate the need for a flexible approach, not ruling out the possibility of a repeat of the banking crisis, which may repeat the March collapse in the U.S. financial sector in March, which was a complete surprise to the market and customers.Resistance levels: 1.2650 and 1.2900.Support levels: 1.2268, 1.2040, 1.1800.Crude Oil market analysisNorth American light crude oil WTI is in a downward trend at 75.62 amid a published list of OPEC+ cartel countries that have announced production cuts for the period from May to December this year on a voluntary basis.According to preliminary estimates, additional production cuts will cumulatively reach 1.66 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia and Russia will take the first positions on reduction of production by 500.0 thousand barrels per day, Iraq will reduce production by 211.0 thousand, UAE - by 144.0 thousand, Kuwait - by 128.0 thousand. In its turn, Kazakhstan will reduce production rate by 78.0 thousand barrels per day, Algeria - by 48.0 thousand barrels, Oman - by 40.0 thousand and Gabon - by 8.0 thousand. According to OPEC+ position, such correction will help support price stability on the trading floors, protecting the price of raw materials from strong volatility.Resistance levels: 78.70, 84.60.Support levels: 73.80, 67.00.Analysis for S&P 500 indexThe key US economic index is testing 4167.0.The US stock market resumes attempts to strengthen the upward movement of the indicators, using the emerging phase of corporate report publications. Pfizer Inc., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Starbucks Corp. are scheduled to report today, May 2. The obvious "anchor" for the US market is the pharmaceutical sector, and experts expect the quarterly revenue figure for Pfizer Inc. to drop to $16.60 billion from the previous $24.29 billion, and then the share yield to drop to $0.9827, ending a two-year trend of positive momentum.Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is fighting vigorously and decisively against competitors for new consumer market share, maintaining revenue in the $5.3 billion area. The paper may bounce back slightly to $0.56, but the correction is expected to be seasonal in nature.Support levels: 4130.0, 4050.0.Resistance levels: 4200.0, ...

The world economy is constantly changing. In December 2022 we were forecasted a terrible recession. But in early 2023, the economic data says otherwise: the markets have taken off and investors are looking positively into the future.What's Happening to the U.S. EconomyLet's start with the US. The U.S. economy is in serious turmoil. Take a look at the S&P 500 Index since the beginning of the year. Do you see this constant up and down movement? That's because investors have stopped believing in the Fed. And they think the Central Bank won't keep monetary policy tight. But let's see:The U.S. interest rate is 4.5-4.75%. In January, the markets expected it not to rise beyond 5%.But in January, inflation was already slowing not as much as experts had expected. That said, demand in the U.S. continues to rise. So the American consumer does not suffer from high prices. Especially since the U.S. has the strongest labor market in 60 years.The latest macro data show that the Fed has no reason to slow down its policy. So a rise in the U.S. market is premature.We predict that the Fed's fight against inflation will drag on, because price increases are steady. So the Fed rate will get to 5.25-5.5% and stop there. And at the same time, the regulator will drive the U.S. economy into recession. Otherwise, inflation in the U.S. will not be stopped. Most likely in March at the Fed meeting, officials will be tough. And then the markets will come to their senses.What will happen to the dollar in 2023.The dollar itself will be strong. Tough Fed action will keep the DXY near 100 points. It will be difficult to rise above the highs of September, as the policies of other central banks are getting tougher than those of the United States. Just look at the changes in Japan, where the era of super easy money is coming to an end. And the ECB's policy is also tough. So let's talk about the euro area.What's happening to Europe's economyEurope's problems are similar to those in the U.S., only the inflation rate in the Union is much higher. Investors and officials are happy to see that price growth in the EU is slowing rapidly: in October, it was 10.6%, but now it's 8.5%.Eurozone industrial production fell 1.1% in December 2022. The economy is slowing down amid high inflation, which is exactly what the ECB is fighting.The regulator raised interest rates by 0.5% in early February. The same increase is planned for March. And even then the rate will not stop rising. Such statements from the ECB have been trying to dampen market optimism. Where is the positivity coming from? Recession is likely to be avoided: the energy crisis is gone and the supply chain is recovering.Since the beginning of the year, euro zone blue chips have been rising as strongly as the U.S. market. But inflation is still high and monetary policy is tight. So it's too early to rejoice.In addition, the energy crisis can come back to the EU at any time. Because Russia is cutting oil production and OPEC is not going to increase production. Prices will go up - Goldman Sachs predicts oil at $105.What will happen to the euro in 2023The European currency looks stronger than the American one. Exactly because the ECB policy now looks tougher than the Fed actions. Which we have already talked about. Now let's move on to another global economy, China.What's going on with China's economyThere are 2 main topics of conversation in China right now: the opening of the economy after covid restrictions and tensions with the U.S.China has officially "decisively defeated" COVID. So restrictions in the Celestial Empire should no longer stifle production and disrupt supply chains. China's opening promises to be massive. The UN and IMF expect 4.8% growth, while Morgan Stanley expects 5.7%.During the lockdowns, the Chinese have accumulated the money to unleash demand. Household deposits exceed 100% of last year's GDP, The Economist noted. Inflation in China rose to 2.1% in January, showing a pickup in demand.Markets are counting on China to pull the entire global economy up with it. On its own, China has a chance to take off - the covid shackles will fall after all. But external pressures could stifle growth.High inflation in the U.S. forces the Fed to keep rates high in the economy. And that means business activity will slow against this backdrop, and so will demand for Chinese goods.We predict that the Chinese central bank may be stiff in its policy. The population has large savings, demand for exports is declining, and inflation is rising. And because of this, China's market growth may slow down. China is now highly dependent on Western demand and it is the main beacon for the Celestial market.What will happen to the yuan in 2023The yuan is also a headache and uncertainty. Will China be able to successfully open up? Will there be a global recession? It is still unclear how China will survive U.S. restrictions. The decline in trade with the U.S. is negative for the renminbi.But a big positive could be the use of the RMB in international trade. First of all oil. The more countries move away from the dollar and euro to the yuan, the stronger it will be.In the near future the yuan is unlikely to strengthen - there is nothing to strengthen it on. Even it will gradually decline: demand for Chinese goods is decreasing and geopolitical tensions are growing.World economic outlook for 2023The outlook for the global economy is not good. Growth is slowing - the problems are starting in the West and dragging the East with them. After all, economies are still very closely integrated, no matter what political slogans about the "polarity" of the world say.Markets behave ambiguously. And at such moments, distortions and inefficiencies appear - someone doesn't know something, someone doesn't understand something. You can make money or lose money on this.We make forecasts because we are constantly watching macroeconomics and market data. Don't take them as a signal to act, but as the opinion of our team. But don't forget - look at the economy and markets more broadly, don't let short-term fluctuations distort your perception and your ...

Today we want to look at predictions from a slightly different angle - who should we trust when it comes to predictions of the future? Who was right in their predictions for 2022 and who was totally wrong? Let's find out!Traditionally, let's start with Wall Street.What did the investment houses forecast for 2022?By the end of 2021, the value of the S&P500 index reached 4,800 points. The investment houses said the markets would continue to rise.The investment banks' forecasts for the S&P 500 index for 2022 were as follows:The index ended up down 1,000 points for the year, a drop of more than 20 per cent.Only two banks were "toxic" pessimists: Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.They did not guess the magnitude of the fall. But at least they pointed in a downward direction. Morgan Stanley was the closest to the truth out of all the investment houses.What is the outlook for banks in 2023?What is BANK OF AMERICA's forecast for 2023The main shock of 2023 is a recession. Bank of America strategists believe that for the US, the Eurozone and the UK a recession is "almost inevitable". The rest of the world, apart from China, will also weaken. In the US, the start of a "moderate recession" is expected in the first half of the year. However, as Bank of America writes, "there is a risk that it will start later". The bank strategists thus expect the first half of the year to be good for bond investments and the second half to be interesting for equities. However, this is as far as I understand, if the recession is not delayed, but starts in the first half of the year.With China it is different - it will wake up from covid hibernation. But very unevenly. Most restrictions will not be lifted until the second half of the year. Chinese equities are likely to strengthen.What about the S&P? Analysts at the bank expect it to end 2023 at 4,000. That is roughly where it is now...US rates are expected to fall by the end of 2023 - both two-year and ten-year treasuries should end the year at 3.25%. The industries which suffered from rising rates in 2022 could benefit in 2023.After a historically bad year for industrial metals in 2022, cyclical and long-term factors will lead to higher metals prices in 2023, with copper prices rising by around 20%!!!Oil, according to Bank of America estimates, will also remain high. Factors that will contribute to this: Russian sanctions (I wonder what they mean by "Russian sanctions" - sanctions against Russian oil or our retaliatory sanctions?), low oil reserves, China opening up and OPEC ready to cut production if demand weakens. The bottom line is that with all these factors, Brent crude will average $100/bbl during 2023 and rise to $110/bbl in the second half of the year.Long: 30-year Treasuries, Chinese stocks, gold and silver, bonds, US Small cap, European banks.Short: Dollar, US technology sector, private equity.What is MORGAN STANLEY's forecast for 2023So, the bank's strategists write: "The general consensus is that corporate profits will start to collapse in early 2023, followed by the stock market. But the economy has proved too resilient". So Morgan Stanley expects earnings to fall slowly - to spite the bears.In fact they repeat the forecast of Bank of America - they expect a delay in the start of the recession until the second half of the year.Attitudes towards mega-cap stocks are sceptical. Here's what they write: "At their peak in 2000, the 5 largest tech stocks accounted for 20% of the S&P500 index. These were Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Nokia, Intel and IBM. These same 5 stocks bottomed out 5 years later and already accounted for 5% of the index.At their peak in 2022, the top 5 companies accounted for 25% of the S&P500. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Tesla. But are they heading towards 5% of the index now?"Markets underestimate the risk of recession, stocks could fall another 22%.By the end of 2023, expect the S&P 500 to be at 3900 - even lower than its current value.Like Bank of America, predict a rise in Chinese equities. Expect global GDP growth to slow in 2023 as central banks tighten inflationary pressures. The exception is China, where the spring 2023 opening should lead to a significant recovery in economic activity in H2 2023.What did the Wall Street Gurus predict for 2022?Many of them said a correction in the stock market was inevitable. But there were those who were wrong.For example, Buffett's associate Charlie Munger was betting on Alibaba. Those who followed Munger were clearly wrong.Ray Dalio also bet on China. He also advised to get rid of cache. Wrong too, in fact.On the other hand, his reasoning was quite lengthy, which is hard to pin down. For example, he did advise buying inflation-linked bonds.Larry Williams is another prediction outsider. He is a famous trader with 60 years of trading experience. He created a technical indicator, Williams %R, which is used to estimate the overbought and oversold state of the market. A cobbler without boots - he could not estimate the overbought market.Said that "All markets will rise and be higher than at the beginning of the year, but gold doesn't stand a chance".Who predicted the 2022 market?Jim Rogers predicted the problems of 2022Jim Rogers is Soros' former hedge fund partner Quantum. What did Rogers say?He said - verbatim - "something bad is going to happen, but I'm not selling anything yet".Rogers warned that the US market had actually been rising since 2009. It is the longest growth in US history. But the market can't grow forever, which means there must be a rate hike and a downturn in 2022.Silver, though, has been falling in value for most of the year... That said, it's unclear exactly when Rogers was going to buy silver... Perhaps in this first half of the year's downturn.In addition to silver, Jim recommended investing in agriculture. What does he predict for 2023?Recession, debt crisis, US-European disputes due to energy shortages. Rogers also does not believe in price ceilings and embargoes and believes that Europe will still continue to buy oil and gas from Russia - just in a grey area.Mark Mobius is another soothsayer of the yearPredicted cryptocurrencies falling in 2022, increased tensions between the US and China and lower markets in general"Expect the market to decline and don't panic," he saidHe also said that India would become the new China.Mark Mobius - worked for over 30 years at Franklin Templeton Investments, specialising in emerging markets - including Russia. He was even an independent director of LUKOIL. In 2018, he founded his own company.What does he predict for the year 2023A word on crypto. Bitcoin, according to Mobius, could collapse 40% to $10,000 in 2023."With higher interest rates, the appeal of owning or buying bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies becomes less attractive because simply owning the coin does not generate interest," Mobius said."Of course, there have been a few offers with interest rates of 5% or higher for crypto deposits, but many of these companies offering such rates have gone bankrupt in part because of FTX. As these losses grow, people are wary of holding cryptocurrency for the sake of interest."He is also an advocate of investing in India. He believes it is the Indian equity market that is most interesting in 2023.Who else has guessed?Saxo Bank with their crazy forecasts have hit the bullseye this year. Much of their shocking predictions have come true. They predicted a weakening of the ESG agenda, a drop in Facebook and other mammoth quotes, high inflation, weakening of ties between China and the US, and a new Cold War.We already talked about what they predicted for 2023 in one of the videos.The Rothschilds also got it right with their magazine The Economist. Remember the weird cover showing bitcoin and other assets falling down the rabbit hole. Now let's take a closer look at their ...

