The question about what moves the tock market is quite complicated. There are several visible and invisible factors that cause the rise and fall in stock market. There are several issues on political, economic and social level that include inflation, change in interest rates, earnings of the people, oil and energy prices, war, peace and terrorism, political and domestic situation and so on. While some of these factors may have long-term consequences for the stock market, others may have only short-term implications.

What, however, drives the market crazy is the uncertainty factor. What the stock market is most sensitive to is the surprises. When something unusual occurs in the country, the stock market immediately reacts to it. Stock market radars are extremely sensitive to changes.

This can be illustrated by an example. If the Federal Reserve Board's Open Market Committee-Fed- thinks of raising the interest rates by one quarter percent, the stock market will not react much. If contrary to the expectation, the Fed raises the interest rate by one-half percent, the market will feel shocked.

So any news which can surprise the market can rattle it, be it on the economic front, terrorist attack and similar other incident. If the news is really good, it also shows its impact in form of rise in stock prices.

The cumulative effect of these factors, whether good or bad, creates market phases such as bulls phase, bears' phase or secular phase.

A bull market is also referred to as a bull run. A bull market is characterized by a rise in stock prices. It keeps most investors happy. It creates and strengthens their confidence and makes them optimistic about the returns on their investments. Therefore they tend to invest in stocks in the hope of making big in the near future.

A notable example of bull market was in the 1990s when the US and several international markets had a very happy time because the financial markets went up very rapidly. The US stock markets had a bull run from 1983 to 2007 except for brief periods of slumps.

Bear market is associated with fall in prices and lots of pessimism. Investors fear losses. A negative sentiment prevails in the market and investors want to sell their stocks fearing further downfall.

The most glaring example of bear phase in the history of United States was after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that continued from 1930 to 1932 generating what was called the Great Depression. A milder version of bear market occurred from about 1973 to 1982 when the economy became stagnant. It resulted in energy crisis and high unemployment in the early 1980s.

A bear market is often characterized by the constant price fluctuations. A bear market does not mean just a simple fall in stock prices. It may result in substantial price fall. Although you cannot give a clear definition of bear market, it is often characterized by a fall in price by around 20% in a period of two months. A recent example of bear market is current state stock markets of world in the year 2008.

A bear market should not be confused with a period of correction. Correction also results in fall in stock markets, but a period of correction is usually short lived. Moreover correction usually occurs during the bull phase. The price fall does not surpass 15-20%. The bear markets last longer and suffer much greater price falls from top to bottom.

A period of correction in stock prices is usually a welcome opportunity for smart stock market investors. They try to buy high value stocks when most people try to sell them away at reduced prices. The profit from their sales as soon as the correction period, which is usually short lived, is over.

When the stock market price shows downward trend, the analysts begin to debate whether it is actually a correction, a rally, or the start of a bear market or even a bull market. In any case it is usually impossible to arrive at any correct decision. In fact, whether the market is actually passing through a correction or a truly bear phase can be determined only after that phase is over.

It must, however, be noted that a bear market howsoever depressing it may be, rarely wipes out the real (inflation adjusted) gains made during the previous bull market. On the other hand the bulls that succeed the bears often make up for the real losses of any bear market.

Commodities Market is an upcoming and fiercely growing market after the Stock Market. In this, Multi-Commodities like Bullion (Gold, Silver), Cement, Chemicals, Cotton, Dry Fruits, Food Grains, Gur & Sugar, Iron & Steel, Jute & Jute Goods, Kirana, Metals, etc. are traded on a day to day basis. Interests of individual investors are catching on fast in this type of Exchange.

There are 3 National Exchanges for enabling the purchase and sale of commodities, futures and options. These are:

1. Multi-Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX)
2. National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange Ltd. (NCDEX)
3. National Multi-Commodity Exchange of India Ltd.

Under these 3 National Exchanges, there are a dozen active Bourses for trading, more than 2,000 brokers operating in 6,000 terminals and 10,000 active traders. All these are tracking the commodities prices round the clock. In the very First year of its commencement, Commodities Trading in India clocked an annual turnover of Rs.1400 Billion and is estimated to cross Rs.10,000 Billion during this fiscal alone.

The MCX has setup centres in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi for physical delivery of futures contracts in commodities. It plans to spread this network to Kolkata and Chennai. The NCDEX has recently launched in association with International Petroleum Exchange, London (IPE), the IPE Brent Crude Futures Contract, which is a landmark step towards integrating Indian Energy Markets with global Energy Markets. The MCX has tied up with Chicago Climate Exchange to trade in Carbon and Sulphur Financial Instruments for the global emissions marketplace. In near future, MCX will tie-up with, European Climate Exchange.

