Mercedes-Benz has unveiled a revolutionary electric car developed in partnership with Tesla Motors. The new electric car is a version of Mercedes’ B-class hatchback, which was just released in the United States last month. 

 

The 2014 Mercedes B-class Electric Drive will be released first in the United States before reaching other markets. The new car will go on sale early next year in just a few states but will become widely available later on. 

 

This new car is a much small version of the Mercedes brand that Americans have grown accustom to. Currently the smallest Mercedes on the market is the C-class; however, the luxury automaker will soon begin selling the smaller CLA-model and even smaller cars are expected to be available in the states within the next couple of years. 

California-based electric car maker Telsa Motors agreed to help Mercedes develop and manufacture parts of the new car’s electric drive system, including the lithium ion battery, electric motors, on-board chargers and other electronic equipment associated with the vehicle. Besides making its own vehicle, the Telsa Model S sedan, the company already manufacturers electric drive components for the battery-powered Toyota Rav4 EV. 

 

The Mercedes Electric Drive vehicle possesses a “quick charge” feature that gives the vehicle a range of 60 miles after just a 2-hour charge. With a full charge, which takes roughly 7 hours to complete, the vehicle will travel roughly 115 miles. The car is equipped with a 134 horsepower electric motor that allows the vehicle to accelerate from zero to 60 miles an hour in under 10 seconds. 

 

The new Mercedes will come with a number of safety and luxury features including active parking assistance and a system that helps drivers stay in their lanes. 

Mercedes already offers a version of the B-class powered by Hydrogen fuel; these fuel cells turn hydrogen into water and electricity inside the vehicle. 

 

Mercedes’ parent company, Daimler, also offers the Smart Electric Drive, which is a two-seater that is set to go on sale in the United States in May of this year. The electric version of the Mercedes’ high-performance SLS AMG sports vehicle, which features a 751-horsepower electric motor, is hit the market within a year, although the U.S. release date has to be affirmed.

 

 

The India-based advertising agency that created an ad showing three women tied up in the back of a Ford has fire several of the employees responsible for creating the images. 

 

The cartoonish advertisement, produced by WPP unit JWT, were not officially part of a paid advertisement campaign; however, they struck a nerve as the nation of India institutes new regulations to protect women following a rash of high-profile gang attacks and rapes. 

 

One of the most disturbing of the images depicts Silvio Berlusconi the disgraced prime minister of Italy driving a Ford with three tied-up females in the trunk. Another of the images depicts Paris Hilton driving a Ford Figo with what appears to be the three Kardashian sisters tied-up in the trunk. A third image of the campaign depicts three male race-car drivers tied up in a similar vehicle. 

 

“After a detailed internal investigation, we have taken the appropriate disciplinary action with those responsible for these images,” the company stated in an announcement. “These were necessary steps to ensure that both the right procedures and oversight are strictly enforced so that this will not happen again.”

 

A spokesperson for the advertising agency declined to mention how many employees had been fired over the distasteful advertisements. The ads were also no published nor seen by senior officials at the agency or Ford. 

 

“We regret this incident and fully support our partners that it should have never happened,” the automaker industry said this week in a prepared statement. “The advertisements are contrary to the standards of decency and professionalism within the Ford Company and our agency partners.”

 

WPP also released a statement claiming that it “deeply regrets the existence of the distasteful advertisements.” 

 

The Ford Motor Company unveiled the Figo, a sub-compact vehicle in 2009 to be produced in India and exported to Africa and other Asian countries. 

 

Source: Associated Press

 

As a term, investment holds many different meanings in finance and business. With regards to finance, an investment is any asset or instrument that an investor purchases or sells with the expectation of earning a monetary profit. Financial investments, upon analysis, are attached with a high degree of security for the principal amount (the total amount invested), as well as a security of return within an expected period of time. The practice of thorough analysis is a necessary component of financial investing—all investors must practice prudence when investing. 

Investing is related to deferring consumption or saving. In business, investment occurs when a producer purchases a physical or working good, such as inventory or equipment, in the hope of improving future sales. This behavior is distinct from financial investing; business investing uses money to purchase a good that is re-sold at a higher price in the future, while financial investing uses money to purchase an abstract right or proof of ownership in the hopes of making more money. Common examples of financial investments include the purchase of stocks, bonds or options. 