FOREX Fundamental analysis for EUR/USD on November 14, 2022The sharp strengthening of stock indices, and through the correlation of currencies and risky assets is reminiscent of the March 2020 rally. Then it all turned out to be unfounded fantasies of investors at the peak of the COVID pandemic. Now, once again, markets are rising not on facts, but on expectations.Investors used to fear that the Fed's aggressive tightening of monetary policy would send the U.S. economy into a deep recession, but Friday's inflation report, which showed consumer price growth slowing from 8.2% to 7.7% and core inflation from 6.6% to 6.3%, showed that the Fed's actions are beginning to bear the desired fruit.After the report was released, Treasury yields plummeted and the dollar showed its worst performance since the 2008-2009 global crisis. The S&P 500 is up 5.5%, EUR/USD has unwound its bearish spring, and the Dollar index has rebounded sharply from the highs of the last 20 years.Nevertheless, it's a little early to count on a trend reversal for the dollar. The MUFG believes that the market reaction to the release was excessive and soon EUR/USD will return to the decline. It's just like in August this year when after the inflation report for July the S&P500 rose by 2.1% and bond yields fell But investors quickly realized that the CPI slowdown was temporary and the dollar index quickly regained its laurels as a forex trading leader.This time, the serious decline in consumer prices suggests that the peak of inflation is behind us. This will increase the likelihood that the Fed will limit its rate hike to 50 basis points in December.At the same time we should not forget that the Fed, which has been working hard to tighten financial conditions, would not like the dollar to collapse. My guess is that the FOMC will soon launch a "hawkish" attack and EUR/USD will leave the area of 3-month highs. Nevertheless, such sharp movements make us adjust our forex trading strategy. Now we will focus on short-term selling and medium-term buying. A rebound from support at 1.027 and 1.022 is considered to form long positions.Read more: Basic knowledge of fundamental ...

The energy crisis in the U.S. is growing, already affecting one in six households. 20 million families across the country simply can't pay their bills.How much are utilities in the U.S. already short?Electricity debts are growing exponentially; the amount has doubled in just 2.5 years:pre-Covid - $8 billion nationally;December 2021 - $13.1 billion;June 2022, $16 billion.The least protected, low-income segments of the population are under attack. Incidentally, they are the ones who have been hit by the main covid restrictions: from 2019 to mid-2021, debts were growing mainly because COVID kept them out of work. Now this problem has disappeared, but another one has appeared: it is possible to work, the money is paid, but it is eaten up by inflation: food and fuel have become extremely expensive.In Europe and Great Britain the crisis is even more acute. The local authorities have already earmarked $280 billion to ease the energy crisis. And in the U.S., aside from a small $4 billion Liheap subsidy program, there is nothing yet, and new aid laws are still being drafted.What can investors expect from the Utilities sector next?It is not easy for investors in such a situation, forecasts on Utilities stock prices are foggy.On the one hand, rates for individuals are strictly regulated. If overdue debts become even higher, the authorities will be reluctant to raise prices.On the other hand, if they fail to raise prices in the B2C segment, power supply companies will be able to pass on the costs to the B2B segment.Doubtful ideas for investment: a list of utilitiesAnd if so, investors should avoid regulated companies with a large share of the B2C segment, viz:Dominion Energy (D);Duke Energy (DUK);PG&E (PCG);Xcel Energy (XEL).In addition, their equipment runs on natural resources, including gas, which are more expensive than others.Among independent energy producers, NRG Energy (NRG) has the worst prospects, since its facilities are mainly powered by coal and natural gas.Who looks promising in the Utilities sector?The power generating companies with water capacity are much less likely to be affected by the crisis:American Water Works (AWK);Essential Utilities (WTRG).Renewable energy supply companies will also fare well:Constellation Energy (CEG);Algonquin Power & Utilities (AQN).Vistra Corp. (VST) will be neutral, as its capacity is more diversified between gas, nuclear and ...

Steve Schwartzman and John Gray of U.S. investment firm Blackstone believe investing in real estate investment trusts (REITs) could be a big win that happens once a decade.What advantages do the Blackstone billionaires see for REITs?The net asset value of REITs has depreciated a lot: the discount is 20 to 50% of the underlying value. Historically, this has always been the case: REITs have fallen in value in recessions. According to GreenStreetAdvisors, this year has seen one of the biggest declines in years. For example, the value of BSR REITs (OTCPK:BSRTF) is down 25%. However, let's not forget that the fund owns multifamily properties in Texas, where rents are rising rapidly.Another example is Vonovia (OTCPK:VNNVF), a leading apartment landlord in Germany. The fund is currently valued at a 50% discount to net asset value, the largest decline in the company's history.For reference, the high-quality REITs are Vanguard Real Estate Fund Index (#VNQ) (-20%). UMH Properties (UMH), Alexandria (ARE) and Simon Property (SPG) are down about 30%.REITs aren't afraid of inflation. On the contrary: real estate funds are benefiting from rising rents. Today, the rate of rent increases is one of the highest in history. For example, BSR REITs increased rents by 15%, but they are still below the market average, so we should expect further increases. The situation is similar with most industrial REITs. STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG ), for example, is raising rents by 17%. Meanwhile, rising inflation is driving up the cost of REIT mortgages, which in turn is driving up the funds' cost of capital.Rising interest rates are not a big problem for REITs. Today, the industry average LTV (loan to value) ratio is about 35%, and mortgage loan maturities are historically long. In this environment, REITs' balance sheets are the strongest in their history. Therefore, the negative impact from rising rates is more than offset by the positive impact from rising inflation.Historically, the net asset value of REITs always recovers. It's only a matter of time. As soon as inflation slows down and puts an end to rising interest rates, REIT values are sure to start rising right away.The big players aren't napping. In addition to Blackstone, other investment companies like Brookfield (NYSE: #BAM) are buying REITs today at a 15-20% discount. In the future, the assets are sure to rise by that amount, at the very least. In the meantime, REIT owners aren't just waiting for growth, they're earning dividends.This is the opinion of the billionaires at Blackstone - b they are, in our opinion, quite convincing. But to be fair, we should note that the recession hasn't even really started yet. Perhaps we should wait for further declines, and it is too early to open a position on ...

      Shares 29.08.2022 - 4.09.2022Dividends for the week of 08.29.2022 - 09.4.2022CompanyPricePaymentAnnual dividendCutoff DateLast dayMcDonald's (MCD)$256,95$1,382,15%01.0930.08Kellogg Company (K)$73,85$0,593,20%01.0930.08Realty Income (O)$69,91$0,24754,25%01.0930.08Pepsico (PEP)$175,04$1,152,63%02.0931.08Bank Of America (BAC)$34,03$0,222,59%02.0931.08Suncor Energy (SU)$34,31$0,475,48%02.0931.08Nike (NKE)$108,28$0,3051,13%06.0901.09Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD)$257,38$8,5713,32%06.0901.09 Corporate reporting season 29.08.2022 - 4.09.202229.08Heico (HEI), Catalent (CTLT)H World Group (HTHT), Joyy (YY)30.08HP (HPQ), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Crowdstrike Holdings (CRWD),Best Buy Co. (BBY), Chewy (CHWY), Chargepoint Hldgs (CHPT), PVH (PVH)Baidu (BIDU)31.08Brown-Forman (BF.A, BF.B), Veeva Systems (VEEV), Mongodb (MDB),Okta (OKTA), Cooper Companies (COO), Pure Storage (PSTG), Sentinelone (S), Donaldson Company (DCI), Nutanix (NTNX), Greif (GEF)01.09Broadcom (AVGO), Lululemon Athletica (LULU), Hormel Foods (HRL),Campbell Soup (CPB), Toro Company (TTC), Ciena (CIEN), Smartsheet (SMAR),Science Applications (SAIC), Ollie's Outlet (OLLI), Signet Jewelers (SIG)Weibo (WB), Hello Group (MOMO) Macroeconomics and major events 29.08.2022 - 4.09.202230.08GermanyGermany Consumer Price Index (CPI) (MoM) (Aug) USCB Consumer Confidence (Aug)JOLTS Job Openings (July)31.08RussiaWeekly inflationChinaPMIs (Aug)GermanyGermany Unemployment Change (Aug)EUConsumer price index (CPI) (YoY) (Aug) USADP nonfarm payrolls (June)Crude oil stocks01.09ChinaManufacturing PMI from Caixin (Aug)GermanyManufacturing activity index (PMI) (Aug)USInitial jobless claimsISM Manufacturing PMI (Aug)02.09USNon-farm payroll change (Aug)Rate of unemployment ...

