Defense stocks were already outperforming. How the Iran conflict changes their outlook
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A 30-Year-Old Asks Where's The Best Place To Invest $5,000 Per Month: 'Finally In A Place Where I Can Steadily Invest'
Many people will tell you to invest money if you want to build a nest egg and retire early. Putting your money to work in the stock market can allow it to multiply much faster than the cash in your savings account. However, the stock market can also feel overwhelming when you are getting started. That's why a 30-year-old who's ready to invest $5,000 per month turned to the Investing subreddit for some advice. He wanted to know the best place to put money and was eager to hear everyone's thoughts. "[I'm] finally in a place where I can steadily invest," he stated. Redditors shared their suggestions in the comments. These were some of the top responses. Don't Miss: Maximize saving for your retirement and cut down on taxes: Invest early in CancerVax's breakthrough tech aiming to disrupt a $231B market. Most Redditors recommended ETFs that tracked the S&P 500. This benchmark holds 500 of the largest and most profitable U.S. corporations. The index periodically adds and removes stocks from its holdings to trim the laggards and focus on promising stocks that fulfill the S&P 500's requirements. The index gives investors broad exposure to numerous industries. Tech stocks make up the highest percentage of the fund's total assets, with the Magnificent Seven stocks playing a key part in the S&P 500's overall performance. You don't have to know much about investing to get started with the S&P 500. If the economy continues to grow, the S&P 500 will continue to grow with it. You don't have to risk it all with a single stock pick or monitor a bunch of holdings when an ETF that follows the S&P 500's performance can work for most people. Trending: Invest early in CancerVax's breakthrough tech aiming to disrupt a $231B market. Redditors also recommended ETFs that follow the Nasdaq-100 due to its tech-heavy concentration. Tech stocks may produce outsized gains in the years ahead due to artificial intelligence. Although investors have heard about this technology for years, it's still in the early innings. Even without artificial intelligence, the Nasdaq-100 and other tech-heavy benchmarks have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past few years. For instance, the Nasdaq-100 is up by roughly 118% over the past five years, while the S&P 500 has only gained 97% during the same stretch. The Nasdaq-100 also outpaces the S&P 500 year-to-date and over the past year. When the stock market rallies, funds that track the Nasdaq-100 tend to grow faster than funds that track the S&P the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 are two popular benchmarks for ETF investors, Redditors emphasized the importance of investing in low-cost ETFs. While each investor has a different definition of a low-cost ETF, you'll be OK if you have an ETF with an expense ratio below 0.20%. You'll get the lowest expense ratios if you invest in passively managed ETFs. These funds follow a predetermined benchmark instead of doing anything fancy like selling covered calls to increase the yield. You can find some passively-managed ETFs with expense ratios below 0.10%. The expense ratio indicates how much money you must pay the fund manager to keep your money in the ETF. This expense happens automatically within the fund, so you'll never see the money directly leave your account. If you have $10,000 in a fund with a 0.10% expense ratio, you only have to pay a reasonable $10 to keep your money in the fund each year. However, if that same fund had a 1% expense ratio, you would have to pay $100 per year for that fund. Investors are willing to pay extra for funds that significantly outperform the market, but most actively-managed funds don't hold up to the S&P 500. It's better to invest in low-cost ETFs than it is to try your luck with an actively-managed ETF with a high expense ratio. Read Next: GoSun's Breakthrough Rooftop EV Charger Already Has 2,000+ Units Reserved — Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article A 30-Year-Old Asks Where's The Best Place To Invest $5,000 Per Month: 'Finally In A Place Where I Can Steadily Invest' originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Boston Globe
7 hours ago
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An isolated Iran looks to BRICS for allies, testing a new world order
Behind the scenes, divisions over how harshly BRICS should condemn the strikes have tested the alliance's ambitions to rebalance global power dynamics by offering a counterweight to the West. Advertisement 'There is no alignment whatsoever on Iran,' said Oliver Stuenkel, an expert on BRICS and an associate professor at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, a Brazilian university. 'So the solution was this very inoffensive position.' BRICS was founded in 2009 with the goal of increasing the influence of the world's biggest emerging economies. The group has since grown to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Unlike NATO, where military cooperation is central, the group has focused on an economic and geopolitical agenda, though it has struggled to make significant strides on many of its concrete goals, serving so far as a mostly symbolic alliance. Advertisement Analysts expect Iran to use the upcoming summit as an opportunity to shore up more forceful support from the group, particularly in a communique expected to be issued at the end of the meeting. Iran has confirmed it will send a delegation to Brazil, though it is not yet clear who will represent the country or whether it will hold bilateral meetings with members such as Russia and China. 'The optics of being part of the BRICS is very important' for Iran right now, said Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House. But within the group, diverging views on the recent attacks on Iran have highlighted the challenges posed by the alliance's rapid expansion, adding members with competing visions of the bloc's role on the global stage. 