Tag: GM

Investment Diversification With Commodity Mutual Funds

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As the old saying goes, dont put all your eggs in one basket. The same is true with your money. Dont put all your investment money in one stock, or even the same sector of stocks. Investment diversification is an easy concept to understand. Whats not easy is deciding where to spread your money. And for various reasons most people dont consider commodity mutual funds.

Most people tend to put all their investment or retirement money in the stock market. They either invest in the company they work for, or buy stocks of companies that they like, such as Ford, GM, Wal-Mart, or any company that is popular. Or they are using a brokerage house for advice and pick and choose from the brokers suggestions. If they have a large sum of money in investments, they probably have a financial counselor. This adviser should have some of their money in the bond market, which is a good, sound investment diversification strategy.

The stock market is easy to understand and most people are comfortable with checking their stocks performance online. The bond market is a little tougher to follow day to day, and most people just buy the bond and wait for their broker or adviser to recommend a change.

The commodity and commodity mutual fund market is a little tougher to follow and to understand. The prices of gold and oil are easy to follow because they are a couple of the most popular commodities. The prices of corn, cotton or pig bellies are not so popular. Unless you are a producer or buyer of these commodities you probably dont have a clue what their price is.

But commodity mutual funds are a great tool to add investment diversification to any portfolio. They offer investment protection from inflation, a weak dollar and swings in the stock market.

Over the last few years, there has been a large increase of investing in commodity mutual funds do to the bad performance of the stock market. With the large amount of choices in the stock and mutual fund market, stock brokers usually do not research or recommend commodity mutual funds. They probably have hard enough time pushing their stock pick of the day, let alone trying to sell commodity products.

For that reason, you need to do your own research into commodities and commodity mutual funds. They can add value to your retirement fund.

Automobile Industry In India

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Car-ownership is a symbol of economic progress and is very high on a consumers wish list of products. The face of the Indian automobile market has changed tremendously since the turn of the millennium and will change even further since Nano. Indian automobile industry has metamorphosed into a great industry since the first car ran on the streets of Bombay in 1898. Today, automobile sector in India is one of the key sectors of the economy in terms of the employment. Directly and indirectly it employs more than 10 million people and if we add the number of people employed in the auto-component and auto ancillary industry then the number goes even higher.

The automobile industry lists heavy vehicles like the trucks, buses, tempos, tractors, private or commercial passenger cars and two-wheelers. The automobile sector in India underwent a metamorphosis as a result of the liberalization policies by the government since 1991 which included relaxation of the foreign exchange and equity regulations, reduction of tariffs on imports, and refining the banking policies. After the automobile industry opened to direct investment from foreign countries in 1996, global automobile industry majors moved in. Automobile industry in India also received a boost from stringent government auto emission regulations over the past few years. This ensured that vehicles produced in India conformed to the standards of the developed world.

Indian automobile industry has also become an out sourcing hub for automobile companies worldwide, as indicated by the zooming automobile exports from the country. Today, GM, Ford, Hyundai, Honda, Mitsubishi and Toyota have set up their manufacturing units in India. Due to rapid economic growth and higher disposable income it is believed that the success story of the Indian automobile industry is just beginning. Factors influencing the growth of the auto industry include sales incentives, introduction of new models as well as variants and easy availability of low cost finance with comfortable repayment options continued to increase demand and sales of automobiles.

The major characteristics of Indian automobile sector are:

Indian automobile is the second largest two-wheeler market in the world
Indian automobile fourth is the largest commercial vehicle market in the world
Indian automobile is the 11th largest passenger car market in the world
The Indian automobile will be the world’s third largest automobile market by 2030

Trend of Growth of the automobile industry in India:

Growth of exports of 32.8 % in commercial vehicles as against passenger cars
Output of commercial vehicles has grown 2.8 times compared to the 2.2 times increase in passenger cars
Two-wheeler output continues to dominate the figures of the sector
In 2003-04, for every passenger car turned out, there were 7 two-wheelers produced
In the two wheeler segment, there is a greater preference for motorcycles followed by scooters
Mopeds have registered low or negative growth
Export growth rates have been high both for motorcycles and scooters