What Happened Last Week? New cases of coronavirus were discovered around the world. More unsettling information from healthcare specialists was announced. Multiple countries declared the virus a pandemic; and one Bloomberg Opinion argues that coronavirus is here to stay: like the common cold or influenza. This sent the public into a panicked frenzy, purchasing face masks and other basic essentials. WeWork issued a work from […]
Investors considered Venezuela as one of the future powers of the world. Its economy peaked in the late 1970s following an oil-driven gold rush fueled by international investors. What followed were decades of oil gluts, shortages of food and healthcare, continuous political turmoil, and debt defaults. Unfortunately, the failing country’s future tells a frighteningly similar story. Venezuela, once a rising powerhouse, is a country in […]
One small step for man, one giant leap for… our economy? Space travel use to be exclusively a competition between national governments. In recent years commercial space race has heated up dramatically. A direct result of the industries shift from sluggish government programs into the hands of private and public companies. Let’s use our financial fluency tools to take a closer look at this industry’s […]
What is happening with cryptocurrency? After a historic rise in the past year, cryptocurrency markets took a dive this past week. Why? More and more countries have put forth regulations. Cryptocurrency’s recent founding and name recognition have made it a target for regulators. This is largely due to its potential as an unregulated and universal medium of exchange. A large part of achieving financial fluency […]
Black Friday has come and gone. Another historic year of sales is in the books. So that has left many curious about how to invest after the recent numbers… Transfer of Power Retail store sales continue to decline this year. E-commerce giants like Amazon (AMZN), Alibaba (BABA), and Shopify (SHOP) threaten to put brick-and-mortar stores out of business. In 2016, foot traffic on Black Friday […]
Ahh Thanksgiving! That wonderful time of year when families come together, reflect on all they are thankful for, and share a delicious home-cooked meal. Everyone loves Thanksgiving dinner. So naturally, us market fanatics at Rapunzl decided to take a closer look at some of the market forces and economic concepts behind your meal and how it’ll impact certain stocks. Let’s Talk Stocks Turkey Turkey is […]
At many of the world’s central banks, setting key interest rates is the primary tool for conducting monetary policy. Their goal? Stabilize economic activity. When central bankers are worried about inflation or an economy expanding too quickly, they can raise rates. This increases the cost of borrowing, giving households and businesses more reason to save. In the midst of an economic recession, central banks can […]
With a market cap of nearly $200 billion, nothing has had a quicker rise to investor fame than cryptocurrency. Bitcoin’s foundation in 2009 was the first domino to fall. Hundreds followed. The industry continues its rapid expansion. Investors are piling on the train. Blockchain provides users with a decentralized platform. This platform allows them to make untraceable transactions with lower transaction fees compared to standard […]
This year’s G20 Summit lacked the unity of past meetings. On one side of the table, we saw 18 nations and the European Union. The United States sat on the other side of the table. Between these two, was the divide: climate change, a divide that has led many to describe the G20 as the G19 plus one. But what exactly is the G20 Summit and […]
The past month hasn’t been a good one for investors in FAANG (FB, AAPL, AMZN, NFLX, GOOG) and other major tech stocks. FAANG stocks were down an average of about 5.5% while popular recent IPO Snap Inc. (SNAP) is down 16.4%. So what caused this decline? Let’s take a deeper look as we continue to step towards financial fluency. Although there are differing opinions, it […]