'It does make consensus more difficult to have more countries around the table,' Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr., an economist and former vice president of the BRICS development bank. China and Russia see BRICS as a way to challenge the United States' influence on geopolitics and decision-making, and have pushed the group to grow in size. Russia called the US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites an 'unprovoked act of aggression,' while China urged 'restraint' and dialogue. Brazil, which is hosting the summit, condemned the attacks, while trying to avoid souring its relations with the United States, its second-biggest trading partner after China. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has resisted pressure from Russia and China to position BRICS as an anti-Western alliance, analysts said, instead casting the bloc as a way to give developing nations more say. Advertisement 'Brazil is not looking for trouble,' Stuenkel said. 'It is much closer to the United States than to Iran. It has no reason to buy into this fight.' India, another country with close ties to the United States, has also diverged on issues such as the Iran strike. South Africa and Ethiopia have been similarly cautious about alienating the West. This is not the first time that the group has experienced internal division in the face of conflict. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the alliance struggled to agree on a common stance, critiquing the West's imposition of sanctions on Moscow without addressing Russia's role in the war. President Vladimir Putin will not attend the gathering in Rio in person but will join virtually, Russia's state media reported. There is a warrant for his arrest related to the invasion of Ukraine that was issued by the International Criminal Court, to which Brazil is a signatory. In a first, China's leader, Xi Jinping, will also skip the summit, after meeting with Lula in Beijing in May and attending the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro last year. China's premier, Li Qiang, will travel to Brazil instead. Brazil holds the BRICS presidency, and Lula had hoped to cement his nation's image as a leader in pursuing an agenda focused on fairness in global governance and financial systems. But with the conflict involving Iran as a backdrop, analysts say the group will have a hard time forging a united front. 'I just hope we don't see the progress made last year being undone,' said Batista, the economist. Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
7 hours ago
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3 Software Stocks to Keep an Eye On
From commerce to culture, software is digitizing every aspect of our lives. This secular theme makes SaaS companies attractive investment candidates but also comes with higher valuations that cause volatility. Unfortunately, the rich prices have haunted them over the past six months as the industry has shed 2.3%. This performance was discouraging since the S&P 500 returned 5%. However, some businesses can support their premium valuations with superior earnings growth, and our mission at StockStory is to help you find them. Keeping that in mind, here are three resilient software stocks at the top of our wish list. Market Cap: $73.9 billion Founded in 2013 by three French engineers who spent decades working for Oracle, Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW) provides a data warehouse-as-a-service in the cloud that allows companies to store large amounts of data and analyze it in real time. Why Do We Like SNOW? Billings have averaged 26.5% growth over the last year, showing it's securing new contracts that could potentially increase in value over time High switching costs and customer loyalty are evident in its net revenue retention rate of 126% Expected revenue growth of 24.4% for the next year suggests its market share will rise Snowflake is trading at $221.49 per share, or 15.4x forward price-to-sales. Is now the right time to buy? Find out in our full research report, it's free. Market Cap: $1.36 billion Started by Oleg Shchegolev while still in university, Semrush (NYSE:SEMR) is a software-as-a-service platform that helps companies optimize their search engine and content marketing efforts. Why Are We Fans of SEMR? Winning new contracts that can potentially increase in value as its billings growth has averaged 24.8% over the last year Projected revenue growth of 18.7% for the next 12 months suggests its momentum from the last three years will persist Prominent and differentiated software results in a premier gross margin of 82.1% Semrush's stock price of $9.15 implies a valuation ratio of 2.9x forward price-to-sales. Is now a good time to buy? See for yourself in our in-depth research report, it's free. Market Cap: $4.48 billion Founded in Chennai, India in 2010 with the idea of creating a 'fresh' helpdesk product, Freshworks (NASDAQ: FRSH) offers a broad range of software targeted at small and medium-sized businesses. Why Are We Positive On FRSH? Ability to secure long-term commitments with customers is evident in its 19.7% ARR growth over the last year Superior software functionality and low servicing costs result in a stellar gross margin of 84.4% Operating margin expanded by 9.2 percentage points over the last year as it scaled and became more efficient At $15.40 per share, Freshworks trades at 5.4x forward price-to-sales. Is now the time to initiate a position? Find out in our full research report, it's free. Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election sent major indices to all-time highs, but stocks have retraced as investors debate the health of the economy and the potential impact of tariffs. While this leaves much uncertainty around 2025, a few companies are poised for long-term gains regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate, like our Top 5 Strong Momentum Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Find your next big winner with StockStory today
