The following chart shows the annual returns for individual developed countries from 199 thru 2018. Since 2008, the US has been the best performing market for four years. In 2018, global export-driven countries like Germany and Canada were the worst performers.Overall the chart below shows the importance of diversification since no country is the consistent top performer year after year.
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Note” Returns shown are in US dollars.
Source: Lazard Asset Management
The production and sales of weapons is one of the top industries in the world. In more recent year, Private Military Contractors(PMCs) have also flourished to offer all types of military services. In 2017, the global arms business topped $398 billion according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
A few interesting points noted in the research report published by SIPRI:
The Top 100 Global Arms-Producing and Military Services Companies based on data from 2017 are shown in the tables below:
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Source: SIPRI
Some of the major US companies in the above list are:
Disclosure: No Positions
The Bernina Express is the World’s Most Beautiful Railway line operated by Rhaetian Railway company connecting Chur in Switzerland to Poschiavo in Switzerland and Tirano in Italy. The 10-minute video below offers some of the dramatic views along this route:
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Foreign workers remit money to their home countries for many reasons including supporting families, saving for retirement, investments, etc. The global remittance industry is big with billions of dollars flowing across countries. The top three remittance receiving countries in 2018 were: India, China and Mexico.
Remittance funds are very important to some countries. For example, remittance funds account for more than 30% of the GDP of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Haiti and 28% for Nepal.
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Source: RFE/RL