Data analytics is no longer limited to the field of business and market research but it has spread across the financial sector as well. Stock market investors are using data driven insights and predictions to make crucial investment decisions. By observing the market conditions and various metrics related to it, the data scientists are being able to come up with accurate inferences about the market, and the data analysis is becoming increasingly precise and data intensive.  This is due to the availability of financial data and decreasing cost of information technology. The growth of analytics in this sector is likely to continue and is going to revolutionize the way financial trading is done. To know more read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/irene-aldridge/why-big-data-matters-in-f_b_7553438.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in

It was predicted that faster job creation and cheaper gasoline prices would drive the strongest growth rate in America but it is far from expectation. The reason is thought to be the start-and- stop spending by American households that represent almost 70% of the economic activity. It can be seen that there is a trend among the consumers not to spend freely. It is baffling as to why US consumers are being cautious. Interest rates are low; stock market is at an all-time high, home values are recovering, unemployment rate decreased to 5.4% yet things are not turning around. Savings rate went up to 5.7%. Though gasoline prices have fallen expenses on energy bills, food, housing, medical care, education has kept on rising. Wages though being adjusted for inflation cannot benefit the workers. Economists believe that US economy will turn around and the consumers will regain their confidence. Read more at:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-consumers-are-so-cautious-2015-05-19?page=1

Corporate profit margins may be narrowing down with the S&P 500 index declining more than 20%. The stock market being overly dependent on wide profit margins is vulnerable. Statistics and various calculative methods show us that the six-decade average profit margin of corporate America is 6.3%. If corporate profitability reverted back to its average, it is likely that S&P 500 would be on its way down.  The stock market would have single digit growth. Way out could be P/E expansion and widening of corporate profit-margins. Opinions differ; many proponents believe the stock market will be affected no matter what the level of corporate profit margins. To know more, follow the link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/investors-need-to-face-the-possibility-of-a-great-reset-2015-05-20

Many investors think whether or not investing in stocks is worth. Inspite of the real problems, the following common myths often arise.

 • Investing in Stocks Is Just Like Gambling.

Investors often mistake that stock represents the ownership of a company. Gambling on the contrary takes money from a loser and gives it to a winner.

• The Stock Market Is an Exclusive Club For Brokers and wealthy People.

Most brokers are notoriously inaccurate. Furthermore, the discovery of the internet has made the market much more open to the public.

• Fallen Angels Will Go Back up, eventually.

Buying companies entirely because their market price has fallen will get you nowhere.

• Stocks that go up must come down.

If you find a renowned firm run by excellent managers, there is no way the stock won't keep on going up.

• A Little Knowledge Is Better Than None

It is important in the stock market that every investor has a compact understanding of their investment.

 Read more at: 

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/02/061902.asp

Neural Network is the buzzword in Financial Analytics nowadays. You may be thinking now 'what is a neural network?' Well, Neural Network is a state - of - the - art trainable algorithm which is emulated to function like a human brain. Speaking in terms of stock markets, you can train the algorithm with some historical stock market data and the algorithm will predict the pattern for you.

As forecasting of stock markets, currency markets and other markets are becoming increasingly difficult, neural network is gaining prominence among traders to predict where markets are heading in the near future. Certainly, there are reasons for it. As generation is progressing at a fast pace, people are adopting technologies quickly. The usage of Neural Network has amplified because of the availability of several open source software which have the capability to form a neural net framework. To enhance your shareholder wealth maximization, it is desirable that you must be equipped with the knowledge of how neural network is applied in forecasting markets. Though, as a thumb rule you must remember that no forecasting is accurate, but still this neural network can give some valuable insights.

Wondering how to go about it? Read at http://www.geocities.ws/francorbusetti/KaastraArticle.pdf to know how a neural network is designed for forecasting financial time series data.

In the recent years, social media has become a place where emotional roller coaster of the stock markets can be captured. How the Twitter and Facebook users are reacting to different business news can foretell where the index is heading. Knowing this information can help the companies in predicting their market price, top line, etc.

To know more on how social media can help in predicting in stock prices read http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/031814/can-tweets-and-facebook-posts-predict-stock-behavior-and-rt-if-you-think-so.asp .