USD/CAD: Unemployment in Canada is decliningThe "Canadian" is making attempts to restore lost positions against the US currency due to positive macroeconomic data on the national employment market. The USD/CAD instrument is trading under pressure, testing the 1.2954 mark.According to StatiCanada (Statistics Canada), the employment index in the services segment increased 0.6% in June, and positive dynamics was recorded in the vast majority of areas – the educational sector added 1.9%, food – 1.3% and the healthcare sector – 0.4%. The total growth of new jobs for the reporting period amounted to 3.2%, showing an increase of 1.0 million vacancies in a row for three months and an increase in the demand for labor by 1.4% compared to May of this year – up to 17.7 million. The leaders of the most sought-after specialties remain healthcare specialists, the growth in the number of vacancies for which increased by 40.8% year-on-year and by 0.2% per month. Economists note that the Canadian employment market is developing an active upward trend, which will lead to positive growth of the Canadian economy.Resistance levels: 1.2990, 1.3222.Support levels: 1.2893, 1.2727.USD/JPY: US economy continues to declineThe Japanese currency intends to seize the initiative in conjunction with the "American" amid the publication of positive macroeconomic data. At the moment, the instrument is trading at 137.00.The cost of corporate goods and services for the year remained at the same rate of 2.1%, slightly inferior to market expectations of 2.2%. At the beginning of the trading day, statistics on the index displaying consumer prices in the capital of Japan for August were published, which showed an increase in inflation in annual terms from the previous 2.3% to 2.6% in the present. When accounting for fuel and food group of goods, the strengthening was from 2.5% earlier to 2.9% at the current time. As noted by economists, Tokyo often displays an indicator that is as close as possible to the national value, and having exceeded the threshold of 3.0%, it gives a positive signal, allowing the regulator to extend the period of implementation of its ultra-soft policy.Resistance levels: 137.45, 139.45.Support levels: 136.15, 132.85.Overview of the S&P 500 indexThe S&P 500 index shows moderate growth, trading at 4193.0.The US stock exchange is in correction, and the further prospects for the movement of indicators will depend on the nature of the statements of the chairman of the regulator of the United States. Recall that Jerome Powell will speak at the symposium held in Jackson Hole, announced at 16:00 (GMT+2). Economists predict the continuation of aggressive steps, but the tightening of monetary policy may be adjusted, since there is a certain split between the officials of the US Federal Reserve. On the eve of the labor market, positive statistics were released, showing a decrease in the number of initial applications for registration of the status of unemployed from 245.0 thousand last week to 243.0 thousand in the present. The consumer price growth index for July decreased to 8.5% from the maximum level of 9.1%, which will allow the national regulator to reduce the rate of interest rate increase to 0.50%, instead of the previously expected 0.75%.Support levels: 4110.0, 3900.0.Resistance levels: 4310.0, 4631.0.Cryptocurrency Market OverviewAs of the end of the current trading week, experts cannot agree on the reasons for the continued strong pressure on the cryptocurrency market, which caused a correction of key assets of the digital segment in the market, which led to an outflow of investments from tokens, collapsing the market capitalization below the psychological threshold of 1.0 trillion dollars. According to economists, the reason could be caused by the massive sale of bitcoins by one of the major asset holders. In addition, the correction could have been caused by the decision of the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Trade to begin auditing the largest mining companies and their impact on climate change. Investors expressed concerns that such measures could lead to a partial or complete shutdown of cryptocurrency mining in the United States.On the eve of the end of the week, the cryptocurrency market was able to recover only a small part of the losses incurred the day before. So, BTC reached the mark of 21400.00, having sank by 0.3%, ETH is testing the mark of 1660.00, having strengthened by 2.5%, USDT is held at the limit of 1.0001, having moderately increased 0.01% in price, BNB reached the indicator of 296.00, having lost 1.3%. At the end of the week, the capitalization level reached 1.031 trillion US ...

The annual compensation of CEOs in the United States is breaking records, despite a shortage of workers and inflation. According to MyLogIQ (a provider of analytical products of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), the median salary of executives from the S&P 500 companies reached $14.2 million last year. The salary growth of the majority of company executives was at least 11%.Half of the companies also said that the salary of ordinary employees increased by 3.1% last year, and a third of the companies reported that employee compensation, on the contrary, decreased between 2020 and ...

The past year ended very successfully for the American market: the S&P 500 rose by 26.9%, although initially a more modest increase was expected. So, our optimistic (!) scenario included an increase in the broad market index to only 10%. However, the US stock markets got off to a good start and remained on top with the support of the adoption of infrastructure reform. The economic recovery also turned out to be more active than we expected, and this helped companies to increase revenue and profit more intensively. At the same time, the development of all these trends contributed to the acceleration of inflation, which went far beyond the expectations of the Fed, the market and our forecasts. It was inflation that became the most discussed topic last year and will absolutely remain at the top of the agenda in the first half of 2022.To bring inflation under control, the Fed thought about reducing the balance sheet only at the beginning of this year: even in December 2021, there was no talk about it. The reduction of the balance sheet, combined with a sharper than originally planned increase in rates, can act as a reliable way to curb inflation expectations. These expectations are formed mainly on stock exchanges, which excludes their negative impact on the economy in general and on the labor market in particular. A steady positive trend in the labor market is indicated by data for October, when the number of open vacancies reached a record 11.03 million, 1.5 times exceeding the number of applicants. This ratio was last observed 50 years ago. Together with an increase in logistics efficiency, the restoration of production capacities and the gradual opening of the economy, this will lead to a gradual decrease in inflation. Of course, we have repeatedly talked about the upcoming opening of the economy after the pandemic during the second half of 2021, but this event is delayed due to the appearance of new COVID-19 strains. And yet, the longer the pandemic continues, the closer its end is.After a negative start to the year for most securities in the technology sector and a general correction, investors should consider closing hedging positions that I advised opening at the end of last year. Now is the time to buy a wide range of stocks with a focus on "value" and "quality" companies. The intensive growth of the economy serves as the basis for optimistic expectations regarding revenue and profit. That is why the upcoming reporting season is the strongest driver of the growth of quotations of representatives of the real sector of the economy. Of course, there is also a trend to reduce the cash flows of companies, since there is no effect of a low base and economic growth begins to slow down. However, it is predicted that the S&P 500 companies will increase sales by almost 15%, and their earnings per share will increase by 21.5%. Among the leaders will be the energy, raw materials and industrial sectors, as well as the segment of secondary necessities. The momentum for an upward movement in their quotes will be provided by strong results for the fourth quarter and optimistic forecasts for January-March. Separately, I would like to note the financial sector, which will not be able to demonstrate a record increase in revenue and profit, but industry forecasts for 2022 may become one of the most optimistic, taking into account the plans of the Federal Reserve to actively raise the key ...

Lilium – do not be overly optimisticLilium is a German startup that is developing an air taxi-a fully battery-powered vehicle with a vertical take-off and landing function, whose speed will reach 281 km/h at an altitude of 3 km. The flight range is 250 km, so the company aims to completely change the current situation in the field of intercity communication. The carrier's shares appeared on the market on September 15 through a deal with SPAC. It was possible to collect only $584 million instead of the expected $830 million, as 65% of the holders of SPAC shares returned securities that began trading below $10. After Lilium distributes the debts and pays all the commissions, only about $400 million will be on the balance sheet. The first launch of the product is planned for 2024. It should be a seven-seat eVTOL jet, after which a 16-seat model should appear. The number of seats distinguishes Lilium from other companies that focus more on intra-city transportation using 2-4 local vehicles. In August, Lilium entered into a strategic partnership with the leading Brazilian air carrier Azul S. A, under which it undertakes to deliver 220 aircraft worth $1 billion. In addition to partnerships with major carriers, Lilium plans to develop its own network: management expects revenue of $1.7 billion in 2026 and $3.2 billion in 2027. The shares from vehicle sales and from network management should be approximately the same – 50% each. According to preliminary calculations, each aircraft should bring partners about $5 million a year, at a cost of $2.5 million. A ticket for a flight from Philadelphia to New York will cost about $170. Buying shares of a company that will start receiving revenue only in 2026 looks too risky. Especially against the background of the failure of many other players who promised to bring revolutionary ideas to life, like Nikola Motors.Asana shares are the most overbought securities on the marketSince the beginning of the month, Asana shares have risen by more than 55%. Recall that the company is developing solutions for managing team projects, and its founder is one of the first Facebook developers – Dustin Moskowitz. The main consumers of Asana services are programmers who work on a large task, as well as sellers and marketers. Of course, the transition to remote work had an extremely positive impact on financial results. It is important to understand that the Asana product is not unique at all. There are many competitors on the market from Salesforce to Airtable, Trello and SmartSheet. At the same time, the EV/S ratio exceeds 45x – these are simply unrealistically high values, even taking into account today's huge demand for “growing” stocks. It is incredibly risky to hold ASAN shares in an environment where there is more and more talk about the overheating of the market. In the second quarter of 2021, revenue increased by 72% YoY, to $89.5 million. Even more impressive is that the rate of revenue growth has been increasing since the third quarter of 2020. For example, in the previous quarter, revenue increased by 61% YoY. The number of ”paid" customers increased by 7 thousand, to 107 thousand, while the number of users spending more than $50 thousand a year doubled and reached 598. The ARR indicator is 118%, which means that existing customers started paying 18% more than a year ago. Among users with expenses above $50 thousand, this figure is even higher – ...

Cristiano Ronaldo became the first football player in the world whose capital reached $1 billion during his career, moreover, he is the first player in all team sports who was able to earn such a sum. But in addition to Ronaldo's football career and fulfilling advertising contracts, Ronaldo is also engaged in investing in his own business, which covers various spheres of life.In this article, we propose to discuss how Ronaldo entered the list of billionaires and what investments he makes. Will it turn out that after some time Cristiano will enter the list of the richest people in the world, having succeeded not only in sports, but also in running a business?BusinessCristiano Ronaldo is a public figure, and we know that he spends his millions of royalties not only on luxury real estate and cars, but also invests money in business, which is absolutely right. After all, even the best football player in the world must retire sometime, and this does not mean that he will no longer be able to earn money.Here's what we know about his business empire. As of the summer of 2020, he officially became a billionaire. Ronaldo is the third athlete in the world after golfer Tiger Woods and boxer Floyd Mayweather, who managed to make such a fortune during his career. And at the same time, he is the first in the world to achieve this in team sports.Ronaldo's current salary is $31 million a year, which is quite good.But he became a billionaire thanks not to these fees, although they certainly affected, but at the expense of 323 million subscribers in social networks, on which the football player makes a lot of money.He has contracts with various brands, one of them is the well — known Nike. Facebook instagrammers pay for every advertising post on Instagram or Facebook, according to the terms of these contracts.The contract specifies how much each post is evaluated depending on the number of views, likes and other reactions of users of social networks. And the real price of one advertising publication is measured in tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars.According to various estimates, a football player can receive about $400,000 for one such placement.There are a lot of brands that Ronaldo advertises, there is even a metallurgical company from Egypt in this list. But the main source of income is still Nike, with which a lifetime contract has been signed since 2016, on the basis of which Ronaldo will remain the face of the brand even after the end of his football career.And during the validity of the contract, the football player should receive about one billion dollars.It was income. And now let's talk about how Ronaldo is trying to increase his funds. He probably does not invest in the stock market, well, or does not do it for large sums, otherwise we would know about it.By the way, $100 million invested in the S&P 500 in 2018 could give $25 million in profit, and the NASDAQ index would increase the initial amount by 56%. But the football star chose a different path — he creates his own businesses, and there are the following areas in his track record.Personal brand CR7, under which a line of perfumes, underwear, clothing and shoes is released. It is clear that Ronaldo is the face of these companies and personally advertises his own products.In addition, under the same brand, Cristiano operates his personal museum, there is a restaurant, a gym, two mobile games, but the main investment was hotels in different cities of the world, such as Paris, Madrid, New York and others.The investment amounts are impressive. So, $16 million was invested in Madrid, $44 million in Marrakech and as much as $66 million in a Paris hotel.It can be argued that the hotel business is the main bet of Ronaldo.Messi also has three hotels, but in resorts such as Ibiza. And we add that Ronaldo entered the hotel business as a 50-50 partner, but Messi owns 100% of his hotels.Ronaldo also has a separate rental business. He rents out elite aircraft.ConclusionsLet's start with the answer to the question why does Ronaldo produce clothes, buy hotels and rent luxury planes? Here he follows the first rule of the investment checklist from Warren Buffett, according to which you need to invest money in the business that you understand. It is obvious that Ronaldo, being a famous football player, constantly traveled and stayed in various hotels, while often using the services of airlines and advertising clothes. And it was in these areas of business that he decided to invest his money.But there was one extremely big puncture in Ronaldo's business strategy: all these activities were created for carefree times when the economy is growing, incomes are increasing and people are spending money on travel, clothing and air travel. But the coronacrisis broke this trend, and according to UN estimates, the tourism sector lost about $ 320 billion. And as we can see today, more than six months have passed, and the world has not returned to the usual pace of life and you can not even dream about another year.In addition, the problem of the coronavirus has led to the fact that people simply began to spend less. It was as if a veil was lifted from many people's eyes and they realized that they really needed much less in reality, and most of the spending was a tribute to the consumer economy.We don't know the statistics on Ronaldo's hotels, but the large international chain Hilton has laid off 22% of its employees, and the remaining staff are working reduced shifts or are on unpaid leave. It is obvious that the coronavirus went through Cristiano's business in a similar way.In defense of Ronaldo, it is worth saying that no one except the reptiloids had any idea about the coronacrisis. But if his business was more diverse, the same mobile applications — he was also engaged in them, then we would start the article with the words that the football star will very soon enter the top richest people in the world and will push Warren Buffett there. But it seems that this is not the case, and the further growth of Ronaldo's fortune will be associated with his sports career, and not with investments, which are now under very great threat.For those who believe that it is wrong to compare Ronaldo and Buffett, we note that although old Warren was never an outstanding athlete, and during his youth these same athletes did not have millions of royalties, but he had a father who was a politician and an entrepreneur, thanks to which, at the age of 11, little Warren bought his first shares. Back in 1941, this was a very important bonus for further development, so it is still unknown who had the best starting positions. And in fact, the moment is much more important, not how you earned money, but how you used it to increase your fortune.The essence of this article is that when you are going to invest in some industry and invest the bulk of your capital in it, you definitely need to consider a negative scenario.Ask yourself the question whether it may happen that tomorrow this product or service will be useless to anyone. And even if the answer option seems impossible, it should still be taken into account. After all, the history of 2020 clearly showed how the tourism and aviation industries at one point became unprofitable from the most promising investments. But the world has moved even more towards digitalization of everything, because online is at a distance, and, therefore, it is ...

