Crude oil prices are influenced by its supply and demand globally. Economic growth has the biggest impact on the demand for certain things, and growing demands require energy. Petroleum products comprise a third of the total energy consumption in the world; these products are made from crude oil and other hydrocarbon liquids.

Many believe that you can build long-term wealth if you carefully and responsibly choose to invest in the right stocks at the right time. While new investors may want to steer clear of the stock market, familiar stock market players may vouch for its returns and long-term gains. The most reliable way to ensure you get good returns on your investment is diversifying your options among several types of industries, companies, and securities.

Debt securities are issued from time to time to finance certain types of capital expenditure. One such security is municipal bonds issued by a state, municipality, or county. A debt obligation arises after municipal bonds are issued for facilitating projects that are in the interest of the public. Popular examples of capital expenditure include the construction of highways, bridges, schools, and hospitals among other public interest projects.

Fixed income mutual funds that are invested in debt securities are known as money market mutual funds. The main characteristics of money market funds are that they have short maturities and the credit risk is also minimal. They also are a part of the lowest-volatility types of investment. Depending on the type of securities the fund invests in, money market funds are either taxable or exempted from tax.

Passive investing strategies are common and popular among investors when it comes to exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Passive ETFs track multiple indexes, and have a low turnover and a low cost attached to them. In the past, passive strategies gained an edge over actively managed ones due to their better performance.

Among the numerous bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the ones issued by corporations have become pretty popular in the past few years. This is because when compared to government bond ETFs, such investments render better returns. Moreover, they are safer than stocks and if the company were to go bankrupt, it will first pay off its bonds, even before they settle the dues with the stockholders.