As an investor, your main considerations—besides choosing which investment types are right for you—are found in the areas of taxes, inflation, asset allocation and risk management. It is always desirable to maintain a diversified portfolio. If you are overly exposed to one asset class or to a particular industry you will be susceptible to tremendous losses. 

For first time investors, it is essential to understand the basics. Before you go out and throw your money around you should research the different types of investment. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, property, currency and options are all popular forms of investment that individuals procure to generate profits. That being said, like all forms of investment, each vehicle is attached with risk and variables that influence your rate of return. 

The three basic asset categories concerning investments are as follows: cash, bonds and stocks.

Cash: The primary advantage of cash is that funds are liquid. Cash equivalents will also allow investors to secure interest or dividends. Forms of cash investments include Certificates of Deposit (CDs) and Treasury bills. 

Bonds: These types of debt instruments are issued by government agencies or corporations to finance certain aspects of their operation. When you invest in a bond, you are lending money to the issuer, entitling to secure interest on the loan and a guarantee that your principal (original amount lent) will be repaid when the bond matures. Bonds come in a variety of forms, including municipal bonds (issued by towns or districts), corporate bonds (issued by companies) or treasury bonds (issued by the federal government). Bonds, because of their relative safeness, are attached with fixed rates of return that are considerably less than the potential profit offered by stocks or other investment strategies. That being said, the rate of return for a bond investment is typically higher than certificates of deposits or savings accounts. 

Stocks: Shares of stock represent ownership in a corporation. Investment advice for beginners will state that investing in stocks should not be taken lightly—due diligence is necessary to secure a solid portfolio. Stocks will fall under multiple categories depending on the prospect of the company, the size,  and the state of the markets. Categories for stocks include: value stocks (high potential for growth), growth stocks and large, mid, and small-capitalization stocks (these categories relate to the size of the company). 

Over the long run, stocks have historically outperformed all other investment types. Investment advice will dictate that investing in the S&P 500, over the long haul, is the safest and most profitable return on investment (average of 9.8% from 1926 to 2010). The next best performing asset class would be bonds: long-term U.S. treasury bonds return 5.4% on average over the same timeframe. 

The biggest determiner of stock price—and your rate of return—is earnings. Over the short-run, stock prices fluctuated based on a number of factors (from interest rates to investor confidence), however, over the long-run, what matters most are earnings. 

Although stocks may seem like the best investment strategy, over the short term they are particularly risky. Stocks are highly elastic not only to the underlying company of which the stock represents, but also, to the macro-economy. Dips in company earnings or negative macro outlooks could plummet holdings. Given the frailty of the domestic and global markets, investing in stocks is currently risky—in 2009, stocks overall lost almost 40%. However, with risk comes reward. Although the stock market is far riskier than other fixed-income investments–that typically guarantee a percentage rate of return–investing in stocks will yield higher profits if the stocks perform well. 

The biggest determiner of stock price—and your rate of return—are earnings. Over the short-run, stock prices fluctuated based on a number of factors (from interest rates to investor confidence), however, over the long-run, what matters most are earnings. 

As stated above, stocks are far riskier investment types than bonds or other fixed-income assets. A bad year for bonds would be a minimal hit to the stock market. For example, in 1994, the worst year for bonds in recent history, Treasury securities fell only 1.8%.

Risk refers to the possibility that you may lose all or all of your investment. Several factors should influence your willingness to take on risk, including your age, financial situation, financial goals and your time horizon. Before you dive-in to the markets, investing for beginners will state that you must first determine your risk tolerance. To do this, evaluate the following questions:

• Are you willing to tolerate greater volatility for the chance of securing higher returns?

• Do you place a greater emphasis on quality, with diminished risk?

Inflation and taxes are two important considerations that must always stay on the mind of investors. Inflation is the perpetual increase in the cost of goods and services. For your income to grow in “real terms” your investments must outpace the rate of inflation. Moreover, solid investment advice will always consider the effect of taxation. There are an assortment of investment vehicles  that provide tax benefits; these investments are typically tax-free, tax-deferred or tax-deductible.  

Financial literacy is the knowledge and understanding of financial products and money that individuals can apply to a variety financial decisions in order to make more informed decisions about how exactly to handle their personal finances. Ultimately, the purpose of financial literacy is provide individuals with the knowledge of financial principles needed to make a well-informed financial decision and to utilize financial products that positively impact one’s financial well-being. 