The pandemic has made the situation on the stock and bond markets uncertain, according to leading expertsWall Street analysts doubt the effectiveness of market analysis tools. It is increasingly difficult for specialists to make forecasts. This is reported by the Bloomberg publishing house.As the publisher notes, the pandemic has left its mark on the situation. During the first lockdown, Wall Street analysts were faced with the unpredictability of the markets.This year, the situation is repeated. The pandemic threatens to slow down the global economic recovery again. Experts are sure that the scripts that worked before are outdated.Analysts cannot reach consensus in their opinions about the market. 12 of the 21 forecasters monitored by Bloomberg expect the S&P 500 to fall over the weekend. The difference between the highest and the lowest rating is 24%. This has only happened twice in the last 10 years.Analysts from the public sector also make allowances for uncertainty. Bank of America employees assign a 100 percent range to their 10-year yield forecast for the end of 2021.Sky-high valuations and a 100% increase in the S&P 500 index after a low during the pandemic exacerbate the difficulties faced by strategists. Analysts also say that the market is most influenced by political factors. For example, US President Joe Biden is proposing to raise taxes for large companies, and the US Federal Reserve is gradually reducing the volume of bond purchases by the end of the ...

Over the past few decades, the world has been rapidly moving from fiat money to digital money. Our settlement means are not unique metal disks with stamped portraits, and not paper rectangles with watermarks and unique numbers. Today, the means of settlement in transactions is a set of zeros and ones stored in a certain memory cell on the bank's server. At the same time, two main parameters are preserved: each digital ruble/dollar/yuan is unique and can be identified and accounted for, and there is a high level of trust in the electronic settlement system of settlement participants, since it is regulated by governments, federal systems and central banks.The emergence of blockchain technology, a decentralized continuous sequential chain of blocks with unique data in each, made it possible to create digital units that meet the requirements for monetary signs regarding the uniqueness of each unit. They are created using a special cryptographic cipher, therefore they are called a cryptocurrency. Their main difference from other digital money is that their "issuer" can be not banks authorized by the Government, but almost everyone. The question of trust in such money, and, therefore, the final acceptance of it as money or recognition of it as a big fake of our time, has been solved right before our eyes over the past few years. Many analysts say that cryptocurrency is the currency of the future. The only question is when exactly this future will come. The first Bitcoin crypto coin already has in its history periods of enchanting take-off, and no less loud falls. In this article, we will try to understand the main questions that investors need to know the answers to when making a decision to invest in cryptocurrency or not:Blockchain technology and how it is used in cryptocurrencies.Pros and cons of cryptocurrencies.Trends and prospects of cryptocurrency.Ways to invest in cryptocurrencies.How to invest in cryptocurrency on the stock market.Blockchain technology and how it is used in cryptocurrenciesBlockchain is a decentralized database that is designed to store sequentially connected blocks with a set of characteristics (version, creation date, information about previous actions in the network). A simplified example of such a structure is a metal chain in which you can not break or swap the links, you can only add one new one to it; then another, and another, ad infinitum. It is important that the links are added one by one and always have the "imprint" of the previous link, the one to which they are attached. Also, the blockchain chain can be represented as a book with the ability to add pages, but without the ability to delete or change existing ones.Movement in such a system, or calculations, occur through transactions. In this case, the transaction, despite the similarity of the terms, is not what is meant by a simple money transfer. When we make payments using a bank card, information is received from the data warehouse of one bank to the storage of another – such and such a person has enough funds in his account and is currently performing a transfer operation of a certain amount. At the same time, physical paper money confirming the possibility of such a transfer should lie in the vault of the first bank and at some point move to the vault of the second. During a transaction, a special script is executed in the blockchain system, a certain note with data is written, information is processed inside the network. As if on the last page of our book, at the moment of writing, the following information appeared sequentially: "Mike transferred to Nick 70 euro"; "John transferred to Joanna 25 cents"... Several thousand such records can be stored within one block. When the memory in a block runs out, it is closed, signed and transferred to a new block in the form of a hash or "fingerprint". A hash is a certain set of characters that carries a unique fingerprint. It is formed based on what transactions and in what quantity each block stores in itself. During each transaction, the system checks the entire sequence of hashes for their integrity and immutability. After going through the entire chain, the system returns to the final block and confirms the correctness of the data so that this block can also be closed.The chain data is stored simultaneously on a large number of individual computers and is checked by the system during transactions for identity. If someone wants to make changes to the cell by adding an additional couple of hundred coins to themselves, then the other participants of the system will not confirm such a block change, and the data will simply not be recorded. And since the number of users in these systems is several million, even if you agree with a couple of hundred of them, you will not be able to make changes. You can only change the block that is written here and now; no postings are "retroactively" possible.At any given time, hundreds, if not thousands of people participate in the process of buying and selling crypto coins. A special miner program on one of the computers analyzes the applications in the queue, processes them and writes them to the block. In order for this data to be accepted by the system, the miner sends the final decision, that is, the calculated hashes, to the network, where the result is checked and confirmed by other miners. If the calculations are accepted by the majority, the block receives a mark confirming its correctness.Since the basis of the reliability of the blockchain system is a cryptographic cipher, cryptographic keys are required for conducting transactions. These are unique sets of characters and numbers that the system will generate independently and present to any participant of the blockchain at the time of registration. Each participant has a public key and a private key. The public key allows all network participants to see data that is not private. By analogy with digital payments, this is like the number of a digital wallet or a bank account that everyone can know. In this case, the private key is similar to the password from the wallet or from the online banking system, according to which all actions are performed with the account or wallet.It is worth noting that blockchain is a technology that was created not only for use in cryptocurrencies.Cryptocurrency and transactions with it are just one of the ways to use it, but its possibilities are much wider.Read more: What are AltcoinsPros and cons of cryptocurrenciesDespite the fact that crypto coins are not coins in the literal sense of the word – they simply do not have a material embodiment, they still have "two sides of the coin". Let's start with the advantages:Anonymity. When crediting money to a bank account, any user provides the bank and all related systems with a lot of information about himself, without which the account simply will not be opened, and the money will not be credited.  When making calculations, the banking structure analyzes a lot of information about us: passport data, registration address, family composition, sources of our income, the presence of debts… We provide this data ourselves by signing an agreement on the processing of personal data. Then our data gets into the database, and leaks often occur from there. In addition, a number of bank employees have access to the database, which is not pleasant for everyone. There is no such thing in cryptocurrency. All that is known about the participant of the chain is the digits of its public key. No personal data is transferred anywhere, and it is not requested; there is simply no need for them. This quality of the crypt is very valuable in our age, when information has become the "oil of the 21st century".No intermediaries in transactions. Since all data changes are made programmatically, no bank employees, employees of depositories and other "third parties" are required in the process. Unlike, say, bank transfers: when transferring money, the client should not blindly rely on the quality of the banking system and the integrity of all participants; it does not take a long time for the process itself (with bank transfers, sometimes the crediting period is 3-5 working days due to verification procedures). You do not need to open additional accounts for transfers to other countries; calculations in cryptocurrency have no boundaries.The impossibility of falsification and theft. The simultaneous storage of data on many computers in different parts of the world and the transparency of exchange operations makes it impossible for any forgeries, as well as transfers without confirmation by all participants. Moreover, the more participants are involved in the process, the more reliable the system becomes; such a "snake biting its tail": the more reliable the coin, the more users it attracts, the more reliable it becomes.The issue limit. There are two limiters here. The first, simple, is set by the author of the coin, and can be changed only by agreement of the majority of network participants. For example, Bitcoin has an issue limit of 21 million units. This information is also contained in the block data. But there are coins without a preset limit. For example, the currently popular Ethereum does not have a certain release limit. However, for any crypto coin, there is a release limit associated with the computing power of the network. As follows from the process of adding blocks to the chain described above (and the appearance of a new volume of coins is carried out in the same way), it takes quite a lot of energy and a certain period of time. As the chain grows, each subsequent block takes longer and more difficult to form. By the way, this aspect indirectly affects the increase in the value of coins with a large number of participants. In addition, for the "extraction" of each subsequent coin, a higher computing power of the equipment is required, which means that the financial costs for its acquisition are higher.Decentralization. The process of the emergence of cryptocurrencies is not regulated by any banks, reserve systems or governments. Even the creators themselves cannot control this process. A lot of people included in the chain issue and manage the movement of crypto coins. In such a situation, it is impossible to introduce restrictions on the distribution of coins. The absence of a single central data custodian (for example, a central server in a bank) also excludes a situation in which one accident will disable the entire payment system.But crypto also has its drawbacksThe absence of "responsible persons" and the possibility of insurance. When opening a bank deposit, you can insure it. If your funds in the bank account are attacked by intruders, the banking security system will be responsible for your funds. This is impossible with cryptocurrency. De-personification of stored data automatically makes it impossible to recover digital keys; if the owner of the key (and the cryptocurrency) did not hide the key carefully enough, or, on the contrary, too carefully and eventually lost it himself, it is impossible to restore the key.All coins belonging to this owner will automatically disappear from circulation. It is also impossible to cancel transactions carried out by scammers who have gained access to the private key. Full responsibility for the safety of funds lies only with the owner.High volatility. The chart below shows the four most popular cryptocurrencies in comparison with the S&P 500 index. The exchange rate of each of the currencies is influenced by a lot of factors that do not matter for the rates of major currencies or, for example, securities ("What affects the value of shares"). A new company or even the smallest state that has announced the possibility of settlements in a particular cryptocurrency raises quotes up with the speed of a rocket. Negative news drops them down with the same speed. We can say that the main factor of any money – the degree of trust in it by those who actually use it-is being formed right now, before our eyes. The statements of media personalities, authors of literary bestsellers, financial gurus-everything affects the change of course. One of the most popular "crypto trolls" has recently become Elon Musk. As a result of one of his tweets in January of this year, the exchange rate of the coin jumped by almost 20%.A few months after Tesla promised to start accepting tokens as payment, the company abruptly abandoned this idea. Elon Musk wrote about this decision on his page in mid-May, and this brought down the bitcoin exchange rate by 15%.Lack of a legal basis. This is probably the "weakest point" of all cryptocurrencies. At the moment, there are a number of positive facts: in Germany, bitcoins are recognized as a settlement currency, in Japan, Bitcoin is a legal tender with a purchase tax. Switzerland is subject to the same rules for cryptocurrencies as for foreign currencies, and this country is one of the most favorable jurisdictions for Bitcoin startups. The Singapore authorities consider cryptocurrency as a cross between an exchange-traded asset and ordinary money; crypto coins can be exchanged for goods and services, activities with them are taxed on a par with investment instruments. Cryptocurrency has also been legalized in the United States; as follows from the conclusion of the Supreme Court of 2016, "Bitcoin is money in the literal sense of this term.". It would seem that global trends support the development of the crypto market. But recent events in China have shown the fragility of the current position of “people's” money. By one legislative act, the Chinese government banned banks and financial organizations from dealing with cryptocurrency, citing its high volatility and unpredictability, and therefore a danger to large financial structures. Negative statements were made at the beginning of 2021 from other governments, including the United States and Canada. The instability and inability to influence the exchange rate of digital coins cause concern for the safety of the well-being of people investing in them. There was talk of creating internal crypto coins at the state level. If this happens, there is a high probability of banning the "people's" crypt at all levels in support of the "state" crypt.Read more: Blockchain technology: how it works and where it is