2302 Assignments

ASSIGNMENTS - FINANCE 2302

	This is a list of assignments that will be reviewed and collected in class. These assignments plus those from the Wall Street Journal are worth 20% of your semester grade (see the syllabus for particulars). Most of the assignments listed here can be done NOW. DO THE ASSIGNMENTS AS EARLY IN THE SEMESTER AS YOU CAN. I do not accept late assignments.
	If you are making notes on the assignment pages, print one copy for you and your notes, one copy for me to pick up for credit. I do not return these assignments.

	1. When we cover the Time Value of Money, click here, this link is to the pdf file that we will need to discuss risks and returns of stocks and bonds. We will discuss this market data toward the end of the Time Value discussion. [PRINT IT NOW!]
	2. Find the "Means Explained" page on this site: http://www.markrosa.com/means_explained.htm. Print this and bring it to class. We will need this for our return calculations.
	3. Print the Mutual Fund notes and bring them to class. When introduction to investment courses were getting introduced to university campuses (early 1980's), the mutual fund industry was just getting started. Many mutual fund terms are now known routinely. Bringing the notes to class will help us go through these terms, making sure that we are all aware of what they mean, and devote some of that saved time to marketable securities and their valuation. Additionally, click on these links to retrieve two .pdf files on Mutual Fund tables. Print them for class. Mutual Fund Table #1. Mutual Fund Table #2.

	4. Print the Mutual Fund chart on Types and Objectives that appears in the mutual fund notes. Bring the chart to class.
	5. Go to www.wsj.com and to the Market Data Center. Under the Mutual Fund tab, there will be a link called: Performance Yardsticks: How Fund Categories Stack Up. Click that link, print that report, bring it to class.

	6. BONDS: Go to www.wsj.com, and to the Market Data Center
	Toward the top of that page is a tab “Bonds, Rates & Credit Markets.” Click that link and print that main page as we will need this for several aspects of the bond section of the course.
	On the right side of the main page under “Bonds, Rates & Credit Markets,” there will be several links. Under the heading “Quotes & Trading Statistics” find the link “Corporate Bonds: Most Actives.” Click that link. Once the page displays of the most active bonds, there is a link at the top of the page that says “Print this page,” do so and bring this page to class.

	7. BONDS: Go to www.wsj.com, and to the Market Data Center,
	Toward the top of that page is a tab “Bonds, Rates & Credit Markets.”
	On the right side of the main page under “Bonds, Rates & Credit Markets,” there will be several links. Under the heading “Quotes & Trading Statistics” find the link “Treasury Quotes” and the one under it “Treasury Strips” Click each of those links, print those respective pages, bring them to class.

8. BONDS: Go to the page on this site for US Treasury Securities: http://www.markrosa.com/govt__bonds.htm. Print that page and bring it to class. The chart on US Treasury debt will help when these issues are explained.

	9. STOCKS: on the internet, go to http://finance.yahoo.com place a ticker symbol for Google (GOOG) in the box labeled "enter symbol(s)" then click "go." PRINT THAT PAGE. (This link may not work since it does not begin with 'www,' If that link does not work, simply type it into your browser.)
	Click the "chart" link to the right of the stock data. A chart of the company will come up for the past year's stock movements. You can compare the stock's performance to the major indexes and the Dow by checking the boxes marked S&P, NASDAQ and DOW, then click "compare." PRINT THAT PAGE.
	You can also compare that stock's graph to any other stock by entering a ticker symbol for another stock in the open box (to the left).

	10. STOCKS: The VALUE LINE INVESTMENT SURVEY is one of the best sources of investment information available. It is FREE to us at UNO. Print the following pages:
	[UNO has a subscription, what used to be available online was moved inside of the library. Go to the circulation desk and ask for the Value Line Investment Survey. The reference librarian sign out to you a large book of all of the stocks that Value Line covers, then you can browse the information.]
	a) The "front" page; (Also called the Summary and Index Section) it will have three large boxes in the center of the page with the market's P/E ratio, dividend yield and market appreciation potential.
	b) There will be a page of "Timely Stocks." A single page with 100 stocks listed on it.
	c) Find the following company's individual pages and print them: Time-Warner (Formerly America Online (TWX), Corning (GLW), General Motors (GM) and IBM (IBM). Print each of them. There is only one page per stock. We need these for stock valuation.
	Here are examples of the pages for this assignment (assignment #10), you cannot use these for credit for this assignment but you can see what the actual pages look like: VALUE LINE ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE PAGES.

	11. When we are covering The Securities Business and Brokerage Firms, print out my notes on the subject. There is a button specifically for this topic on this website.
	There is an article that is referred to on the bottom of the notes on Securities Business and Brokerage Firms about Short Selling. Read the article.

	12. When we cover Brokerage Firms: Go to the Online Journal (www.wsj.com), look to the upper-right portion of the home page, click the tab “MARKET DATA & TOOLS.” Click the first selection in the drop-down menu: “Markets Data Center.”
	Toward the top of that page is a tab “U.S. Stocks."
	On the right side of the main page under “Quarterly/Monthly Snapshots" click on "Short Interest Highlights." Click that link and print the resulting pages, bring them to class.

	13. OPTIONS ASSIGNMENT: Back to http://finance.yahoo.com. Input ticker symbol for Google (GOOG) and click "go." On the left side of the screen, click "options" . This will display the "option's chain" (a list of current options). PRINT IT. [There may be more than one page.]
	Read the articles that I have included on the site about Dell Computer company and their use of options. Questions on these articles may be included on the final exam.

14. For Option Valuation we will need statistical factors. Go to: http://www.markrosa.com/t_table.htm and print that page.