5 Awesome Apps to Discover 2018’s Top Business Trends
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With summer on the horizon, now is a good time to find ways to spend less time in front of a screen — and more time living your best life. Just about everything is better an an app — even your time tracker! Point is, cut down on the time spent in front of a computer by taking your news with you to go. These five awesome apps help you discover 2018’s top business trends. Keep tabs on what’s happening in the marketplace no matter where summer takes you.
Check out these picks for discovering this year’s top business trends.
Best for Financial Analysis: Bloomberg Business News
Start your day with top news from the world’s financial markets. Bloomberg Businessweek serves up business news, market data updates in real time, and portfolio tools. Articles by award winning financial and business journalists will keep you apprised of breaking news updates. Filter topics by regions, industries and sectors to customize what trends matter most to you. And, if reading isn’t really your jam, check out their video section, which essentially lets you tap directly into their newsroom as it happens.
Best for Financial Market Trends: StockTwits
Download StockTwits to become a part of “Twitter for investors,” a community of finance-industry types who discuss news, ideas, and complaints related to the stock market. This can be a good resource for keeping tabs on the pulse of the market. See in real time how investor sentiment toward different companies and market moves will change. When a user posts in StockTwits, they are required to check whether they are bullish or bearish about the stock they’re discussing. This gives you a quick snapshot of what’s going on in the market — and over time, you can keep track of different traders and analysts. Breaking news often hits StockTwits before any other app, so if you pay attention to one thing on your phone, this should be it.
Best for Quick Information: SmartNews
SmartNews is actually pretty smart. The app analyzes and categorizes trending news stories. The goal? To deliver a one-minute news experience. If you don’t have time to read in-depth analysis or aren’t interested in weeding through trader’s conversations, this is a good app for keeping an eye on trends. Filter the news for specific sectors — tech, business, or breaking news, for example. A clean, easy interface makes it easy to get the information you need without too much digging. Plus, in a world where many algorithm-based news apps feel like a flash in the pan, SmartNews stands out. The company raised $38 million in Series D funding, proving it has staying power.
Best all-around Business Trends App: Yahoo! Finance
There’s a reason why Yahoo! Finance is consistently the top business app in the iTunes store. Throughout the day, this app competes with Bloomberg for up-to-the-minute trading data and breaking news. The app lets you track the performance of your portfolio, add stocks to watchlists so you can keep track of their performance, and also dig into the world of currencies, bonds, commodities, world indices, and more. Need more than a stock price update? Turn your phone sideways while looking at a stock profile for tons of analysis and historical data on any company. If you know what you’re looking for, Yahoo! Finance can help you predict the trends of 2018 and beyond. Sign in to trade through the app from your broker account and edit your portfolio while on the go.
Best for Crypto Trends: Coinbase
Have you caught crypto-fever? Whether or not you’ve invested in the cryptocurrency market, this trend has staying power (at least for 2018). It’s worthwhile to keep an eye on this high-profile market. Coinbase can help you do that, though it was primarily built as a trading platform. The app’s simple interface can show you the day’s returns on Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and more. Track prices of different currencies and get alerts for big swings in the market. Historical data can start to surface some of cryptocurrencies’ extremely nebulous trends. At the very least, Coinbase can help you decide if investing in crypto is a bandwagon you’d like to hop onto — or run away from.
BONUS Best for Hacking the News: Pocket
Some days (most days!) it feels like the news is coming in too fast to keep up. The pace of the news cycle can make it hard to see the forest for the trees: what’s truly a trend, versus a momentary hot-button issue? When you’re focused on your business, you may fear missing out on something that can have big impact.
Pocket can help put your mind at ease. If you find things that you would like to “read eventually,” the app lets you save it for later. With a browser extension in addition to the app, you can flag articles, videos, and websites for when you finally have time to do a deep dive into the topic at hand. Plus, the app lets you keep articles for reading offline — great news for anyone who needs something to look at while in airplane mode.