usedCryptocurrency trends and prospectsAt the moment, cryptocurrencies obey the standard laws of the market and are regulated by the simple impact of supply and demand on them. The number of participants in the crypto market has long exceeded the limit of a million people, so this market cannot simply disappear in the near future. Looking at what is happening now in this market, we can identify the main trends for the near future:Increase in the number of users. With the increase in the number of manufacturers accepting bitcoin and altcoins as a means of payment, the number of users who are ready to try the new currency both as a settlement tool and as an investment option, at least in small, cautious volumes, is also increasing;Tightening of regulation of the cryptocurrency market by states. Similar bills are being prepared now in many countries, including those who were leaders in the adoption of cryptocurrency as a means of payment: Canada, the United States, Switzerland;An increase in the number of cryptocurrencies, the development of "young" cryptocoins and the expansion of infrastructure opportunities due to competition. Technologies in the modern world are developing at an insane speed. Blockchain technology is no different from the rest; and already today, the system on which the "old man" Bitcoin was founded and continues to develop is significantly inferior to the newly emerging coins in terms of security, transparency and infrastructure convenience. This situation, coupled with a large number of coins on the crypto market, will sooner or later lead to increased competition between systems and, consequently, to the modernization and expansion of the capabilities of the systems themselves, as well as to a decrease in the level of transaction fees.Ways to invest in cryptocurrenciesIt is possible to invest in the crypto market both directly, by buying cryptocoins directly, and indirectly in various ways: by purchasing ETFs (ETF funds), buying futures contracts for Bitcoin, or by purchasing shares of companies related to cryptocurrencies. Both direct and indirect investments have their advantages and disadvantages.Read more: What are futures: types, features, advantages and risksThe advantages of direct investment include the following:By buying Bitcoin or another crypto coin, an investor acquires a kind of currency that has solvency in the market. In other words, having a cryptocoin in your wallet, in a number of countries you can purchase goods or pay for services with these units, without exchanging them for fiat money;As an object of investment, most of the cryptocoins, especially if you choose the most popular ones for investment, have high liquidity. Even if there is no possibility of direct payment for goods and services, you can exchange the crypt and get electronic money into your wallet in a very short time;Given the high volatility of cryptocoins, a good entry point can provide an investor with a very high level of income. In this case, it is important not to miss the right exit point for fixing this income.Among the disadvantages of directly buying cryptocurrency as an investment, the following should be noted:The low level of the possibility of forecasts. Given the large number of factors affecting the crypt, it is very difficult to assess the probability of a coin rising and falling; the risk level is close to the banal casino;The possibility of losing all invested funds. If the world governments still come to the conclusion about the rejection of the "people's currency" as a settlement tool and decide to ban it as a financial settlement tool, there are risks that all the funds invested by investors will turn into zero;The complexity of choosing an investment cryptocoin. Bitcoin and Ethereum, due to their high popularity, are approaching the limit of their possible profitability. Those who did not have time to buy them at the start, now they can no longer count on serious profits. Other, less popular coins still retain this possibility. However, it is very, very difficult to understand this variety and guess which of them will "work";The need to enter specialized exchanges to buy an asset and create special wallets for storing it. A high level of digital security is required to ensure the safety of;Among the disadvantages of directly buying cryptocurrency as an investment, the following should be noted:The low level of the possibility of forecasts. Given the large number of factors affecting the crypt, it is very difficult to assess the probability of a coin rising and falling; the risk level is close to the banal casino;The possibility of losing all invested funds. If the world governments still come to the conclusion about the rejection of the "people's currency" as a settlement tool and decide to ban it as a financial settlement tool, there are risks that all the funds invested by investors will turn into zero;The complexity of choosing an investment crypto coin. Bitcoin and Ethereum, due to their high popularity, are approaching the limit of their possible profitability. Those who did not have time to buy them at the start, now they can no longer count on serious profits. Other, less popular coins still retain this possibility. However, it is very, very difficult to understand this variety and guess which of them will "work";The need to enter specialized exchanges to buy an asset and create special wallets for storing it. A high level of digital security is required to ensure the safety of;The presence of a spread between the purchase price and the sale price and the commission for the purchase. To make a profit, you need to wait for the sale price for the volume available in the wallet to exceed both of these cost factors.Investments in ETFs, ETP and ETN on bitcoin have the following advantages:The volatility of such funds is somewhat lower than the volatility of the coin itself. Diversification of assets within funds somewhat smooths out price fluctuations;When buying fund units, the investor avoids the issues of purchasing and storing cryptocoins, issues of spreads and commissions. The only additional expenditure component in this case will be the commission of the fund itself. For different funds, the commission is from 0.4 to 2.5%;A number of funds (but not all) have insurance against risks.Read more: Exchange Trade Funds (ETF)Unfortunately, there are more disadvantages:All traded funds are quite young, and most of them appeared on the markets only a year or two ago, so they do not have historical returns, based on which it would be possible to assess their investment prospects;At the time of writing, there are only four ETF funds for cryptocurrency on the world markets; the remaining funds are of the ETN type. ETN funds, having similarities with ETFs, have a different internal essence; they are not backed by physical assets, and are debt obligations issued by a large bank or other financial institution. In the event of an ETF bankruptcy, the fund's management has the opportunity to sell off assets and return some of the funds to investors; in the event of an ETN bankruptcy, the investor completely loses his investments;A number of funds, in addition to the management fee, take a premium for profitability, sometimes reaching 20%;The composition of the funds is not determined by the investor. When buying shares of the fund, it is necessary, along with assets in which there is a desire to invest, to acquire other assets in which there may be great doubts.How to invest in cryptocurrency on the stock marketAnother type of indirect investment in cryptocurrency is the purchase of shares of companies related to cryptocurrency. This type is devoid of the disadvantages of direct investment, since the procedures for buying and storing shares are long-established and understandable, and the volatility of stock prices of companies associated with the crypto market is not as high as that of the cryptocurrency itself, since these companies are engaged in the production of products and services of various types, and therefore are to some extent stabilized by these additional goods and services. Shares can be selected point-by-point, and no additional commissions are required for their purchase. Therefore, there are also no disadvantages of investments that are typical for cryptocurrency ETFs in this type of investment.A precise selection of high-quality assets allows a competent investor, on the one hand, to invest in such a highly interesting market as cryptocurrencies, and on the other, a careful choice of specific stocks will allow avoiding the huge risks associated with the world of tokenized money.Coinbase (COIN)Coinbase Global is one of the leading providers of complex financial infrastructure and technologies for the crypto market, and at the time of writing, it owns one of the first crypto platforms created that allow customers to store their savings in a wide range of crypto assets – more than 50 types of crypto coins. The company is the leader in trading volumes among American exchanges that trade crypto: $3.33 billion worth of cryptocurrency is sold and bought on Coinbase per day. The platform ranks eighth among the world's cryptocurrency exchanges. This is the first cryptocurrency exchange traded on the stock market. Coinbase was founded in 2012, went public on April 14 of this year with a share price of $ 250; in a short time, the price soared by 70% to$ 429, and then fell to the level of $ 228 per share and remains approximately at this level for several months. Meanwhile, the company's financial indicators are excellent. In the first quarter of 2021, the exchange's revenue soared 9.5 times compared to the same quarter last year — from $190 million to $1.8 billion. The result exceeded the entire revenue of Coinbase for 2020 ($1.14 billion). Net profit was $730-800 million, which is also much higher than earnings for the whole of 2020 ($322 million). In the first quarter of 2021 alone, Coinbase attracted 13 million users. Despite the fact that the company currently has 56 million customers in total. Monthly users  that is, those who performed at least one operation during the month were 6.1 million people in the first quarter, twice as many as in the previous quarter (2.8 million). The P/E multiplier is about 9 times higher than the average for the sector, but at the same time the PEG is only 0.6, which indicates not overheated growth.Read more: The history of the Coinbase exchangeSquare (SQ)Square is an American company of the technology sector, founded in 2009 and developing equipment and software for receiving and processing electronic payments. The company was one of the first to actively develop and implement specialized applications for payments and cryptocurrency trading. By the end of 2020, more than half of the company's revenue was generated from the direction of cryptocurrencies. This company earns both on the growth of cryptocurrency prices, when a large number of investors buy it, and on the fall, when many sell their assets. The company's financial indicators are growing from quarter to quarter. Similar to the previous company, the P/E of the shares is quite high and is 309, which is about 8.8 times higher than the average for the sector, but the growth of the shares is provided by a more rapid growth in revenue and profit, as a result of which the PEG multiplier of 0.7 indicates a non-overheated growth in the share price.Advanced Micro Device (AMD)Advanced Micro Devices is engaged in the development, production and sale of microprocessors, chipsets, chipset motherboards, discrete and integrated graphics processors, etc. In particular, it produces a line of high-performance video cards that are designed directly for mining cryptocurrencies. The company has been operating since 1969. The production of products is completely carried out by third-party contractors located in different countries of the world. The growth in the number of cryptocurrency miners, among other things, affects a significant increase in the demand for the company's products; its chips and video cards. At the time of writing, the company holds a 29% share of the video card market. The company's financial indicators are steadily growing. The P/E multiplier corresponds to the market value.PayPal Holding Company (PYPL)PayPal Holdings is an American company that manages a worldwide online payment system. PayPal Holdings operates almost all over the world, the operation of the payment system allows customers to send, receive and store funds in 25 currencies of the world. PayPal Holdings competes with all forms of payment: cash and checks; payment platforms for electronic, mobile and e-commerce; blockchain technologies and digital currencies. The competitive advantages of PayPal are the global scale of its activities, the ability to make uninterrupted transactions in different markets and in different networks, the reliability of the system and data security, the ease of integration into mobile applications and operating systems. The payment system provided access to cryptocurrency back in November 2020, and in April of this year, the Checkout with Crypto Service was launched, allowing users to pay with cryptocurrency around the world. Now it is possible to convert bitcoins, ether, bitcoin cash and litecoins into fiat currencies for making purchases without a commission from the company, as well as without paying for storing cryptomonets. At the same time, the company itself has existed since 2002 and has long held a strong position on the stock market. The stable growth of indicators, which cannot be affected even by serious crises, speaks for itself.From the point of view of investment valuation, the company is valued significantly more expensive than the average sector level. However, in the current situation, this should be regarded as a persistent expectation of participants for a significant increase in revenue and profit of the company.ConclusionNewly emerging technologies in the stock market cause a stir among investors. Each novelty that has attracted enough attention and received a credit of trust from market participants can soar high in a short time and create a couple of dozen new millionaires and billionaires. At the same time, a reasonable investor is far from the "casino principle" and understands that creating a serious state and preserving it requires deliberate steps and investments in truly promising technologies for a long period.Observing the newly appeared and so far extremely unstable cryptocurrency in its trend, for the current day it seems that the safest investments are in those instruments that will grow both on the wave of rising interest in the crypt, and during periods of recession and "sell-off". These are shares of companies that are somehow connected with the crypto market, but thanks to the wide diversification of activities, they are able to maintain their financial stability even in the event of a failure of the "crypto idea".In addition, the crypto market is an area that is already at the stage of overheating, so there is a risk that investments in this area in the short term will not bring investors super profits similar to those received by investors who became owners of cryptocurrency a year or more ago. However, this is not the only area that opens up wide opportunities for investors. But the list of industries that can radically change our lives tomorrow is far from being limited to those considered. In addition, we must always remember that the prospects of the industry does not directly determine the prospects of all the companies that form it. The investment value of a company is determined, in addition to the activity profile, by fundamental factors that can be identified only on the basis of an in-depth ...

