Here's how much you would have had if you invested $1,000 in the Amazon IPO

On May 15, exactly 20 years ago, Amazon's initial public offering took place. The company became public as an online book seller, which was only three years old.
Perhaps no one, however, expected the company's share growth of about 50,000% over the next twenty years. In other words, $1,000 invested in its shares on the first day after the IPO at a closing price would be over $491,000 to the current date if they are still held.
This kind of profit overcomes even registered, by great investors like Warren Buffett.
There is a peculiarity of course. Having held the company's shares throughout those years required iron discipline. Because they had a drop period on average 36% of their highest value each year over the past twenty years.
To a large extent, Amazon's success lies in its cloud-based business, as well as the expansion of its major trading business, which has led to bankruptcy, to many traditional retail chains.

Ray Dalio: The magnitude of the next drop will be epic

Ray Dalio is founder and head of the world's largest hedge fund - Bridgewater Associates. Dalio's success is not accidental, but a result of his qualities and hard work. Therefore, when Dalio talks, the entire investment community listens carefully.
First good news. According to Dalio, the world economy is currently in very good shape.
"The economy is at or close to its best, and I do not see any serious economic risks on the horizon for the next year or two," Dalio said in a statement in a social media website, LinkedIn, on Friday.
Now the bad news ...
"We are afraid that any magnitude of the next downturn, which will come sooner or later when it comes, will produce much greater social and political conflicts than the ones that existed so far," according to the genius investor.
World markets are currently at new peaks after stabilizing over the last eight years, following the financial crisis. Central banks have contributed to a major part of good performance on global stock markets, with interest rates maintained at ultra-low levels, the expert said.
And although the growth began, with Trump's election victory, it was not the only a factor contributing to the strong appreciation of the stock. Good corporate results and prospects for the next quarter were another catalyst to reach new historical highs.
Dalio's fears, however, are that the debts that arise in the system, including pension and health care, can create a slow and steady "squeeze" of the economy and markets. Instead of a sharp shock that can be overcome quickly, Dalio predicts that we will see a "gradual" contraction, which will be the most damaging for people with the lowest income.
Meanwhile, serious financial assessments by US companies, coupled with the 23-year minimum of the VIX index, raise concerns among many investors and analysts that we can see a serious correction of US indices.

Trump did not excited markets

World markets on Wednesday showed mixed dynamics. The positive expectations of declaring the details of the tax reform in the US have been replaced by a negative reaction.
European markets on Wednesday grew up on expectations of the US president's speech on tax reform and the meeting of the European Central Bank. The US president did not intrigue: the details of the tax reform were published in the media the day before, and its items in general correspond to the pre-election program. The reform assumes a significant reduction in the tax burden for both business and the public. In particular, the maximum tax on companies' profits is proposed to be reduced from 35% to 15%. In relation to individuals, there are more indulgences: a reduction in the maximum income tax rate from 39.6% to 35%, a lower rate to 10-25%, while it is planned to abolish the inheritance tax and double the standard deductions. The reaction of the US markets to Trump's speech turned out to be moderately negative. Investors obviously expected more details, but in the current form the initiative of the new administration looks weak in terms of the possibility of its harmonization in the Congress.

Decrease of indexes in Europe

At the end of the week, the German DAX 30 continued to show high levels of volatility, as on Friday scored the biggest price change, but this time in a negative direction - it lost lost 1.07% of its value, closing at the level of 11,521.04 points. Sectors that lost the most during the day were: Pharmaceuticals and media and the companies that registered the largest decreases in the value of their shares were Deutsche Bank AG (-3.46%), Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (-2.96%) and Daimler AG (-2.80%).
France's CAC 40 also fell, closing at a level of 4863.97 points, but it was significantly lower than in the stock exchange in Frankfurt - only 0.51%. Companies that have achieved the greatest decrease were: ArcelorMittal SA (-3.40%), Sodexo (-3.24%) and Renault SA (-2.60%).
Britain's FTSE 100 followed the continental trend, but managed to keep most of its value - losing only 0.03%, closing at 7292.37. Losses were realized by manufacturing sectors of food, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

Investors accepted the Fed optimism with caution, the US stock markets closed lower

Waiting for more significant increase of rates by the Federal Reserve System (FED) spooked investors, despite the optimistic forecasts for the US economy.
Immediately after the news about the increasing rates the major US stock indexes briefly switched to growth, but then resumed their decline and fell by 0.5-0.8%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average index on the session on December 15 fell by 118.68 points (0.60%) - up to 19,792.53 points. Standard & Poor's 500 was down by 18.44 points (0.81%) - up to 2,253.28 points. Nasdaq Composite lost 27.16 points (0.50%) and amounted to 5436.67 points.
Shares of financial companies fell by 0.6% on the news from the FED.
Oil and gas companies index fell by 2.1% following the decline in WTI oil prices by 3.7%, to $51.04 per barrel.
Stock price of Hertz Global Holdings Inc. dropped by 8.3%. CEO of the company John Teygen resigns from 2 January, he will be replaced by Kathryn Marinello.
Share price of analyst firm Neustar Inc. It jumped by 21% in trading in New York after the announcement of its purchase of a group of investors led by Golden Gate Capital for $2.9 billion.

Optimism on the stock markets in Europe and the US the day before Fed's decision

European markets led by Italian shares ended with raise and overseas indexes are on their way to new highs in anticipation of the Fed's decision on interest rates in the US.
   
