Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen opened her statement in today’s press conference announcing “no change” to the federal funds rate, despite of a positive outlook on the US economy, based on reported improvements in the labor market, specifically an average of 230,000 new jobs in the last three months, along with growing household spending and positive consumer sentiment.

A positive outlook was announced despite of stalled wage growth, a growing number of part time employees seeking full time employment, weak business investment, downward outlook on GDP, soft net exports and weak global economic conditions.

Economic expansion and growth is expected to continue, pushing towards a 2% inflation target within 2-3 years, as well as a gradual “tightening” of monetary policy towards a target federal funds rate in the range of 3% by 2018, further increasing in the longer run.

However, Yellen goes on to say that despite of the positive outlook and current assessments of appropriate monetary policy, they will remain “accommodative” due to elevated uncertainty and the Fed is prepared to soften policy with the ability to lower interest rates down to zero to offset possible global economic pressure. Further rate increases are said to be determined on a “live” basis as new data is reported and April’s rate considerations are to be considered at that time.

Yellen was asked whether “negative” interest rates have been considered. Yellen responded by saying that it has not been a focus of discussion due to a positive economic outlook.

A downward forecast in global growth was reported, citing downward pressure from the weight of low oil prices in many countries, specifically mentioning our neighbors to the North and South, Canada and Mexico. Japan reported negative growth in the 4th quarter of 2015.

Oil is expected to stabilize due to market decline in drilling. Current consumer spending is said to be aided by current low oil prices, benefiting households by approximately $1,000 in savings per year, although, current spending was said not to be as strong as “could be”. In increase in oil prices was said to have low significance in monetary policy.

Consumer sentiment was observed to be in “solid territory” as households have been helped by low oil and stronger labor market. Yellen stated that almost all demographic groups have seen improved labor market conditions, despite inequalities existing since the 1980’s.

The FOMC meeting will be shedding light on whether the Fed plans to raise federal deposit rates, although, market consensus seems to expect little or no upward movement on near term rates due to world financial market volatility, including the European Central Bank’s recent move towards looser monetary policy and renewed quantitative easing.

The future price of gold is greatly debated between those who are bear or bull on the precious metal. On February 16th, Goldman Sachs analyst stated that it expects the Fed to rates to increase, bringing the 12 month gold price target down to $1,000. In the other hand, those tagged with being “doom & gloomers” have been bullish on gold, pointing out a near term rush to safe-haven investments in the event of a bursting world economic bubble.

The Bank for International Settlements stated in a March 4th publication that “The Federal Reserve’s interest rate lift-off in December did little to disturb the uneasy calm that had reigned in financial markets in late 2015.” and warned of the deterioration of global growth prospects.

Contrary reports highlighting positive economic growth and stability, including a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reported 242,000 new jobs created in February 2016.

The coming Fed announcements should settle some near term debate, but may raise new questions moving forward.

The bank has its headquarters in London; however, a bulk of its revenues comes from its operations in the region of Asia. It is important to mention here that the bank derives most of its profits from Hong Kong (in the Asian region). It has been quite a while since HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) started focusing on the emerging markets for its revenues. The bank primarily aims at improving its services related to commercial and retail banking in the newly found markets, specifically the markets of Middle East, Latin America and India.

The current consensus price target on the stocks of HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) is recorded to be at $58. It is worth mentioning here that this price target is around 20 percent higher than the current price at which the company’s stocks are being traded in the market.

HSBC’s (NYSE:HSBC) commercial banking sector caters to the needs to a number of companies around the world. This segment is further divided into 4 more segments, which include global trade, credit and lending, insurance and investments, and, payments and cash management.  This segment is worth one-third of the total value of HSBC (NYSE:HSBC).

Coming to its second segment, which is the retail banking and wealth management, the company generates around 30 percent of its revenues from this segment. The operations in these segments are divided according to different geographies including Hong Kong, Europe, MENA, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and North America.

The regions of MENA and Asia-Pacific usually cater to the financial needs of small clients, including low profile companies. Some of its primary markets include China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Australia, U.A.E., and Qatar. Market experts are of the view that this region will be contributing a lot in the total revenues of the bank, for it includes wealthy oil nations as well. As for Europe and America, the regions are responsible for generating 10 percent and 4 percent  of total revenues respectively.

The investment banking sector is further divided into two segments: Capital Financing and Markets. Capital financing deals with debt organization, advisory services, equity underwriting and corporate lending. As for Market, the segment deals with commodities, currencies, and fixed income.

Coming to the current stock prices of HSBC (NYSE:HSBC), the bank, during the last trading session of December 24, 2014, started its stocks at a price of $47.68 and closed at a price of $47.11, after hitting the highest price of $47.84. HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) has total market capitalization of $182.71 billion with a P/E (price to earnings) ratio of 10.97. As far as the dividend yield of the bank is concerned, the figures currently stand at 4.19 percent.

SeaWorld (NASDAQ:SEAS) has been facing difficulties ever since a documentary titled Blackfish came out. The unfavourable hype that the SeaWorld (NASDAQ:SEAS) faced due to its portrayal in Blackfish will get flared up due to the layoff the employees are facing.

The parent company of SeaWorld (NASDAQ:SEAS), Busch Gardens and Aquatica saw a 4.1% decrease in traffic last year and another 4.7% decline was witnessed through the first 3 quarters of the year 2014.