The US economy, being the largest in the world, attracts the attention of a huge number of investors from many countries. The attractiveness of the US market is due to a wide variety of trading platforms, trading instruments, a huge number of issuing companies that place their securities here, including global giants of various industries. And it's not just American companies. The US stock market can be considered international. Shares and depositary receipts of companies from different countries, including Russia, China, Germany, etc. are traded here. Thus, the US market is still a huge opportunity for geographical diversification of investments. And it is very important for investors to monitor the state of the "market climate" in order to choose the most attractive assets or rebalance their portfolio in time. Stock indexes act as indicators reflecting the state of the entire market or individual industries.This article will tell you more about the US stock indices:What is an index?US stock indexes, their types.Popular US stock indexes.How to invest in US stock indexes.What is an index?Stock indexes are calculated summary indicators consisting of a specific list of companies that reflect the state of a sector, a group of companies on the stock market or the entire market. When it is said that the market has fallen or the market has grown with the indication of a specific percentage, then the growth or fall is judged primarily by the dynamics of the market index. That is, the index serves as an indicator, or they also say a "barometer", which speaks about the situation in the market or in a particular industry. That is, depending on the object and purposes of monitoring, investors monitor either industry indices or broad market indices.Indexes are created and tracked by specialized providers or exchanges.Indices are formed from the securities of issuers selected according to a certain criterion. There are no universal criteria. Each market index has its own set - from market value (capitalization), industry affiliation, place of registration to the value of free-float and the number of periods in which the company worked with profit. The composition of the indexes is not constant. They are reviewed with a certain frequency, that is, the so-called rebalancing occurs. Companies that no longer meet the established criteria are excluded from the index. And they are replaced by new participants. Usually, for an issuer, inclusion in the index is a significant driver of the growth of market quotations. And usually the price increase does not occur at the time of the announcement of the news or the revision of the index structure that has already taken place. Investors track information about candidates long before the news is announced, and therefore, at the time of rebalancing, this event is already embedded in the share price of new index participants.The US stock market is one of the oldest. The first US stock index originated in the 1890s, when Charles Dow developed the Dow Jones Transportation Average index, based on data on eleven transportation organizations in the country. This index is still used today as the most recognized indicator of the American transport sector.Thus, all stock indexes that exist now meet their specific goals. For example, the DJ Transportation transport index reflects the state of the transport industry, the DJ Financials financial index is an indicator of the state of financial sector companies, etc. So, monitoring the industry index allows you to assess the state of the industry for which the index is compiled. The main indices that display the general state of the US economy include the S&P500, NASDAQ100, etc. And then we will tell you more about these and other indexes.Read more: Dow Theory: Six basic principles of Technical analysisUS stock indexes, their typesThere are about 765 stock indexes in the USA. These include all kinds of indices, starting with such well-known ones as the S&P500, Nasdaq100, Dow Jones Industrial, Dow Jones Composite Average (DJA), and ending with narrow-profile indices, where the PHLX Semiconductor semiconductor index can be cited as an example.All existing US stock market indices can be grouped as follows:Industry indexes. As an example, indexes (the quantitative content of the index is indicated in parentheses):DJ Health Care (DJUSHC) is an index showing the state of the healthcare sector (100 companies from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries);DJ Transportation (DJT) is an index that tracks the state of the transport industry (20 transport and logistics companies);DJ Utility Average (DJU) – index of the state of the public utilities sector (15 utility companies);DJ Financials (DJF) is an index reflecting the state of the financial sector (257 financial companies).Broad market indices. These include the S&P500, S&P1500, DJ Composite, NYSE Composite, NYSE Amex Composite, Nasdaq Composite. They are used to assess the state of the entire market.TOP-capitalization indexes. This includes the S&P100, Dow Jones, Nasdaq100. These indexes allow us to assess the complex state of the most "expensive" companies grouped according to certain characteristics in various indexes.Indexes of companies with small and medium capitalization. This includes the Russell 2000, S&P 400, S&P 600. These indices reflect the assessment of the condition of companies with a relatively small market capitalization.Other indexes. This includes the market volatility index - the VIX index, the calculation of which is based on the volatility of the S& P500. The same group includes the VXO volatility index, calculated from the amplitude of fluctuations in the S&P100 index.Popular US stock indexesThe main American indices will be considered in more detail here.Dow Jones IndustrialThe Dow Jones Industrial is one of the oldest indices of the US market, was invented and began to be used in 1896. The index is considered one of the main indicators of the American economy. It helps investors and stakeholders in a simple way to assess the market dynamics of the industrial sector of the economy.Its structure is formed by the 30 largest industrial sectors, including such well-known Apple, Boeing, etc.When selecting this index, the impeccable business reputation of the company, stable growth and interest from investors are taken into account (determined by the indicator of trade turnover). At the same time, there are no clearly defined quantitative criteria — the decision is made by a special committee. To include an issuer in the DJIA index, its headquarters must be located in the USA, and the bulk of its income must be generated here. In addition, it should be a system-forming company, that is, its activities should make a tangible contribution to the country's economy. And to top it all off, the company's securities must be listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ trading platforms.Rebalancing is carried out every few months: if a company ceases to meet the criteria, then its shares leave the index. They are replaced by new issuers.Dow Jones Composite AverageThis US index appeared in 1934. It tracks the dynamics of share prices of 65 companies leading in their industries. This is an extended index based on three indexes:Dow Jones Industrial Average Yield Weighted (DJIYW) - DJIYW is an analogue for the main index, consisting of thirty companies on the DJIA list that have high profitability. Its member organizations must have a well-defined dividend payment schedule and excellent financial performance. The index is weighted according to their respective 12-month dividend yield.The Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA) is a transportation index that has existed for more than a hundred years and is leading the monitoring of companies providing logistics services throughout the United States and beyond.Dow Jones Utility Average (DJUA) – it consists of fifteen organizations from the field of utilities.The presence of the DJA index allows you to more broadly assess the state of three indices at once at the same time, which may be convenient for certain investors.Standard & Poor’s 500The S&P500 index is the most well-known and most widely used index of all. In its significance. Many agree that the S&P500 is one of the best indicators reflecting the situation of the US market. S&P500 is sometimes considered a "barometer of the economy", representing the results of the US market and being a reference point for many investors. Its calculation is based on the capitalization of issuers.The index is based on the 500 largest companies listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ trading platforms in terms of market value.You can see many famous companies in its composition: Apple, Microsoft, Walmart, Amazon, COCA-COLA, Mc'Donalds, Facebook, Alphabet and other legendary companies.When deciding whether to add to the index, the company is checked according to the criteria listed below:The organization must have a US registration.The market value (capitalization) is estimated at at least $6.1 billion.Free-float size ≥ 50%.The company should have been operating with positive operating profit for the last four quarters.Only ordinary shares can be included in the index, besides, they must have large trading volumes (more than 250,000 shares/month) and have a long market trading history.The structure of the S&P500 index is reviewed once every 3 months at the end of each calendar quarter. Companies that do not meet the criteria are removed from it.Read more: S&P 500 Stock Index - history, calculation and forecastingStandard & Poor’s 100The calculation of this index follows the same principle as for the 500 corporations of the S&P500 index. However, only companies with registered options on the Chicago Stock Exchange can be in the index.The S&P100 index is used in trading futures and options. As for the selection criteria, as a rule, the largest companies from the S&P 500 list with registered options are selected for inclusion in the index. The S&P100 index is formed in such a way as to maintain a balance between the ratio of companies from different sectors.This index is important for speculative traders who are interested in trading options of large companies.Nasdaq 100 IndexThe Nasdaq 100 index has been calculated since the mid-1980s. It is made up of hundreds of organizations with the largest capitalization (except for the financial sector), and takes into account not only US corporations. Most of the structure is companies.The index does not include companies from the financial, oil and gas sectors, as well as from the mining industry. The most prominent representatives of the index are: AMD, Adobe, Intel, Netflix, NVIDIA, Tesla, etc.The following criteria are applied to make a decision on adding a company 's shares to the Nasdaq 100 index:The Company should not carry out financial or insurance activities.The company's activities should be related to the field of high technology.More than 1.25 million shares outstanding at the time of listing, affiliated persons should not own more than 10% of the company.At the time of listing, the company's stock must have an offer price of at least $ 4, and three or more market makers must participate in the listing procedure.Rebalancing of the index takes place once a year, on the third Friday of December after the close of trading. The companies included in the top 100 according to the annual revision remain in the index. Those who occupy places from 101 to 125 places remain if they were in the top 100 according to the results of the previous year's review. Those not in the top 125 are excluded, regardless of the rank of the previous year.The Nasdaq 100 index is interesting to investors, as it is one of the key indicators of the American market.Read more: Index NASDAQ 100 - history, advantages and what it depends onNasdaq Composite IndexThe Nasdaq Composite is a composite index that is weighted by capitalization. It includes over 3,000 securities of high-tech companies, as well as companies with rapid growth from various industries – biotechnology, space, aircraft, etc., traded on the NASDAQ exchange. This index contains about one hundred of the largest companies with a high market value. The index is maintained and calculated by the Nasdaq exchange, unlike other indices, it is expressed in dollar terms, not in points.To be included in the index of an organization, you need to meet the following criteria:Listing on the Nasdaq Exchange trading platform.Only ordinary shares of the company can be included in the index. No convertible bonds, preferred securities, derivatives and real-time can be included.The company should not engage in insurance activities.The index can include a variety of companies, ranging from world-famous large corporations to little-known small companies. The most famous participants of the index are: Apple, Autodesk, Cisco, NVIDIA, Google, eBay, etc.Various investors are interested in tracking the index, and first of all those who want to invest in the technology sector.Russell 2000The Russell 2000 index is one of America's investment indices, which, like most indices, is weighted by capitalization. Originated in the mid-80s of the last century, it allows you to track the dynamics of 2000 companies with small capitalization. The most expensive companies have the greatest weight, as well as the greatest influence in it.This index allows you to assess the state of small businesses in the United States. The peak of its popularity was in the 90s, which was caused by strong movements in the share prices of its member companies.The index contains companies that, as a rule, do not have a globally recognizable brand.The Russell 2000 structure includes the following economic sectors: finance, healthcare, technology, cyclical and consumer goods, industry, non-cyclical consumer goods, basic materials, utilities and energy. At the end of 2020, there were five industries that made a tangible impact on the index structure.This index is of interest to those investors whose investment objects are small-cap companies.It can be concluded that index monitoring has the following objectives:Obtaining information about the aggregate dynamics of quotations of companies from the "basket" of the index.Obtaining information and assessing the current market situation.Long-term study of the investment climate in a particular group of companies, industry or country.Obtaining aggregated information about the actions of market participants.Read more: Exchange Trade Funds (ETF)How to invest in US stock indexesThere are two main ways in which you can invest in a stock index: the purchase of futures and the purchase of ETFs. US index futures are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Before making a decision to purchase futures, it should be remembered that futures are high-risk financial instruments, for their acquisition it is necessary to have either the status of a qualified investor, or an open account with a foreign broker, which is not always possible.A more convenient way is to purchase a real-time stock index. Among the advantages are the following:The ability to invest in all stocks included in the index.The relatively low purchase price of the ETF.The need for a relatively small amount and a low exchange commission when purchasing one of the ETFs on the index, than when independently repeating the index by buying each index share. In other words, buying in real time allows you to achieve broad diversification of investments with small amounts of capital.Currently, there are various data on a large number of popular stock indexes. For example, the S&P500 index has the following data:SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is the most popular ETF with a commission of 0.09%.iShares Core S&P 500 (IVV) ETF - this ETF ranks second in terms of trading turnover, the commission is 0.04%.There is also data for other indexes:The Invesco QQQ (QQQ) ETF is an ETF on the Nasdaq 100.The Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Stock Index ETF tracking Stocks (ONEQ) is an ETF on the Nasdaq Composite.SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF - ETF for the Dow Jones Industrial Index.The iShares S&P 100 ETF (OEF) is an ETF on the S&P 100.The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) is a Russell 2000 ETF.There is also a wide range of real-time industry indexes.Healthcare - SPDR Fund for the Healthcare Sector (XLV), Vanguard Healthcare ETF (VHT), iShares ETF for US Healthcare (IYH).Biotechnologies - iShares Nasdaq Biotechnological ETF (IBB-, SPDR S&P Biotechnological ETF (XBI), First Trust Amex Biotechnologies Index (FBT).Energy - ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (UCO), US Brent Oil Fund (BNO), US 12-month Natural Gas Fund (UNL).Finance – Vanguard Financial ETF (VFH), iShares USA Financial ETF (IYG), Invesco KBW Financial ETF with High Dividend Yield (KBWD).Transport – iShares Transportation Average ETF (IYT), SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (XTN). Average Transportation ETF (IYT).The main disadvantage of real-time investing is that, in addition to companies with good financial performance and growth prospects, it may also include companies with poor performance or simply unprofitable.However, there are options for "smart investing" in the index when you choose which companies to invest in. This approach implies spot investments and exclusion of ballast from the portfolio in the form of unprofitable companies that do not have fundamental sources of growth. This approach, firstly, reduces the risks of capital loss, and secondly, increases the efficiency of investment.Read more: Stock market indices: what are they and why do investors need them?ConclusionStock indexes are one of the important tools available to investors. The main goal that is achieved with the help of this tool is to monitor the situation or, as investors also say, the temperature, the entire stock market or industries of interest. The family of American market indices occupies a special place in the world hierarchy due to its size and, of course, its "authority". Observing the dynamics of changes in certain indices allows you to make a judgment about the current state of both the entire US economy and its individual sectors, and helps in making an investment decision.The presence of ETFs for stock market indices allows its participants to invest in a financial instrument that allows them to diversify their investments at a lower cost than when repeating the index independently. However, it must be remembered that buying futures or investing in an ETF of a separate index does not allow you to choose only the best representatives of the index, but forces you to purchase the entire set of shares of the companies that make up it, both "good" and ...