Many individual countries understand the necessity and importance of their citizens understanding financial literacy and created various task forces to examine their populations with the intention of providing financial literacy outreach and education. A common environment to see financial education literacy is in high schools, where students can be offered the chance to attend some brief courses that can prepare them to properly manage their finances after completing school.

Financial literacy includes a variety of different areas of understanding. Becoming educated about money and exactly how it works is a vital aspect, as is having a good understanding of financial products such as loans, insurance, or credit. It is also important to understand other financial or money issues, such as credit issues, going into debt, paying off debt, tracking money, budgeting, avoiding banking fees, getting lower interest rates, buying insurance, planning for retirement and so on.

Financial literacy aims to discuss a few key topics that can help secure financial security throughout a lifetime.

• Understand key financial products that one may need throughout a life, such bank accounts, retirement savings plans, mortgages and fundamental investments such as mutual funds, bonds, and stocks. 

• Understand basic financial concepts such as investment return, risk, compound interest, diversification, etc.

• Discuss financial and money issues that are usually left unspoken

• Make good financial decisions about spending, saving, and managing debt during key moments such as receiving an education, getting a new a job, purchasing a house, beginning a family, or preparing for retirement 

• Accommodate to changes that affect financial well-being in a prepared and competent matter such as changes in the general economy like rising unemployment, collapsing financial markets, or threat rapid inflation 

While it is impossible to suddenly become extremely financially literate overnight, it is important to be patient and continue educating yourself on financial literacy. Resources such as books, newspapers, and magazines can be used to gain more information about money and finance. But just reading alone is not enough to drastically improve your financial literacy. It is important to make changes, to your financial lifestyle. Trying to live more frugally, planning a budget, saving for emergencies, carefully taking out loans, or knowing your credit score are some small ways to be more financially literate.

There are also man differential financial planning and investing classes offered locally which are designed to improve your financial literacy. If a class is not possible, a good alternative is to simply ask someone questions if they are very financially literate. This can be done in person, or through various online means, such as online forms or discussions.

Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, is the market value of all final services and goods that are produced within a country in a specific period. The GDP looks the market value to arrive at a value which is then used to examine the growth rate of the economy as well as the overall economic health of the country being looked at. As a measure of the economy, the GDP can be a very useful way to measure the economy.

GDP can be measured using three different techniques. Theoretically, all three of these techniques should result in the same number. 

Income measure: The total value or amount of income that is mostly generated in terms of wages and profits.

Output measure: The total value of the services and goods produced by all different sectors of the economy such as construction, agriculture, service sector, government, manufacturing, and energy.

Expenditure measure: The value of the services and goods purchased by government, households, buildings, and investment in machinery as well as the value of exports subtracted by the imports

When a GDP of a country is calculated, the value includes all government and private spending, services and goods produced, as well as exports. The GDP is then adjusted for inflation and imports to arrive at a value which is believed to reflect the total sum of the country’s services and goods accurately. The GDP may be shown as a bulk number, but it is typically converted into a value representing GDP per capita, which creates a number that reflects the average per citizen. A high value for per capita GDP is associated with the country having overall improvements in the standards of living.

One major advantage of the GDP is that since it is computed in a very standardized and clear manner, it is simple to compare previous GDP values to judge the health and strength of the economy. Economists are also able to convert GDP values from different nations to compare the economies of the two countries with each other. The key goal with GDP is to quantify and show that a country’s economy has improved since the previous year. Many nations issue more than one GDP estimate in the year to give people a rough idea of just how well the economies is doing.

One of the major problems with the GDP is that the value does not account for other gray and black markets. While this issue may not seem like a major one, some countries have extremely trafficked black markets which may actually represent a significant portion of the GDP. The GDP value also fails to account for the distribution of wealth of the country, with GDP per capita value hiding economic disparities that may exist. For example, the United States has a very high GDP per capita, but a large disparity between the poorest and wealthiest Americans.

GDP values also do not account for the quality of the services and goods produced, or the reason for why they were produced. An example of this is how a country recovering from a national disaster may spend a large amount of money making repairs, which increases the GDP, but the disaster is not necessarily linked to the country’s economic growth. 

