Decide first what you want to do , invest or speculate ? If you invest ,you will never loose money in the long run.. Investing is to grow (i.e secure original investment amount and earn reasonable profit ).. I see people using different methods to speculate (like news catalyst ,candle sticks ,geometry shapes etc) .I personally spend lot of time on company's products/services,key statistics and financial statements before investing
Markets (DOW,S&P 500 and NASDAQ) are all time high and there are many under valued companies.. Search for 'investment for beginners'. There are plenty of materials.. Start learning the basics.. You will come across many investment terminologies.. Learn about those as well..It's a rewarding process in the long run..
Sectors like Tech,consumer discretionary,healthcare ,industrial and financial will grow in the long run .. Demand is huge in these sectors.. If you want to create your own portfolio, choose the individual stocks from these sectors based on criteria like Market Capitalization ,earnings ,CASH Flow etc ( the basics on these are easily available on internet)
Also ,there are good low expense ratio ETFs to put money on while you are learning about investing..
Good Luck..