To date, there are more than 200 stock exchanges with various levels of capitalization around the world. The activities of such financial institutions have an impact on the intensity of the economic processes of the entire market. In particular, the stock exchange provides optimal conditions for the turnover of securities and acts as a price regulator for them.The oldest trading platform is considered to be the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Its foundation was timed to coincide with the annual fair in 1585. By that time, Frankfurt had become a real economic center of Germany, where traders from almost all countries of the world flocked. The abundance of various banknotes provoked financial difficulties when concluding transactions. To solve this problem, the stock exchange was created. With its help, it was possible to create a single payment system and develop a fixed exchange rate.World stock exchanges and features of their functioningDespite the large number of financial regulators operating in all countries of the world, only a few of them have preserved and increased the power of their economic potential. Their capitalization level exceeds $ 1 trillion and accounts for 87% of the total market of the whole world. The rating of the world's largest exchanges is based on stock indices and data on the total turnover of trades. Today it looks like this.New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)It was created in 1792 as a result of an agreement of a group of American entrepreneurs. Shares of more than 3 thousand of the largest companies around the world are listed on its site. To successfully complete the listing, an investor needs to have an average annual income of $2.7 million. The Dow Jones index, as well as the NYSE Composite and NYSE ARCA Tech 100 Index are calculated based on the indicators of industrial companies' shares on the stock exchange.Read more: What is the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)NASDAQIt began its work in the 1970s as an automated quotation system. Today, more than 4,000 companies, mainly related to the IT sector, are represented in the listing of the exchange. A number of trading indices are calculated on the exchange, each of which is associated with a specific economic sector. The NASDAQ Composite and NASDAQ National Market Composite index are consolidated.London Stock Exchange (LSE)The official date of its opening is considered to be 1801, although this financial institution began to function since 1570 under the leadership of the royal adviser Thomas Gresham. By its structure, the London Stock Exchange is a joint-stock company that sells its own shares on the market. It accounts for about 50% of the turnover of all securities in the world. The exchange works not only with large companies, but also with aspiring entrepreneurs, to whom it provides loyal conditions. The composite index is FTSE.Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)It first appeared on the Japanese financial market in 1878. In terms of capitalization, it is currently in second place after the New York Stock Exchange. The largest companies of the Asian and European regions place their securities on its platform. The main index families are NIKKEI 225 and TOPIX (Tokyo Stock Price Index).Read more: About NASDAQ Stock ExchangeShanghai Stock Exchange (SSE)China's largest exchange is considered a non-profit organization and is under the patronage of the government Securities Commission. Based on the results of trading, the SSE Composite index is calculated, which reflects the state of the shares of all companies that are listed on the exchange.Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE)It has securities of one and a half thousand large issuers from Asia and Europe. Capitalization is at the level of $ 2.9 trillion, and according to this indicator, HKSE ranks sixth in the ranking of the world's major exchanges. The Hang Seng index represents the weighted average value of the shares of the 34 largest companies of the exchange.EuronextIt has its own branches in the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium and France. In addition to securities trading, it provides clearing services and analytical information on the market. Its total capitalization is 2.9 trillion dollars. The list of indices calculated during trading includes: Euronext 100, AEX index, BEL20 and CAC 40.Read more: IPO of a company - mechanism, examples & strategiesToronto Stock Exchange (TSX)It first appeared on the financial market of North America in 1878. The Canadian dollar is used as the main currency. The S&P/TSX trading index reflects the condition of 200 companies whose financial weight is at least 0.05% of the total capitalization.Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE)It is a member of the United Union of exchanges of Asia and Oceania. Shares on the stock exchange are divided into two types: for residents and for foreigners. In 2016, free access to securities was opened for all investors, and a cross-trading system became available. The SZSE Component Index allows you to track the growth dynamics of the most liquid shares of 40 companies that are listed on the stock exchange at the current time.Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FWB)It has held a leading position on the German stock market since 1949. The main indicator of the DAX index reflects the value of securities of the 30 largest German companies and the state of the German economy as a whole.Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)It is considered the oldest stock exchange not only in India, but also in the entire Asian region. It was founded by the British during the colonization of the country. At first, the auction was held in front of the city hall building under huge banyan trees, then a separate building was built for this purpose. Today, its capitalization level exceeds $ 1 trillion, which makes it possible to leave behind all potential competitors in the region. The main stock index is BSE.Read more: What is an IPO: how the company goes on the stock exchangeNational Stock Exchange of India (NSE)It was opened in Mumbai on the recommendation of the Government of the country. The exchange organizes trades on the stock market, debt obligations and production instruments. The exchange's listing includes more than 1,600 of the largest companies in the region. The Indian rupee is used as the settlement currency.Swiss ExchangeThe trading platform started functioning in 1995 after the merger of the Zurich, Geneva and Basel exchanges. Today, all trades are conducted only in electronic form. Based on the SMI Index, a conclusion is made about the state of the 20 largest companies, the aggregate share of whose securities accounts for 85% of all exchange trades.Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)The main stock and futures exchange in the region. The activities of this financial regulator are controlled by the State Commission on Investments and Securities. The main financial index of the S&P/ASX 200 consists of the value of securities of 200 names of blue chips.Read more: The DAX index – history of its creation, structure and featuresKorean Stock Exchange (KRX)It is among the leaders in terms of trading volume with derivatives. The total capitalization is $ 1.2 trillion. It was formed as a result of the merger of KOSDAQ and the Korean Futures Exchange. The headquarters is located in Busan. The main index is KOSPI.NASDAQ NordicIt is a group of subsidiaries of NASDAQ Inc., which manage the stock markets of the Baltic States, the Caucasus and Northern Europe. The headquarters is located in Stockholm. 564 largest regional companies are represented in the listing of the exchange.Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)The largest trading platform on the African continent. She started working in 1887 with securities of gold mining companies. Bidding is conducted "by voice" with subsequent offsetting through an automated system. The exchange gives preference to mining sector stocks. The main calculated index is FTSE/JSE.Read more: S&P 500 Stock Index - history, calculation and forecastingMadrid Stock Exchange (BM)Various exchange instruments are traded on this platform. In terms of capitalization, it is considered the largest stock exchange in Spain, far ahead of regional offices in Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao. IBEX 35 is the base index of the exchange.Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE)It is located in the capital of Taiwan - Taipei. Transactions on securities of mainly regional companies are carried out on this trading platform. The total capitalization level is 0.8 trillion dollars. Based on the results of trading, the overall TAIEX financial stability index is calculated.Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (BM&F)It was formed as a result of the merger of the Brazilian Trading and Futures exchanges. The total value of transactions made on the trading floor per day exceeds $1 trillion. The main Ibovespa calculation index includes the value of securities of the largest companies that participate in the auction.Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV)The exchange began its work in 1908. The headquarters is located in Mexico City. Since 1999, all transactions have been concluded electronically. The IPC index includes the value of securities of the 36 largest issuers that are listed on the exchange.Read more: Nikkei 225 Index - history, calculation and the featuresMoscow Stock Exchange (MOEX)The holding was formed in 2011 after the merger of RTS and MICEX. Currency, securities, derivatives, precious metals and grain trading transactions are concluded on the exchange. In addition, the Moscow Exchange carries out clearing and depository activities. The Moscow Exchange indices are among the key indicators of the state of the Russian economy. Based on the results of trading, the Moscow Exchange Index is determined (calculated in rubles) and the RTS (calculated in US dollars).Italian Stock Exchange (ISE)It was founded in 1808, in 1998 it became a joint stock company, and in 2007 it merged with the London Stock Exchange. The trading platform is located in Milan. The FTSE MIB index is calculated based on the value of the shares of the 40 largest companies, the list of which is regularly reviewed and updated.Helsinki Stock Exchange (HEX)It began its work in 1908. Since 1980, the transaction system has become fully automated. Shares and derivatives of large corporations, including Nokia, Finnair and Tikkurila, are traded on the exchange. The main stock index is OMX Helsinki 25.Read more: Index NASDAQ 100 - history, advantages and what it depends ...

