Seasoned investors often have a long-term view of the stock market, using short- and medium-term volatility to buy into the themes they believe will pan out over many years. While identifying these trends is difficult, tuning out the noise can reveal what’s to come, possibly resulting in significant gains.
Below we highlight five of the most popular trends right now that show tremendous potential for growth.
1. Blockchain
Outside of trading cryptocurrencies, retail investors can participate in the expansion of blockchain, the technology that powers digital coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Blockchain is essentially a string of information or “blocks” recorded on independent computers and shared across a distributed network. Each block of data is frozen in time on an open ledger for all participants to access. This feature makes blockchain technology especially useful in industries where security is paramount, such as banking.
By linking data and making it accessible to everyone, blockchain eliminates the risk of foul play by a single party. It also simplifies and automates processes that might have previously been inefficient.
For example, Walmart (WMT) and Sam’s Club use blockchain to fight food illnesses like E. coli. By requiring their vendors to upload sourcing and logistics data in real-time, they can then improve traceability, ensuring food safety in case of an outbreak at one of their suppliers.
Other notable corporations employing blockchain technology are Microsoft (MSFT), General Electric (GE), PayPal (PYPL), Starbucks (SBUX), Salesforce (CRM) and IBM (IBM).
2. Electric vehicles
The electric vehicle (EV) industry is in a massive transformation that could bring trillions to the global economy. To date, nearly all major automakers have announced plans to increase EV availability, with some like Jaguar and Volvo planning to completely phase out gas-powered vehicles within the next decade.
By 2030, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that 145 million EV vehicles could be on the road, up from just 10 million today, marking an increase of more than 1,300 percent.
To gear up for the increased demand, most of the largest carmakers have vowed to hit electrification targets in the upcoming years, reconfiguring their production lines to build more EVs.
For example, Ford (F) says it plans to invest $30 billion in electrification efforts by 2025, pledging that by mid-2026, 100 percent of its passenger vehicles in Europe will be zero-emissions capable, moving to all-electric by 2030. By then, the company anticipates that 40 percent of its global sales will be fully electric vehicles.
From electric-vehicle makers like Tesla (TSLA) and NIO (NIO), semiconductor producers like NVIDIA (NVDA) and Intel (INTC), to cloud providers like Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN), many of these names will be essential for ensuring vehicle safety, intelligence and efficiency …….
Source: https://www.bankrate.com/investing/investing-trends-right-now/