Band 8+: Write a report with this question: The graph shows the value in US dollars (in millions of dollars) of investment in funds of four categories from 1988 to 2014.

The line graph illustrates how much money (in millions of US dollars) was invested in funds of four categories between 1988 and 2014.

Overall, all categories saw increases in money spent on funds with the greatest rise seen in gold. Despite a noticeable decrease at the end of the period, gold received a higher spending than other categories while property allocated the lowest portion of investment in its fund.

Looking first at the period from 1988 to 1994, all categories saw moderate increases. Company shares and property started at 50 million dollars, with minor fluctuations, and the gap between them narrowed significantly during these years. Gold consistently held the leading position, peaking at around 140 million dollars in 1994 despite a great decrease in 1992, when it fell to the same level as company shares. Meanwhile, the value of fine art investments hovered around the initial level of 90 million dollars until 1996.

Turning to the next 6 years, company shares surged to 160 million dollars in 1996 while property dropped slightly to 60 million dollars. In 2002,both categories had a steady increase, at around 170 million dollars and 80 million dollars respectively. Money invested in gold decreased from 40 million dollars in 1996 to 100 million dollars in 1998. The similar trend was seen in the figure for fine art, which also fell, and then fluctuated between around 50 and 100 from 1998 to 2002, making it the lowest among the four categories at that time.

Moving finally to the last ten years, there were significant growths in funds of all categories. In 2004, the amount of money spent on gold started at 150 million dollars, with subsequent increases to 450 million dollars in 2012 before falling slightly to 370 million dollars in 2014. Similar changes, but to a lesser extent, were seen in the figure for fine art, which decreased considerably from 180 million dollars to 100 million dollars from 2004 to 2006. Then it followed a strong upward trend, nearly reaching 350 million dollars, narrowing the gap with gold. The investment in company shares’ fund was at 200 million dollars in 2004, then increased slightly to 250 million dollars and remained unchanged until 2014. Despite showing a higher rise from 110 million dollars to 180 million dollars over the same period, property was continually the lowest among four types of investment.