Gold, interesting facts on gold, stock market, largest companies, oil

Gold closed the week at 1158 dollars/oz. The gold has been in this 1100-1350 range for quite some years now and the fact that it is consolidating at these levels make things look quite positive for gold. The demand for gold is firm at these levels and the supply has been constant. The consolidation of gold at these prices can have a positive impact on the prices of gold in the near future.

World's largest gold reserves

Here is the list of countries with the largest gold reserves in the world :

Data : As at January 2015 (based on World gold council data)
Source : Wikipedia

1. USA : 8133.5 tonnes

2. Germany : 3384.2 tonnes

3. Italy : 2451.8 tonnes

4. France : 2435.4 tonnes

5. Russia : 1206.8 tonnes

6. China : 1054.1 tonnes

7. Switzerland : 1040 tonnes

8. Japan : 765.2 tonnes

9. Netherlands : 612.5 tonnes

10. India : 557.7 tonnes


Total gold mined : Read this interesting article

Stock markets are looking like they are ready for some corrections, the rise in the markets has been quite sharp in the past few months and it looks like the correction and consolidation phase might start soon.

World's top 10 companies by market capitalisation

These companies are the Stock markets biggest gems. List of top 10 companies by market capitalisation :

List up to date as of 31 december, 2014.
Source : wikipedia.org

1. Apple : 647.36 billion $'s (USA)

2. Exxon Mobil : 391.48 billion $'s (USA)

3. Microsoft : 382.88 billion $'s (USA)

4. Berkshire Hathaway : 370.65 billion $'s (USA)

5. Google : 329.77 billion $'s (USA)

6. Petrochina : 305.54 billion $'s (CHINA)

7. Johnson & Johnson : 292.70 billion $'s (USA)

8. Wells Fargo : 284.39 billion $'s (USA)

9. Wal-Mart : 276.81 billion $'s (USA)

10. ICBC : 271.15 billion $'s (CHINA)


Oil has seen a sharp decline in the prices in the past 7-8 months and looks like it is consolidating at around 45-50 usd/bbl levels.

How to pick the right stock

How to pick up the right stock is perhaps the most difficult part of trading in the stock market. The second one is of course when to sell it. So here I will like to share with you some of the things I look into to find the right stock. There are a few important things to remember when you are looking for that right stock. First of all you have to make sure that the company you are investing in has a good business, it should be running a type of business that you have a belief in, the one that you think has a lot of growth prospects in the future. The second most important thing to make sure is that the company is profit making. You do not want to end up investing in a company making losses every other quarter. There may come some bad days but largely the company should be profit making and showing growth consistently. The next thing you should look for is that company is largely debt free or at least have a debt to equity ratio under control. The payment of debt eats up a chunk of the profits and really badly impacts the financials. You should always invest in a company that has its debt under control and is doing proper utilisation of its resources. The company should also have a good management looking around the business, the management you can put your trust into. The company should have a healthy promoter shareholding and very less or no amount of pledged shares. This is to make sure that the promoters have their heart and soul into the company. Finally the price to earning ratio of the stock be not so much overvalued that it leaves no room for further growth. You should always look for stocks with attractive pe valuations and what is your opportunity cost.

World's largest gold reserves

Here is the list of countries with the largest gold reserves in the world :

Data : As at January 2015 (based on World gold council data)
Source : Wikipedia

1. USA : 8133.5 tonnes

2. Germany : 3384.2 tonnes

3. Italy : 2451.8 tonnes

4. France : 2435.4 tonnes

5. Russia : 1206.8 tonnes

6. China : 1054.1 tonnes

7. Switzerland : 1040 tonnes

8. Japan : 765.2 tonnes

9. Netherlands : 612.5 tonnes

10. India : 557.7 tonnes

World's top 10 companies by market capitalisation

These companies are the Stock markets biggest gems. List of top 10 companies by market capitalisation :

List up to date as of 31 december, 2014.
Source : wikipedia.org

1. Apple : 647.36 billion $'s (USA)

2. Exxon Mobil : 391.48 billion $'s (USA)

3. Microsoft : 382.88 billion $'s (USA)

4. Berkshire Hathaway : 370.65 billion $'s (USA)

5. Google : 329.77 billion $'s (USA)

6. Petrochina : 305.54 billion $'s (CHINA)

7. Johnson & Johnson : 292.70 billion $'s (USA)

8. Wells Fargo : 284.39 billion $'s (USA)

9. Wal-Mart : 276.81 billion $'s (USA)

10. ICBC : 271.15 billion $'s (CHINA)

Apple

Apple a 700 billion dollar company, how far it is to be a trillion dollar company. See this article.

Article

Gold

Gold is currently trading at 1226 dollar/oz levels.

News
Central banks looking to buy gold
Russia on gold

Stocks trading at insane pe ratios

Here are some stocks from the US Stock markets that are trading at really high price to earning ratios:

1. Facebook (FB) :  pe ratio: 68.35

2. Adobe systems (ADBE) : pe ratio: 137.28

3. Autodesk (ADSK) : pe ratio: 110.17

4. Alexion pharmaceuticals (ALXN) : pe ratio: 54.11

5. Avago technologies (AVGO) : pe ratio: 108.34

6. Celgene corp (CELG) : pe ratio: 50.28

7. Cerner corporation (CERN) : pe ratio: 53.97

8. eBay (EBAY) : pe ratio: 1493.78

9. Equinix (EQIX) : pe ratio: 80.70

10. Illumina inc (ILMN) : pe ratio: 81.86