The stock market has given investors a hard time over the past two years. After many stocks hit new highs in 2021, rising interest rates and high inflation have sparked fears of a recession (which is yet to come) and pushed the market lower. These companies could weather a recession and be a valuable component of a portfolio when the time is right.

Banking moves the world, and not just because banks have the power to "create" money. In recent months, the sector has been rocked by the collapses of several major banks, with some others in serious trouble. Many people and investors have begun to look at the sector through different eyes and don't think banks are as risk-free as they may have thought. But if you want to invest in banking companies, here are 3 companies that seem like good options for where to put your money.

The objective of investment funds is to achieve maximum investment appreciation at a reasonable risk. This means that everything is balanced and high diversification cannot deliver the kind of appreciation that individual stocks can. However, this fund can return 14.5%. How this is possible, and how it achieved it, we will now look at.

We all talk and flirt with the US market most of the time here. Yes, it is the largest market in the world, the country with the largest number of large and wealthy multinationals. It is certainly not wrong to predominantly focus on this market as well, but sometimes it would be nice to take a break from the American Dream for a while and look at other countries and different markets. For example, a beginner might not believe that one can even buy Chinese stocks on the American stock market. And yes, you really can. You can also find many other gems on the NYSE that, despite also being listed on the American market, actually originate or are based in another country or even a very distant part of the world. We'll look at one such example today.

It's not just in the stock markets that we've seen a recent AI euphoria. Everything to do with AI is flying up. Okay, that might be marginally understandable, but the whole market is flying up, as well as companies that, for example, are not yet using AI. It's like one big shopping spree and it's about not getting into an AI bubble. That would then be a really painful burst, but one that I think would be good for the markets. I mean, we've seen market declines in 2022, but there's no blood flowing anywhere yet, so to speak. But if we are now in this period, it is already clear beyond measure that AI will always be here with us and will determine the course of the world together with modern technology. I don't mean that technology will dominate us (like the domination of machines in the Matrix), but that also depends on how everyone takes it. Some may well consider that technology controls us in terms of our dependence on it. This applies to cell phones, appliances, and the various assistive systems that everyone uses in the modern world today. In the future, this 'addiction' will only increase. If we know this, we can prepare ourselves not only mentally but also financially.

In the covid years, the world bowed before the great visionary and fund manager of $ARKK Invest, Cathie Wood. Her fund invests mostly in technology companies with great potential for the future. For larger companies, success has already taken place. For example, in the case of $TSLA stock, but some smaller companies haven't performed well yet. In 2020, as the market in general grew, so did the value of Arkk as its holdings increased, which included small growth companies that have seen huge growth. But after the peak 2 years ago, the situation changed and the market started to fall. $ARKK has fallen 74% since the peak. Now Cathie is trying to buy more companies and for the ones he already owns at least predicts future prices. Sometimes that's really something.

Cheap shares are those that are traded on the market at a lower price than their actual value. This may be due to various factors such as negative sentiment towards the sector, short-term problems in the company or general unpopularity of the stock. These factors can lead to a share price falling below its intrinsic value, creating an opportunity for investors who can identify its potential and invest in it early.

Since January, we have seen the stock markets pick up nicely and erase the losses from last year. This is true for both stock indices and individual stocks. When we're talking about large, mostly technology corporations, except for $NVDA, perhaps we can't expect doubles in the coming months. But if we move to smaller companies that have something to offer, the possibilities are immediately different.

Recent weeks have been very optimistic in the market. The risk of a recession has almost been forgotten and the US is once again driving the markets higher thanks to the agreement to raise the debt ceiling. This very positive sentiment has spilled over from the major technology stocks to the indices and from those in turn to the smaller companies. Gradually, this wave of optimism after earnings season hit almost all growth stocks. The following companies could continue to benefit from this sentiment.

Sometimes you want to have a stable component in your portfolio that will hold you up even in the worst of times. If it has been paying a dividend for a few decades on top of that, it's a great choice for those who want to diversify, don't want to take unnecessary risk, and aren't targeting 50% growth every year.