At the end of March, if I told you that stocks would move to record levels in mid-2020 despite the pandemic, the biggest recession quarter in a century, and a global economy shutdown: you probably would have taken me for a fool.

Yet, that is what is happening now in the United States. As Jesse Livermore wrote: “Financial markets are never “obvious.” They are designed to deceive the majority of people most of the time.”

In 2020, the stock exchanges continue to obey this rule with both the correction AND the fastest recovery in 1 century. What exactly happened? Let’s try to clarify some clarification.

U.S. stock market: Record levels despite crisis

You may know this, but the United States is far from the country that has best managed the Corona-virus epidemic.

In fact, their situation has not improved much, and where many countries have managed to calm the game in recent months, the number of new daily cases in the U.S. remains comparatively high:

However, this has not prevented the U.S. stock markets from achieving one of the best performances of 2020, and it seems that the current situation does not cause much panic among American investors. ... 

The new stock market year has just begun and many investors are naturally wondering which industries could be worth investing in. Tech stocks like Facebook , Netflix , Microsoft, and Amazon have had a tough time in recent months, but even in 2019, technology stocks could be big winners.

Which sectors are worth investing in?

Industries such as cloud computing, cyber security, mobile payment and health care promise great growth in the coming years as well.

Cloud Computing – continues strong growth expected in the next few years

The cloud computing market is still considered the hottest industry in the technology market. More and more companies are using the cloud of data to save on the costs of using applications and services.

If one believes a recent forecast by Goldman Sachs, the cloud computing market is expected to double again by the year 2021 to 116 billion US $. In the area of ​​cloud infrastructure services, the Amazon subsidiary Amazon Web Services (AWS) is still the measure of all things.

But also Microsoft could catch up strongly in the last years and is with number 2 in the market with Microsoft Azure cloud. In the area of ​​human resources management Workday dominates, while Salesforce dominates the field of customer management. The shares of Amazon, Microsoft, Workday and Salesforce should therefore still offer sufficient potential in the coming years. ... 

The new year is just 2 months old and many investors are wondering which industries are worth investing in and which industries rather than investors should be avoided.

As a rule, disillusionment always follows after every major hype. This is especially true when investors’ high expectations of an industry are not met.

Industries that investors should avoid in 2019

In recent years, these have included stocks of 3D printer manufacturers , which have brought such investors high losses, which have entered the hype phase. Following Canada’s release of cannabis cultivation, trafficking and distortion in October 2018, cannabis stocks were on the rise, with hype surrounding these stocks .

Cannabis Stocks – Will the Crash Follow After Soaring?

Stocks of companies such as Tilray, Canopy Growth and Aurora Cannabis were among the high flyers on Wall Street in 2018. The prices of these companies have multiplied within a few months.

Nevertheless, initial investment experts warn against exposure to cannabis stocks. The reason: the hype surrounding these papers was very high in 2018, with many investors expecting massively increasing sales and profits for this sector. In fact, some companies in the industry also delivered strong sales growth, but many analysts had expected even better results. ... 

The year 2018 was a difficult year for the global automotive industry and for the German manufacturers in particular. In the first 9 months of 2018, global auto sales only increased by 1.2% to 62.2 million vehicles.

Sales in North America declined, especially in North America, but the sluggish German market also caused problems for the manufacturers. In Germany alone, the number of new registrations fell by 0.2% in 2018 – the first decline in 5 years. Above all, sales of diesel vehicles collapsed after the many scandals in 2018. Specifically, the sale of diesel cars in 2018 in Germany fell by 6.5%.

Outlook for the automotive industry 2019

In addition to the diesel problem, the German automotive industry has another problem: New emission standards such as the WLTP process require further adjustments on the part of the manufacturer. In this way, the indicated fuel consumption in the sales brochures should be based on actual consumption in practice.

In addition, the investment focus of the industry continues to shift towards electromobility and autonomous driving . The German automakers want to set a good example and continue to invest in these areas. ... 

Tech stocks had a hard time in 2018. The technology-heavy Nasdaq index fell 3.9% in the previous year – the worst performance in nearly a decade.

Above all, the popular FANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google aka Alphabet) came under heavy weight at the end of the year. Tech stocks had a significant impact on the stock market boom over the last 9 years. So, of course, many investors are wondering if consolidation will continue in 2019, or if current prices are a good starting point?

Tech Stocks 2019 – an outlook

High-growth tech stocks have generally outperformed the overall market in recent years. Investors must note, however, in these investments, that even tech stocks in a stock market consolidation usually fall more than the rest of the market.

One of the reasons for this is that tech stocks are often valued higher and usually pay no or only a small dividend. Technology companies need capital to continue investing in innovation to stay competitive in the future.

Netflix – ready for a recovery?

The best example here is Netflix , which has nearly tripled since the beginning of 2016 until today. However, the Netflix share has corrected by nearly 40% from its record high in the summer of 2018 to the end of the year. ...