Blue chips

Blue chips are stocks of well known companies that are internationally recognized. These sell widely and are financially stable. Usually blue chips companies sell high quality, widely used and sold products or services. They are generally more volatile that other stocks and have less risk at failure; they demonstrate the ability to pay dividends in both good and bad times. Generally, all Dow Jones stocks are considered blue chips.

The name blue chip comes from the game of poker, where the blue chips have the highest value. Similarly, blue chip stocks are considered to be more valuable.

The BSE SENSEX

The BSE SENSEX is a value-weighted index composed of 30 stocks and was started on January 1, 1986. The Sensex is regarded as the pulse of the domestic stock markets in India. It consists of the 30 largest and most actively traded stocks, representative of various sectors, on the Bombay Stock Exchange. These companies account for around fifty per cent of the market capitalization of the BSE. The base value of the Sensex is 100 on April 1, 1979, and the base year of BSE-SENSEX is 1978-79. As of 5 April 2011, market capitalisation of Sensex was just under $600 billion.

Portugal; Economic crisis, Educational crisis

These days, one of the large problems in Europe is Portugal. The poorest country in Western Europe is on the brink of an international bailout, which would be the third in the euro zone after Greece and Ireland.

To this, adds the fact that Portugal’s Prime Minister José Socrates resigned on Wednesday after the parliament rejected his plan for spending cuts and tax increases.

Supposedly, Portugal is going to run out of money this year and will need an international bailout. Portugal’s main problem has been huge amounts of debt that the country could no longer hold. This year, the government debt will reach 90% of the GDP.

One of the most important problem in Portugal is the human capital. It is the least educated country in Western Europe, with just 28% of its population (25 to 64 years) with a high school degree. There is a 37.1% high school drop-out, which is way higher than the average 20% and Germany’s 2.8%. This has emerged as a huge problem in Portugal now. As Portugal has large debts that it needs to pay off with long-term growth,  an unskilled work force makes this very hard.

The issue about education is not one that can be solved quickly. The cuts that come in relation with a bailout and that are necessary for the recovery only make this task harder. It is, however, on the top of the list of the reforms needed to fix the economy and Mr. Sócrates made it clear that investing in education was a priority for the country.