The Commodities and Futures Market has a separate regulator called the Forwards Markets Commission (FMC). The FMC has been setup on the lines of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and has statutorily received the autonomous governing body status.

As the Commodities Market is in infancy stage and on the aggressive growth path, it requires innovations, ideas. The human resource required to operate the market and exchange is tremendous. The Exchange needs professionals from all walks of life. They are : Graduates (BComs, BScs), Post Graduates (Economics, Labour, Agriculture), Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries, Cost & Works Accountants, MBAs (Finance, Operations, Systems, Human Resource, Marketing, International Business), Law Graduates, MCAs, MCMs and so on. Having the National Stock Exchange's Certification in Financial Markets (NCFM) is an added advantage. The pay packages range from Rs 4 lacs to Rs 6 lacs p.a.

These professionals are required for Business Development, Market Operations, Warehousing, Research & Development, Network & Security, Corporate Communication, Product Knowledge Management, Liaisoning, Corporate Relations, Human Resource, Secretarial, Legal Compliances, Customer Relations, Estate Management and so on.

Are there any good stocks to get into these days? I know that we are all familiar with the stock market's recent decline, therefore can we really expect to find some good stocks to invest in that can yield significantly great returns? Well, the answer is "yes". There are opportunities available today that can allow us to purchase some really good stock that can provide both short term and long term gains.

So, what are good stocks to invest in given this current market? To find the best stocks out there, you must look for stocks that are priced very low. These can be either penny stock investments or undervalued stock investments. When a penny stock or an undervalued stock is purchased, then you will be able to profit with smaller stock price margins. It would only require that your stock price only increase by a few cents or dollars for you to obtain a significant increase in your return.

Like penny stocks, undervalued stocks can be priced well below their value within the stock market. It may take the market some time to realize that the price should be adjusted higher than the current price. It is best to invest during this window of opportunity as you will make the greatest return.

So, where do you look to find these good stocks? You must perform your own research to find these bargains. Research the news, financial reports, and the stock market analyst's recommendations for ideas. It can become a tedious process.

Reacting to the market is a lesson every trader should learn. It is much simpler and much more profitable then to just react to the market then to try to understand it.

Too many traders try to explain a big move. For instance most people will say that stocks fell because of the unemployment numbers that just came out, or the interest rates that were announced or some other important news factor that came out today.

And they may be right, there could be hundreds of reasons why the market falls on any given day, but is it really worth it to find out. In most cases the answer is no.

Stocks fall because of panic, more sellers than buyers. Stocks shoot up because of greed, more buyers than sellers. Many times it can actually help you to weed out all the noise that comes from Wall Street and make decisions based on what you see.

If you are a technical trader that is what you should do. Don't concern yourself with the fact that everyone says we are in the worst depression since whenever. Concentrate on the basics, is the market up trending? Is it down trending? Has it broken support? Any Chart patterns forming?

The basics will help you to stay calm and look at the market with a clear mind rather than looking at it with hundreds of news reports running through your head. Perhaps the most important reason for just reacting to the market is that it helps to eliminate bias.

You can listen to the news and hear all the reasons why a given stock is going to go up. The problem is when it comes time to see how the stock is actually performing you will have a bias to the upside. Even if the stock is in a strong downtrend you can always find some news out there that can justify buying it.

But justifying your buying isn't always enough. If a stock is clearly trending down and breaking through support there is no reason for you to buy it. In fact you may even want to short it.

Basically it does not help you to try to explain or rationalize things by looking at the short term news reports. It can help you much more to weed all the useless junk out and concentrate on your own specific trading rules

Do you want to know how to make safe investments? Does such a thing even exist in today's economic crisis. Well, there are many ways to make safe investments. I am not talking about risk free investments than barley earn you anything. I am talking about investments that have the potential to earn you good money very quickly. How can a investment like this be safe? I am going to tell you to find such an investment. Even in this economic crisis, there are amazing investments just waiting for you.

The thing I invest in most, and this surprises many people, is penny stocks. You see, penny stocks are not really as risky as a majority of people think. Sure, there are some penny stocks that will eat you money and give you absolutely nothing in return. All you have to do is now how to identify these stocks and avoid them. It is not that hard once you know what to look for.

The first thing you should look for is trends. Trends are a pattern in a stock price over time. You can use this information to see if the penny stock jumps around randomly in value or follows a decent pattern. If you find a decent pattern, you have found a good company that is doing good. You can use this pattern to pick the perfect times to buy and sell.

Trade volume is another big factor to look at. If a company is getting several hundred thousand trades a week, then it has some serious attention and is going to be a low risk investment. I do not touch stocks with less than 100,000 weekly trades.