European shares rose to 11-month high on Tuesday as a major factor for this was the Italian shares and more accurate - UniCredit, which present a plan for restructuring and reform. European Stoxx 600 index added 1.06 percent and reached 357.50, making it the best price from January this year. This occurs after the beginning of the week the index lost 0.5%.
Italian banking sector added 5.83%, while shares of UniCredit achieved a growth of 15.92 percent, after it became clear that the bank would cut 6500 employees by 2019 and that they will start selling stocks and bonds. This was welcomed by the markets in anticipation of stabilizing the bank. The market capitalization of the bank is worth 15 billion euros.
In the UK, FTSE 100 climbed by 1.13% to 6968, which is the highest level for six weeks. The main reason for growth also was the banking sector, which managed to prevail over the loss of the energy sector.
Overseas investors are about to find out whether Dow Jones will overcome the psychological level of 20 000. On Tuesday the index added new 114 points and climbed to 19,911 after reaching a peak for the day of 19 953. SP500 added 15 points to 2272, as 9 of the 11 sectors finished at plus. The tech Nasdaq added 59 points to 5471.

European stock indexes rose on Wednesday after oil

European stocks finished the session in the growth on Wednesday. Driver of growth was the rise of shares of energy companies, caused by OPEC agreement for limitation of the production.
The composite index of the largest companies in the region Stoxx Europe 600 rose during trading by 0,3%, to 341.99 points.
The index of 50 largest enterprises of the euro zone Euro Stoxx 50 added 0.43%. The British FTSE 100 stock indicator rose by 0.17%, the French CAC 40 - by 0.59%, the German DAX - by 0.19%.
Prices of Brent crude for delivery in February soared on Wednesday by nearly 9%, to $51.55 for a barrel on news that OPEC agreed to reduce the collective production to 32.5 million barrels a day, starting from January next year.
Countries outside of OPEC will cut output at 600 000 b/d, and 300 000 b/d of them will fall to Russia.
Shares of Total SA (PA:TOTF) rose in price by 2,4%, BP Plc (LON:BP) - by 3,8%, Royal Dutch Shell - by 4%. The capitalization of the smaller European oil and gas company Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) and Saipem SpA increased by 13% and 10%, respectively.
However, the prospect of rising fuel prices led to a decline in prices for securities airline EasyJet Plc and Air France-KLM by more than 2%.
The contract value for most metals is reduced on Wednesday, due to which the capitalization of Anglo American Plc (LON:AAL) and Rio Tinto Group (LON:RIO) has decreased by 1.6% and 2.5%, respectively, at auction in London.
The market value of the German industrial gases producer Linde AG (DE:LING) increased by 1% on the news that its US rival Praxair Inc (NYSE:PX) resumed merger talks that could lead to the creation of a giant with $60 billion market capitalization.
Quotes of pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordink increased by 3.4% thanks to the good results of the clinical trials of its production of insulin.
Meanwhile, the price of securities of Royal Bank of Scotland fell by 1.4%. The bank failed the British Central Bank stress tests.

Strong growth of stocks in Europe and US

On Thursday European stocks interrupted losing streak after soft US economic data underlined expectations, that interest rates in the largest economy in the world will remain at very low levels.
Stocks in Europe were traded on significantly higher levels as reported decline in retail sales last month passed each other significantly with the expected. Also, data showed that industrial production has shrunk in August.
Bank of England left interest rate unanimously unchanged, at the same time raised their expectations for growth in the third quarter to 0.3% compared to the previous one, which was 0.1%.
British FTSE100 index ended the session with a growth of 0.85%, closing at 6730.30 points.
German DAX30 index ended the session at 10,431.20 points, registering a growth of 0.51%.
Overseas, US stocks also recorded strong gains, after data suggested, that the Federal Reserve will remain passive in their desire to raise interest rates.
The broader index SP500 recorded daily increase of 1.01% closing at 2147.30 points.
Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18,212.48 points, which was an increase of 0.99%.
The largest daily growth recorded NASDAQ COMPISTE ending Thursday's session with a growth of 1.47% to 5249.69 points.

Review of European financial markets for 17/06/2016

Following the trading session on Friday the major indexes in Europe showed the following results:
FTSE 100 - 6021.09, 70.61, 1.19%, DAX - 9631.36, 80.89, 0.85%, CAC 40 - 4193.83, 40.82, 0.98%.

Key stock indexes in Europe have shown plus at the end of trading session on Friday, thereby reducing the third consecutive weekly decline. Fears that the UK would go out of the EU, and the growth of the energy sector shares (after oil) were the main drivers of the day.

Stoxx Europe 600 (composite index of the largest companies in the region) has increased by 1.4%, after the election campaign for the exit of the Britain from the EU has been suspended due to the MP Joe Cox murder (Labour Party of Great Britain).

Overview of the stock. Europe
Leaders:
Volkswagen AG and BMW AG (DE: BMWG) have increased by about 2% and 1%, respectively, after the rise of the stock market as a whole.

Outsiders:
Ericsson AB (a Swedish company) - capitalization has shrunk by 1.5% after it was said in Ericsson that the company have received a request from the US authorities concerning its activities. Previously, it was known that the authorities hold an investigation on suspicion of corruption.

Randgold Resources Ltd. (The company is engaged in gold mining) - shares were down 4.6%. After strong growth in the beginning of the week quotations of gold, which was an asset of refuge for a few days, started a regular correction (fixation of profits).