Apme FX

The automotive industry is one of the most important sectors of the European economy. Even before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, it  accounted  for about 17 percent of total industrial production and about seven percent of GDP. If Europe is among the top world leaders in anything, it is precisely automotive. But with the development of electromobility and the pressure to decarbonize economies, it seems that the train is running out for European automakers. Is there a good way out of the unpleasant situation for Europe? In recent years, it has been increasingly talked about that the future of the automotive industry is electromobility. And in time also cars with autonomous driving. From Europe's point of view, it seems that it did not catch the onset of electric cars in time and now it has its hands full to keep up with the global leaders of electromobility. In this context, the most common talk is about the coming fierce competition from China. Many Europeans were r...

Environmental Social Governance, what is ESG?  You've probably already come across the acronym ESG. If not, it's an acronym that refers to how companies across industries approach business.  Translated, the acronym stands for environmental and social stewardship.  It can be a way for you to learn significantly more about companies than they tell you about themselves on their websites or the packaging of the products you buy from them. There are whole specialist companies that monitor everything that, and especially how, companies do things. They then earn a rating for their "performance". It's their ESG score. Elon Musk fights ESG rules Recently, multi-billionaire and influential entrepreneur, Elon Musk himself has come to the media's attention. It just so happened that the electric car company he runs, Tesla, earned an unflattering ESG score. On Twitter, Musk was critical, noting that tobacco companies like Philip Morris have achieved higher ESG scores than T...

Investors can gain exposure to vast investment opportunities through stock market sectors.   The only question is what form their investment will take.  The options are purchasing of individual stocks or buying specialized sector funds, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that primarily hold stocks within a single sector.  Investors interested in exposure to all sectors can consider a broad-based mutual fund or ETF like the S&P 500 Trust ETF (SPY).   Who makes sure it’s all up to spec?    There are 11 stock market sectors, according to the Global Industry Classification Standard, or GICS, which is an industry taxonomy developed in 1999 by MSCI and Standard & Poor's.  The 11 stock market sectors are then sub-divided into 24 industry groups, 69 industries and 158 sub-industries into which all major public companies fit.  Annual reviews are conducted by S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI to ensure that the structure remains f...

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been steadily growing in popularity, getting a boost from the Covid pandemic. What made them so popular? For one, it is due to their ease of use. Next on the list of advantages is the diversity they provide, and finally it is their cost-effective approach to investing.   The U.S. domestic ETF market has grown to almost $3.9 trillion as of mid-2021 aided by the 2019 rule passed by the SEC. The streamlined regulatory environment in the US has driven ETFs through the roof.   Removing regulatory barriers   As of 2020, there were 7,602 ETFs globally. This is a considerable increase from just 276 in 2003 and 7,083 in 2019. In the next five years, ETFs are projected to surpass mutual fund assets in the United States. [1]   [1]  A new rule referred to as the “ETF Rule” has enabled stellar growth of ETFs. The rule was passed in September 2019 by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and removes the so-called "exemptive relief" reg...

High inflation, which is crushing people's savings for the second year in a row, often leads to questions about how to protect their money from long-term unprecedented price increases. Ordinary savings products in banks typically don't even cover half of last year's price rises. Investing in equities appears to be a relatively suitable but slightly riskier alternative. But which ones?   Investing in equities is a good servant, but it can also be a bad master. Especially for the inexperienced investor. Some of the most common beginner mistakes include betting on one title or one market segment, trying to guess the price bottom, or giving in to emotions when your investment doesn't perform as you expect.   Nevertheless, stock markets tend to be a fairly solid way to beat price increases in the economy, i.e. inflation, over the long term. The problem for beginners, however, is how to choose a stock portfolio that actually follows this trend.   Unless a novice investor cons...

As we know, investment is deferred consumption. And good investment means that future consumption can be higher than current consumption. Unlike investment, saving, which is also a form of deferred consumption, usually means that we will consume less in the future – this occurs due to inflation. In the period before the pandemic, we had almost got used to the idea that inflation is not a problem because it was close to zero. The last few years have led us out of the error. Inflation represents a reduction in the purchasing power of money, which in practice means an increase in the prices of products in many segments. In the context of inflation, everyone wants to find a way how to protect their savings or capital from depreciation and learn how to invest properly. Investing should be a long-term affair and should make your money work for you through various financial instruments. These can take different forms, with some of the popular ones being investing in stocks, bonds or real esta...