Brokerage

In a year that saw the unexpected upheaval and transformation of businesses and societies the world over, the credit and political risk insurance (CPRI) market was no different – having to adapt to the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in order to continue serving its clients. James Esdaile, Managing Director of BPL Global, explains how the sector has fared and how it is set to develop given new trends and evolving client demands.

Infrastructure is the skeleton that holds an economy together, but in many regions of the world, it has much room for improvement. Investors seeking growth sectors should consider infrastructure investment, which not only improves infrastructure but also stimulates economic recovery and is increasingly gaining government financial support.

Innovation helps businesses function better and investors invest more profitability, but only if they monopolise on the most lucrative technologies and pioneering firms. With so many choices, where to begin in uncovering the opportunities with long-term growth and profitability so that the investor reaps rewards and not disappointments?

Equities across most of the major Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets encountered massive sell-off on Tuesday, 11 May, following the downbeat Wall Street with the tech-heavy benchmark Nasdaq Composite sliding more than 2.5 per cent. Led by the heavy drop in the blue-chip technology stocks, including Apple, Tesla, Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet, Netflix, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Paypal, the Nasdaq Composite suffered a loss of 350.38 points, or 2.55 per cent to close at 13,401.86 on 10 May.

The investment world is never free of a popular new kid on the block; special purpose acquisition companies are attracting significant investor interest as they help companies transition from private to public. Will these shell companies go down in investment history as another short-term craze, or will they become a permanent part of the IPO process? The jury is undecided, but the SPAC is an avenue that investors should consider.

Derivatives carry the potential to drastically increase or drastically decrease initial investments, depending on the underlying assets’ price movements. Derivatives investing is for the experienced investor or the less experienced investor willing to do some research. One advantage is that an investor can get into the action with little expenditure of money but should be prepared to lose some, if not all, of it, should prices swing the wrong way.

Until recently, stock trading was the exclusive domain of high-flying, wealthy Goliaths. With the arrival of avenues such as digital platforms, every-day Davids are entering the arena and, by coordinating their efforts, significantly influencing the prices of targeted stocks. Such was the case of GameStop, with its share price recently experiencing a wild ride after attracting investor interest from different corners, including a band of Davids in Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum.

After slipping precariously in the early days of the pandemic, commodity prices rebounded in the latter months of 2020, in some cases reaching record highs. Continuing the upward climb throughout 2021 depends on a number of factors such as US dollar weakness, economic recovery, supply and demand, monetary policy, fiscal stimulus, weather events and the type of commodity, with oil, base/precious metals and some agricultural products likely leading the charge.

Are you wondering how to invest in 2021, a year that is starting with concerning negatives but also hopeful positives? Although predicting how this year will wind up is difficult, the investor can take steps to make the most of what is guaranteed to be another wild year of ups and downs, including capitalising on inflation surges, capturing cyclical upswings, looking to emerging markets for credit opportunities and harnessing volatility.

On January 27, Tesla released its financial results for the fourth quarter (Q4) 2020 and the full year ended December 31, 2020, confirming that the Palo Alto-based electric-vehicle and clean-energy company’s earnings had missed estimates for the quarter.