Indices for the investorNews reports often inform us about the growth and fall of stock market indices. Obviously, this is important, since it gets into prime-time news. However, what should this mean to the ordinary man in the street?Reference books tell us that "An index is a derived quantity ..." and behind the jumble of words they do not always give us an idea of the essence. School memories about "dividing something into something" generally set the right vector for reflection, but here it is critically important to understand what to divide into what and why. So, let's figure it out.Read more: Index NASDAQ 100 - history, advantages and what it depends onWhat is a stock market index in the financial world?Let's start from the beginning and consider the very first index that appeared in the world: this is the soaring Dow Jones Index. Its first version appeared back in 1884, and this index still exists today. The emergence of such a tool was associated with the need to assess the dynamics of industrial development in the United States. It was necessary to find some indicator that would help to assess whether production is growing or falling. How did you solve this problem?It's very simple: we took 12 of the largest industrial companies in the United States and calculated the average stock price for all. Then they did the same after some time. And again. And now several control points have already appeared and a graph has been built out of them, from which the trend was visible: in general, the prices of shares of the largest companies are growing or not. Since the growth of the share price is an indicator of investors' confidence in the industry, their desire to invest in it (and this is an opportunity for the industry itself to develop due to the inflow of investments), these calculations have become the main measure of industrial development. Therefore, the growth of the index means the development of the entire industrial sector, and the fall, respectively, indicates a crisis. The evaluation method proved to be viable, received the name of the authors-developers, and since 1896 the Dow Jones Index has been officially published.A lot has changed since then, including in the Dow Jones Index itself. There are Indices for different industries, for the economies of entire countries. And the indices themselves are now a little less straightforward - all sorts of correction factors are applied, dividends and a number of other factors are taken into account. However, the following principle remained unchanged: the index shows the average temperature of the development of an industry or a country.An interesting fact: from the very first version of the Dow Jones Index to the present day, General Electric was part of it.Read more: Nikkei 225 Index - history, calculation and the featuresThe Dow Jones index today is an indicator of the health of the US economy. It is calculated based on the value of the shares of the 30 largest companies. Another important index for assessing the US economy is the S&P 500, it is called the barometer of the American economy. It is calculated for 500 American companies that have the highest market price (capitalization).For Germany, the same index is DAX, for Japan - Nikkei 225. There are Indices for industries - for example, for energy, telecommunications, metals - they, in turn, show in the same way whether the industry is developing, stagnating or even in decline.Indices are the investor's loyal friendsFirstly, from the point of view of investments in the index itself: today there are tools in the financial system that allow you to earn on the growth of indices. And the indices are unique in this quality - they are always growing in the historical perspective. This is logical: civilization is developing, humanity is getting more and more benefits, and the index only reflects this process.And secondly, Indices help us evaluate the industry or economy of the country in which we want to invest in a security. The dynamics of the development of the industry or economy reflected in the index will help you assess the potential of a particular security: does it have the possibility of growth relative to the "average temperature" or is it worth waiting for a decline in quotations rather.Summing up, we note the main thing: indices are indicators of the development of industries and entire economies. Both governments and ordinary investors are guided by them. Therefore, when making a trading decision to purchase a particular security, it makes sense to look at the indices in order to assess the overall economic situation and understand the potential of the stock.Read more: S&P500 ...

Making a profit from financial instruments in the short, medium or long term is the main goal of any investor. Beginners prefer to use stocks and bonds, and we are usually talking about the direct purchase/sale of assets.But experienced traders often work with derivatives, the type of which is chosen based on the goals and skills of the investor. With the right approach, they allow you to make good money, with an inept one, serious monetary losses are likely.What are derivatives?Types of derivativesFuturesForwardOptionSwapFunctions of derivativesHow and where to trade derivativesChoosing a broker and opening a trading accountChoosing a derivativeAnalysis of the market situationPurchase of a contractWhat are derivatives?A derivative (derivative financial instruments) is a type of contractual contract that obliges the transaction partners to perform certain actions with the underlying asset in the future. Most often, this is the delivery of goods to a specific date at a given price on terms that do not depend on price fluctuations in the markets.The conditions prescribed in the derivatives contracts are called the specification. Holders have the right to sell the acquired derivatives, and their issuers are not always the owners of the underlying assets.Read more: Issuer of securities: definition, types and featuresDerivatives do not exist by themselves. These are derivative financial instruments that are inextricably linked to the value of the underlying assets, and there may be more than one of them.At the same time, the following can act as a base:Securities (Shares, ADRs, GDRs, etc.);Currencies (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, etc);Stock indexes (S&P500, Dow, NASDAQ, FTSE100, etc.);Commodities (metals, energy carriers, agricultural products, etc.);Macroeconomic and statistical indicators (key refinancing rate, inflation, weather, etc.).The derivatives futures market operates on the same principles as the securities and commodity exchanges. Pricing in this industry follows similar principles. At the same time, the total number of contracts presented on the market and the number of underlying assets are often not related in any way.Derivatives are a rapidly developing sector of today's financial system. According to the most conservative estimates, the volume of this market is $845 trillion. (the volume of world GDP is $86.6 trillion). A number of experts claim that the volume of the derivatives market reaches $2 quadrn.The first analogues of modern derivatives originated among Babylonian merchants. In Japan in the 17th century, rice coupons became widespread, and in the UK and Holland — options for flower bulbs. The first modern derivatives were launched on the London Stock Exchange in the 1860s. And they were actively distributed in the 20s of the XX century.Types of derivativesAll derivatives (derivative financial instruments) are divided into those that are traded freely (contracts of a standardized type on exchange platforms), and contractual (agreements in the OTC sector). Let's look at the most popular types of them.Read more: What is OTC and what are its featuresFuturesFutures contracts imply delivery on a specific date of the selected underlying asset at a given price. In fact, this is a contract of sale with deferred execution. There are futures:Settlement - without the physical movement of the goods or the change of the owner of the securities, the monetary settlement takes place on the day of the expiration date;Delivery - the goods are shipped directly within the specified time.Example: by buying oil futures, you can count on the delivery of the number of barrels specified in the specification by the deadline specified in the contract. But when buying index futures, only monetary settlement is possible, there is no physical commodity.Read more: What are futures: types, features, advantages and risksForwardForward contracts are concluded in the over-the-counter sector. They imply the delivery of the underlying asset at a given price by a specific date. Unlike standardized futures, they allow you to set additional conditions (quality, packaging, etc.), that is, there is still an opportunity for business maneuvers.Example: a large industrial production requires rolled metal after 5 months. According to analysts' forecasts, rental prices are expected to rise in the near future. At the moment, there are no free funds, as well as the desire to bear increased storage costs. The buyer and the supplier conclude a contract at the current price with the supply of products in the future with the payment of warranty security.Read more: Bulls and bears, as well as other animals on the stock exchangeAn example of a forward at the household level is drawing up a contract for the purchase and sale of an apartment in a house under construction or a car in a car dealership (if it is not in stock).OptionThe purchase of an option gives the right to buy or sell an asset in a given time period at a specified price. The first option is called call, the second-put. It is not necessary to execute the contract if the conditions are unfavorable for the owner (the projected price of the asset has gone in the wrong direction). It is acceptable to simply fix a loss in the amount of the option value.Example: on the stock exchange, a company's share is traded at a price of 50 dollars. The trader, having analyzed the market situation, revealed the probability of growth up to 65 dollars. He acquires a call option with the right to purchase a security at 50 dollars. with a guaranteed security of 10% (5 dollars.). When the desired price is reached within the specified period, the trader executes the option. And sells a share on the stock market already at the market price. If the forecast is not justified, it is permissible to resell the option cheaper or not to execute it, fixing a loss of 5 dollars.SwapA complex version of a futures contract, works on the principle of "2 in 1". A transaction is concluded for the purchase or sale of an asset with the simultaneous opening of a counter-directional transaction with the same asset on similar terms, but after a certain period. The main goals of using swaps are to increase the number of assets and reduce risks (hedging). The most common types of swaps are currency, commodity, credit, interest, stocks and precious metals.Read more: Swaps in the financial market. What are they and what are they given to the traderIn addition to these types of derivatives, there are other, less popular types — warrants, PCI, FRA, depositary receipts. There are also derivatives for derivatives, but investors are wary of such an instrument.Functions of derivativesDerivatives are acquired not only in order to become the owner of the underlying asset. Their functions are more diverse:Risk hedging (protection against sharp price and exchange rate fluctuations);Price arbitrage (conclusion of multidirectional transactions in several markets in order to make a profit);Tax optimization, for example, when using a stock swap, you will not have to pay a tax related to capital gains;Speculation on the price fluctuations of an asset;Reducing transaction costs;Expansion of earning opportunities through increased leverage (X100).Read more: Leverage on the stock marketHow and where to trade derivativesHow to trade derivatives:Choosing a broker.Opening a trading account and depositing funds.Choosing the type of derivative.Market analysis.Purchase of a contract.Working with futures contracts and options is similar. But there is one serious difference. Futures obliges to fulfill the conditions regardless of how the market situation develops for the owner. The option leaves the right to choose.As for the places where you can trade derivatives, ordinary investors are mainly available on exchanges where less than 20% of this type of assets are traded. Options and futures contracts are presented in the futures sections of these platforms.There are 64 exchanges working with futures in the world. One of the largest is the Chicago Mercantile Exchange CME (commodities and cryptocurrency).Among the cryptocurrency exchanges working with futures contracts, OKEx, BitMEX, Binance Futures, ByBit, Huobi and Deribit deserve attention (they are in the TOP 10).Read more: Overview of the Huobi Global ExchangeThe process of trading derivatives should be considered in more detail.Choosing a broker and opening a trading accountThe choice of a broker should be given maximum attention. In addition to having a direct access to the exchange platforms of interest, you should check the license. The list of licensed brokers is presented on the official website of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.It is useful to get acquainted with the reliability ratings on specialized Internet resources and reviews of real customers. After registering on the broker's website, creating a personal account, verifying your identity and installing a trading terminal (QUICK, MT4, MT5 or the broker's own developments), you need to top up your trading account.In some cases, access to the demo version (if available) is provided without making a deposit.Read more: Stock market Broker: how to choose it and how to work with itChoosing a derivativeOne of the main advantages of derivatives (namely futures) is a wide range of assets. We choose the market category from the following options: indices, commodities (energy, agricultural products, etc.), interest rates (LIBOR, RUONIA, etc.), currency or securities.After that, we select the type of trading instrument (a specific type of metal, a brand of oil, etc.). The choice should be made taking into account the previous trading experience. If a trader has been working with stocks for a long time, then futures and stock swaps are among the preferred instruments.Analysis of the market situationBefore making a final purchase decision, you should analyze the market situation using fundamental and technical analysis. It is necessary to take into account everything that may affect the value of the underlying asset in the future.It is not superfluous to study the history of quotes and track the news background.Read more: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME): history, structure, advantages and featuresPurchase of a contractAt the final stage, we determine the type of contract and the nuances of the specification. For example, there are 2 futures options available for gold — a standard one for 100 ounces and an e-mini (10 ounces). Having selected the necessary asset, we make a purchase request and confirm the transaction.At first glance, trading in derivatives (derivative financial instruments) seems simple and understandable.In reality, you need a lot of trading experience, a knowledge base, an understanding of the market situation, skills in analysis, risk management and the use of leverage.In the absence of proper training, it is advisable to undergo training and try out various strategies in the demo version. For beginners who do not have system knowledge, it is advisable to start with the most liquid and volatile instruments — oil futures, indices or blue-chip stocks.Read more: Causes of inflation and scientific approaches to their ...