GDP per capita is a way to measure how prosperous a country in respect to each of its citizens. To understand what GDP per capita, it is first necessary to understand GDP, or Gross Domestic Product. Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, is the market value of all final services and goods that are produced within a country in a specific period. The GDP looks the market value to arrive at a value which is then used to examine the growth rate of the economy as well as the overall economic health of the country being looked at. As a measure of the economy, the GDP can be a very useful way to measure the economy.

While GDP is an aggregate figure that does not consider the varying sizes of countries, GDP per capita looks at the value resulting from dividing the total GDP by the country’s resident population on a given date. A helpful value can be obtained alternatively by GDP per citizen, where the total value of the GDP is divided by the amount of citizens that live in the country on a specific date. GDP per citizen in usually pretty similar to GDP per capita in many countries, but can vary largely in countries that high very high amounts of temporary foreign workers. 

Although GDP per capita is not technically a measurement of the current standard of living in the economy, it is often used as an indicator of it. Similarly, while GDP per capita is not a country’s measure of personal income, it can be used to make observations about it. The biggest advantage of GDP per capita being used as an indicator of the standard of living is that GDP per capita is measured widely, consistently, and frequently. GDP per capita is measured in that most countries frequently enough to provide data about the country’s GDP on a quarterly basis, which allows for trends to be observed quickly. 

The major disadvantage of using GDP per capita is that the value is not a measure of the standard of living in the country. Rather, GDP is meant to be a measure of the nation’s total economic activity, which is an entirely different concept.

The rational for using GDP per capita as a proxy for standard-of-living is not that it acts as a good indicator of an absolute level of standard of living in the country, but rather that the living standards often move with the per-capita GDP, so that any changes in living standards are detected readily through changes in the GDP per capita.

Proponents of GDP per capita as a metric of social well-being often argue that the value is a neutral measure and displays what are able to do, rather than what we should do. This idea is compatible with the point that different individuals have different inclinations and different feelings on what well-being qualifies as. 

 A Security Certificate is a legal instrument that is granted and authorized by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); ‘SEC’ is an acronym for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is the regulatory body mandated by the Federal government of the United States employed to investigate and regulate matters involving financial and investment activity of the public, commercial market.

A Security Certificate is required in order to authorize the legality and recognition innate within any or all transfers of securities or financial instruments undertaken within the trade and exchange amongst the realm of the public, open market – another name for the stock market.

Securities are defined as financial instruments that are both traded and exchanged within the realm of the public, commercial market; activities latent within this market rely heavily on transfer and purchase of securities. In contrast to money or hard currency, securities cannot be used as currency within a commercial setting; this means that while securities can be traded and exchanged within the setting of a financial market, individuals in possession of securities are not permitted to use securities as legal tender.

Yet, within individual securities exists an individual monetary value, which is valued both as per its immediate value, as well as its eventual value; eventual value with regard to securities exists as a result of the capacity for the increase or decrease with regard to its valuation.

A Security Certificate serves a variety of purposes, which range in classification from the regulation of the transfer of monetary instruments, and well as the governmental mandating of financial activity; the attainment of a Security Certificate not only expresses the latent legality within a financial transaction involving securities, but also commits that transaction to official record. Within the following circumstances, a Security Certificate is typically requires in the event of financial transfer:

A Security Certificate acts as a contract upon whose participation solidifies the expressed consent of both parties involved within the transfer of this particular security; a Security Certificate is mandated by the Sec, which requires the adherence to any and all statutes and stipulations conveyed by the innate legality evident within the wording of a particular Security Certificate.

Upon the transfer of securities, a Security Certificate is required by the SEC in order for the completion of the process; this requirement is also imperative with regard to approval of the SEC with regard to the transfer of individual securities – the receipt of a Security Certificate allows for the conveyance of legality within an individual transfer.

The receipt of a Security Certificate can also provide for both solace and ‘peace of mind’ with regard to the individuals or entities involved in such a transfer; in the event that the transfer of a security requires officiating, the SEC files every Security Certificate awarded within its archives – this results is the official substantiation of an individual transfer as a result of the awarding of a Security Certificate

When discussing trading of financial instruments one of the indicators that a trader will look at is the resistance and support levels.  Resistance levels are those price levels that indicate that a stock has hit a virtual ceiling and the price will begin to come down.  Resistance in a stock trading situation is kind of like an upside down trampoline.  When the resistance level is reached it will cause a “bouncing” affect where the price of the financial instrument will begin a downward decline.  

