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I. Course Description
This course is going to introduce different types of investment
instruments, such as mutual funds, common stocks, fixed income securities like bonds,
derivative securities like options, warrants, futures, and convertible securities. At the
beginning of each class meeting, I discuss "What is news" keeping
students informed about updated economic news, FOMC possible move on interest rate,
upcoming important earning announcements, merger/acquisition announcements, and other
corporations announcements. Especially, students are encouraged to participate in
discussing current news in financial markets. This course is designed to provide an
appropriate combination of theoretical knowledge with practical issues in the arena of
investment.
In addition, this class requires students to work on a group project.
In the past, different projects have been assigned to my FIN 350 classes. The previous
projects including Evaluating portfolio performance, Evaluating mutual funds
performance, Examining market response to stock split announcements, Examining the stock
price reaction of merger announcements on acquiring firms and target firms, Are the
internet stocks really "overpriced?", Cross- industry examination on post-IPO
performance, and Examining the market reaction to earning surprises.
The topic of a group project of this semester is "Investigating
Price Volatility and Trading Volume Volatility when Firms Adding to S&P 500
Index". Please refer to the project guideline for detailed description. Students are
often required to report the progress of their projects. At the end of semester, students
have to document their findings in their written reports and give an oral presentation.
II. Course Objective
The purpose of this course is designed to help students understand
the fundamental investment knowledge and further develop problems solving skills. The
methodology used to achieve this objective is the active involvement in a hand-on group
project. Students are expected to apply investment knowledge and relevant financial
empirical models taught in class to the group project. Through the whole semester,
students are strongly encouraged to communicate the ongoing progress of their projects
with the instructor. This learning experience should be interactive rather than passive.
While the project focuses on a particular finance subject, all
discussion should be related to a global business environment, including but not limited
to finance, economics, marketing, management, technology, politics, etc. Thus, enhancing a
better understanding of firms business operation as well as strategic decisions making
processes, students are expected to read daily business news (on paper or on internet) and
particularly pay much more attention to the headline news occurred in market. At the end,
students with solid performance in this course are expected to thrive in a real corporate
world.
III. Course Organization
Course Material - The required text is
Charles Jones, "Investments, Analysis and Management",
John Wiley & Songs, Inc.,
7th edition.
The recommended computer skill and other supplementary readings
Microsoft application (Word, Power Point and Excel)
Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Internet electronic sources (ex.
Yahoo business summary, stock quotation, CBS Market Watch, CNN financial news, etc.)
All supplementary teaching material and notes will be distributed in
the class. Problems solving will be demonstrated in class. In addition, text reading will
be assigned in class. Since all the above requirements will be included in exams, for
students missing the class, they need to ask for copies of distributed material and notes
from the instructor or their classmates.
Course Evaluation
Participation
(attendance, text readings and class discussion)
40
points
Assignment/Quiz (each is 10 points and can drop the lowest score) 60
points
Written Project (presentaiton/30 points and paper/70 points)
100 points
Three Exams (drop the lowest score)
200
points
Final (Comprehensive)
150
points
Total points
550
points
Course Policy
All drop-add policy complies with the University/College rules.
The written project can be an individual project but a group project is
preferred. The maximum number of people in one group is 5.
The maximum length of the project report is 20 pages not including
the tables, figures or other supplementary notes. The first page of the project report is
an executive summary, which provides a brief summarized findings and conclusions.
Late project report will be penalized 40 points. Late project
report is defined as the report should be submitted no latter than ONE day grace period
(before 5:00 pm) after the original due date. The project report will NOT be accepted if
it is submitted after this grace period.
Dates of changing exams and other information concerning exams will
be announced in the class. Most importanly, instructor reserves the right to change the
syllabus based on the progress made in the class.
NO MAKE-UP EXAMS.
ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY
IV. Course Outline
DATE |
CHAPTERS |
Topics |
8/28 |
1 |
Introduction Understanding Investments |
9/4 |
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Labor Day (Campus Closed) |
9/11 |
2
3 |
Investment Alternatives Investment Companies
Project Introduction |
9/18 |
3
4 |
Investment Companies Securities Markets |
9/25 |
4
5 |
Securities Markets How Securities are Traded |
10/2 |
5
6 |
How Securities are Traded The Returns and Risks
from Investing
Ex #1 Review |
10/9 |
6
7 |
Exam #1 The Returns and Risks from Investing
Expected Return and Risk |
10/16 |
7
21 |
Expected Return and Risk Portfolio Management |
10/23 |
17 |
Options |
10/30 |
17
16 |
Options Exam #2 Review
Technical Analysis |
11/6 |
18 |
Exam #2 Futures |
DATE |
CHAPTERS |
Topics |
11/13 |
18
8 |
Futures Bond Yields and Bond Prices/ Appendix 8-A |
11/20 |
8
10 |
Bond Yields and Bond Prices/ Appendix 8-A Common
Stock Valuation
Ex #3 Review |
11/27 |
12 |
Ex #3 Market Efficiency |
12/4 |
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Project Presentation/Project Due |
12/11 |
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Final Exam (7:15pm 9:15pm) |
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