If you are tired of feeling trapped in this economic crisis, then quit looking at the bad side and use it to your advantage. The people who become very wealthy are the ones that adapt to situations and use them for their gain.

There is no one, sure-fire recipe to invest in the stock market successfully. However you can set yourself a plan, and stick to it. Investing in the stock market doesn't have to be complicated. It can be as simple or as complicated as you have the time for. Your investment strategy should suit you and your lifestyle. If you want to become a day trader then you need to offer yourself to the stock market on a full-time basis. But if you want to enter the stock market as an investor, the strategies outlined below will be useful to keep in mind.

1. Always research your market first. Before jumping into any kind of investment watch the market trend. Is it a Bull or a Bear market? What market industry are you most interested in?

2. When you have decided on a market industry, work out who the market leaders are and investigate the companies you are most interested in. Find out all you can about them.

3. Now that you have worked out who you are interested in investing in, think about how many companies you want to invest in. If you are just starting out, keep the amount of companies you want to invest in to a small number. Pick out the market leaders and follow them.

4. Work out the best time to buy in. If you are not sure when the best time is, avoid companies who are expecting good results in their quarterly and annual reports. These companies usually will see a rise in their share prices just before good results are released.

5. Work out if you are investing for growth or income. If it is for growth, go for growth industries. You may have to wait longer for pay back in growth industries, but overall results are generally better.

6. Don't listen to rumors about companies. You should avoid investing in any company on the strength of the latest rumors.

7. If possible, invest in a market leader that is overpriced. Why would you want to do that? A market leader (such as McDonalds) is entrenched in the market as a strong performer. Market leaders perform well over a substantial period of time. It is worth investing in them.

8. Buy low and sell high. This is the most common strategy and a good one to adopt, although hard to work it out when you are a new investor. If everyone could do this, we'd all be rich! You will get better at this as you gain more experience in reading the market.

9. Buy and hold. Once you have studied your market and selected the best company for you to invest in, buy the stocks and hold on to them. Try not to panic sell if the stock price slips a little. You will need to have an exit strategy, just in case, but making money on the stock market can take patience.

10. Know your exit strategy (for example a drop of 25% of the buy in value). Once you have reached your exit strategy, sell. This is known as the stop loss limit and should be adhered to, to avoid getting caught in a market crash.

11. Buy and change often, especially if you are investing in value (income) stocks. If you know your market well you will know if there is a limit to the expected gains from a particular company. If you think you have reached the potential of your shares in this company then sell and select another investment.

12. Try and keep the emotional element out of your investing. The stock market does not always act as you think it will and can be a perilous place when certainty turns to fear.

Remember that a lot of factors influence how a company will perform and your strategy will not be foolproof. However, find out what will work for you and follow that strategy. It will help you keep track of what you want to achieve with your investments.

The global financial crisis has so far decimated the stock market with even quality companies with no debts being hammered. However what this means is that there are currently some excellent bargains to be had if you are investing with a long term view.

Of course it's recommended that you should have a well diversified portfolio, but I've always felt that there's nothing wrong with weighting your portfolio towards companies in those hot sectors that you think will do well in the next few years. So with most sectors having been hit by the global financial crisis, which sectors should you be looking to invest in that are likely to do well in the next 2-5 years?

Well this does not constitute professional financial advice and should not be seen as a recommendation, but my own view is that with commodity prices falling and oil prices having dropped substantially, this has now presented an excellent opportunity to snap up some bargains in the mining and oil sectors.

A lot of companies within these sectors are now trading on ridiculously low PE ratios and have been completely oversold by the market. Yes the drop in commodity and oil prices will inevitably hit their bottom line, but the fact is that a lot of the larger companies in these sectors are extremely well run, have little or no debts and are in a great position to snap up the smaller mining and oil companies who are not so well equipped to deal with falling commodity and oil prices.

There is also the fact that in the next few years these prices should eventually rise back up again, which will boost these companies' profits. For example, as I write this article the oil price is currently trading at $64, but in my view oil will rise back up again and should be trading above $100 in the next few years because it is after all a finite resource and there is still massive demand from rapidly expanding countries such as China and India.

Of course share prices in these companies could fall even further which is why I personally am drip-feeding money back into the markets at these levels. There will come a time in a few years time when the economy will be in better shape and the banks will have sorted themselves out. As a result share prices in general should be a lot higher, but for me the best bargains are in the mining and oil sectors. These companies should be trading a lot higher at some point in the next few years, and in the meantime you can always collect the nice dividends that are paid out by the larger more profitable companies in these sectors.