The opposite of resistance is support.  A support level is a level where once a financial instrument drops to a specific level the trend of the financial instrument will indicate that that reaching that price level will cause the stock to start an upward tick.  Resistance levels are found by looking at financial instruments closing prices over the course of a number of months or years.  When you find a price range that tends to trigger a downturn in stock price it can be used as a resistance level.  Once a stock hits its resistance level it has a tendency to take a downturn until it reaches its support level.  The support level will do the opposite and cause the stock price to go up.  

Traders tend to use the resistance and support levels as an indicator of when to buy and sell their financial instruments.  When a financial instruments trading price is rising and about to reach a resistance level it will usually be treated by the investor as a time to sell the instrument.  In contrast, when a stock price is dropping the investor will wait until the stock price reaches a support level and buy the stock.  

Just as in any other form of trading these resistance and support levels are not definite.  Even though there is a pattern that a trader will follow in making these decisions the stock price may reach the resistance level and keep going until it hits a new resistance level and is pushed back down.  In the converse a stock price may drop farther than its support level until it reaches a lower support level and is bounced back upwards.

MACD stands for Moving Average Convergence Divergence.  This is a mathematical tool that traders use to predict fluctuations in the stock market or other markets involving financial instruments.  The MACD is comprised of two different Exponential Moving Averages, one long term and the other short term, for the same stock.  An exponential moving average is a moving average where the earlier dates in the moving average are weighed less than those that are more recent. 

When creating a MACD the longer Exponential Moving Average is usually around 26 days while the shorter Exponential Moving Average is 12 days.  The two EMAs are plotted on a graph with the resulting EMAs hovering close to each other around zero.  The MACD on a chart consists of a MACD signal line, the Exponential Moving Average and the MACD histogram.  The MACD histogram is a bar graph that charts the differences, positive or negative, in value between the 26 day EMA and the 12 day EMA.  

MACD is often used by traders to reach determinations on when to get involved with a stock or when to exit from trading in that asset.  When the short term, 12 day, Exponential Moving Average rises above the slower moving long term, 26 day, Exponential Moving Average it is called a convergent movement.  This is often an indicator that positive trends show it is a good time to invest in that particular asset.  When the short term Exponential Moving Average is lower than the long term exponential moving average then you have a divergent movement.  This trend is usually used as an indicator of it being a good time to sell the asset .

Studies seem to indicate  that the MACD is not a reliable tool for entry or exit signaling, like it is supposed to.  Many times it is found that the MACD will remain steady and upon a slight divergence it will indicate an exit signal where in reality it is just a minor lull that is, in fact, a minor bump prior to a major up tick.

A moving average is a tool used by investors in the stock market, and the purchase and sale of other financial instruments, that track trends and momentum in the market.  A moving average is created by taking a set number of data points, representing the closing price of a particular stock on a particular day, and averaging them to create vector showing the way the financial instrument has traded over a period of time.  For example, if you wanted to create a moving average for a particular stock over the past month you would take the closing price of the stock for the last 30 days; add them together; and divide by 30.  This will give you the moving average. 

If you were to continue to add to this average over a course of time the data points would become more and more diluted and tend to make the average meaningless.  The moving average corrects this by deleting the last data point in the sequence for every addition to the moving average.  For example, if you have a 30 day moving average, on the second day of your moving average you will delete day 1 as you add day 31.  In how the definition of “moving” average comes about.  

An investor can create a moving average for any amount of time he, or she, wishes.  The goal in creating different moving averages of different lengths is to track short and long term trending of a particular financial instrument.  Moving averages at or below 20 days are categorized as short term moving averages.  Those between 20 and 100 days are considered to be medium term where above 100 are long term.  Depending on the type of trading you are involved in you will want to design your moving average in a way that will be most beneficial to you.  A day trader may want a moving average that recomputes every 50 minutes where someone looking at blue chip stocks may want to look at trends over a 300 day period.

There are two main types of moving averages.  There is the simple moving average, SMA, and the exponential moving average, EMA.  The simple moving average is prevalent amongst beginning investors in that it is, by its name, simple to compute.  The Simple Moving Average is computed by weighing each data point equally.  In contrast, the Exponential Moving Average is computed by weighing the most recent data points more heavily than those from farther in the past.  The Exponential Moving Average is considered to be more reliable and better reflects current market trends.