The effects of the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020 still has a notable influence on financial market trends in 2021. Some sectors experienced losses while some shot in profits. Some sectors may recover just well within a short period. Some aspects may take a longer time to change. The important question is how does this play out moving forward in the 2021 financial scene?
Rise of bitcoins
Bitcoins are among the recent trends in financial markets. The adoption of bitcoin is challenging popular currencies like the dollar. Bitcoin is a means of exchange and a store of wealth. Many people are choosing to invest in bitcoin because of its high liquidity. Recently there has been an increased demand for bitcoin in the market. According to Statista, the price of bitcoin was above $60, 000 in February and April 2021. The prices from May to August are in the range of $35, 750 to $53, 260.
Forex trade
Current forex trading news display more people are embracing and learning forex trading. Forex trade is a means to extra income, side hustling, and a way to occupy free time. More people are taking on the idea of having a non-physical source of income. The younger generation of millennials and Gen-Z are embracing online forex trading at a high rate.
People access available trading apps. These apps offer guidance to new traders. The readily available resources encourage more people to participate. There are online courses available through which, interested individuals can learn a lot about forex trading. According to statistics forex is the largest financial market operating 24 hours per day. In 2021 an average of $6.6 trillion is traded on forex markets daily.
Banking
The banking sector will likely embrace the digitization of operations customers undergo. Banks need to have options allowing customers to access money to make payments at the comfort of wherever they are. The future is going to be filled with technology and every industry is trying to adapt to the new normal.
Customer preferences call for adopting artificial intelligence and other digital mechanisms in the banking sector. More people want to access funds without having to show up physically at an ATM or the bank. Credit quality and earnings in banks are expected to improve in this second half of the year from the 2020 blow.
Stock market
Stock markets in the US have seen a steady improvement. Sellers of stocks are companies providing shares, which people invest in through purchasing. Buyers can invest in shares through stockbrokers. Leading stock exchange operators in 2021 according to Statista are NYSE and NASDAQ in the US followed by China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Exchanges.
Dividends are also improving in 2021. In 2020, most companies cut down on the frequency of paying out dividends due to the presiding economic difficulties. More people are buying shares in 2021 as well with the larger percentage of buyers being women.
In different sectors
The 2020 digital transformation is still underway in 2021. Different businesses and industries are still working from home and interacting digitally with clients and employees.
Entertainment industry
Online entertainment and TV programmers have a bigger audience now. Some of the changes adopted in 2020 are here to stay. The global video streaming market in 2020 was approximately $50.11 billion. In 2021, the projection of this market size is at $59.14. Physical events are beginning to take root again in 2021. They are existing alongside the virtual forms. More video stream companies are coming up with competitive subscription bundles to attract more consumers.
Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality sectors
These sectors suffered the effects of the pandemic tremendously with lockdowns across the continents. Air travel was banned. There were many unexpected cancellations of flights and scheduled events, which people had already prepared for. The sectors are set to improve as countries open up for travel.
Countries recovering well from Corona Virus, with fewer numbers of reported infections are likely to bounce back faster than those with high numbers of infected people especially for these sectors of their economy. Countries with more vaccinated people are likely to have fewer to no new infections in the near future.
People are likely to engage in local travel, road trips, and site seeing within their locations and countries as opposed to travelling abroad. The screening and testing for the virus is part of the travelling process right now. Many people opt to travel within their locations to avoid the process. There is also an increase in staycations, booking, and paying for all services online or using apps. These aspects are still popular in 2021 after the pandemic.
Restaurants and food outlets embraced working with delivery companies to deliver food. They also made their websites order friendly for customers to order and pay for food online. Most of these outlets have now added the order and delivery option for their customers permanently making them reach a wider customer base in 2021. They also adopted the use of video and audio to showcase virtual tours of their premises as part of their advertising.
2021 is a time when the economy is recovering from the effects of the pandemic. Strategic planning and embracing new trends is important for various industries to regain footing in the market. People are still coming to terms with the changes the virus brought with it. They are adjusting to the new normal with a view to keep safe and maintain all regulations set in place.
A financial market trend can either be an uptrend or a downtrend. An uptrend can be an increase in price or activity while a downtrend is a decrease. An upward trend encourages traders to buy and profit from the high price. Traders sell more when the trend is downward to minimize losses. According to the world bank, global growth is going to be at 5.6% in 2021. Developed countries will experience significant recovery from the pandemic effects and developing countries will struggle to regain a stable momentum, which they will achieve with time.