However, the issue is not with the attendance alone. SeaWorld (NASDAQ:SEAS) declared an 8% decrease in year-over-year revenues during its last quarter and according to analysis, people who visit the park do not spend as much money in the park as they used to.

SeaWorld (NASDAQ:SEAS) does not want to acknowledge the Blackfish, but the fact remains that the documentary is a main cause of the company’s decline. The documentary talks about how the marine-theme park holds killer whales in captivity and makes them perform for the amusement of the audience. People do not want to spend money in SeaWorld (NASDAQ:SEAS) anymore and those who come to visit the place are reluctant in buying the merchandise from the park because they do not wish to be associated with it.

SeaWorld (NASDAQ:SEAS) hasn’t done much to answer the allegations made in the documentary Blackfish, which is extremely popular amongst people and a lot of activists also associate with the documentary. The company can only hope that the new CEO will have some new ideas to turn things around for the park.

SeaWorld (NASDAQ:SEAS) lately announced that it would be expanding its orca tanks. This news could have benefited the company, if SeaWorld (NASDAQ:SEAS) had coordinated with the activist leaders and used this announcement as a compromise but due to the company’s lack of understanding, the news was not received well. Also, the implementation of expanding the orca tanks will take quite some time.  SeaWorld (NASDAQ:SEAS) could have merged with the zoo which is a kinder animal habitat and less controversial, but it did not do so.

One can only hope that the company’s new CEO will realize that the rising economy and the decrease in gas prices can both be beneficiary for attracting guests to the park and takes advantage of the opportunity.

Investors are now wondering if it is too late to buy Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN)’s stock now? There are several reasons, apart from the performance in the current fiscal, for investors to like the company. But, the competition is now intensifying.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) is not cheap neither is it too expensive. The price-to-earnings value of the company is around 18 presently. This is in line with the market. This is quite unusual for a company whose core business is declining. The company, Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN), has five different segments. The largest segment is the personal navigator. The GPS sales contribute over 43% to the company’s revenue and over 35% to the gross profit. However, sales have been declining because of the growing market for smartphones and other smart devices that incorporate the functionalities of GPS. In the last quarter, the company’s GPS business fell by 5%.

This is not weighing too heavily on Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) because other business segments of the company are performing well. The wearable gadgets, in particular, are seeing high sales and demand. Recently, the Vivosmart was released, after which the sales increased by 43%. The wearable devices of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) have several advantages when compared to the iWatch by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). However, the wearable gadget segment faces competition from other companies.

Ever since iPhone was introduced into the market, Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) has believed that its future is dark. All kinds of smartphones now incorporate navigation software, which puts a question mark on Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN)’s GPS segment. However, Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) did not give up. The company has managed to generate a lot of cash, most of which has been returned to the shareholders.

The wearable devices by Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) could easily maintain rapid growth rates. However, currently, the company’s largest, potential competitor could be the iWatch. Other tech giants have also shown interest in the wearable devices market.

The GPS segment of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) has only declined modestly annually. However, the future looks tough for the company as, in the beginning of next year, many new vehicles will be launched that will use a smart, software navigation system. The software are developed by Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) could potentially defy all competition and continue to reward the shareholders. The new devices in the market, such as the iWatch, still have to prove themselves. Meanwhile, the Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN)’s wearable devices are in demand. But, the prospect does not look good for the company. The investors must strongly consider before making an investment in Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN).

According to the report of Steve, the effective processing speed and the brand name of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) were enough to make the customers want to buy iPhones, despite the fact that their prices were far higher than the prices of Androids. This preference of customers not only promotes score for the company but it also increases the retention rates.

The results of the survey showed that almost 64 percent of the Chinese customers were planning to buy either iPhone 6 or iPhone 6s in the year 2015.  When asked whether they would prefer iPhone 6s over iPone 6, 53 percent of the surveyed said that they would prefer iPhone 6s.

As for the memory size of the smartphone, 53 percent of the customers were of the opinion that 64 GB size would make the phone even more desirable; around 22 percent voted for 16 GB and 13 percent voted for 128 GB.

One third of the total customers, who were being surveyed and who showed the intention of buying an iPhone within a year, had a Samsung phone.

Perhaps China is the biggest market for Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), as the retention rate for the company is 84 percent there; that is twice the rate of either Xiaomi or Samsung. The survey further showed that the demand of iPhone 6 can increase to 190 million units by December 2015. Currently, the estimates stand at 170 million. The preference for Apple’s specifications was as follows:

• Around 48 percent of the customers preferred the brand name of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL).
• 41 percent of them liked the phone because of its fast processing speed.
• 29 percent were of the opinion that the size of the screen has made the new phone more desirable.
• 26 percent said that the phone’s processor is their reason for choosing the brand.
• And, 18 percent said that iPhone 6 is a good value for money.

The market analysts are of the opinion that a 64 GB processor can increase the ASP (average selling price) of the company, and it can easily make Apple grab a pretty good portion of market share.

Steve has increased the price target of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) without changing the estimates: The analysts based his opinion on the $8.20 EPS of the company for the year 2015.

As for the stocks of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), the company started its stocks at $109.38 and closed at $111.25, after hitting the highest figures of $111.43. Apple has a market capitalization of $644.36 billion and a price to earnings ratio of 17.3.