We hypothesize two channels in which market volatility affects initial public offering (IPO) activity. First, CEOs time the market for IPOs and volatility makes this decision process harder. Second, risk-averse IPO investors become more reluctant towards IPOs during periods of higher volatility...

We present an active-learning computer exercise where students pick stocks for a portfolio. Using their selection of stocks, two different portfolios are created: 1) a portfolio that never rebalances and 2) a portfolio that continuously rebalances. They then calculate the rates of return and...

This paper examines the degree of correlation, and possible causation, between the US Dollar (against the Euro and the British Pound) and the US equity market indexes (the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ composite). The information utilized in this study is the 14 year period beginning in January 1999...

Purpose: As investors' fear have an impact on their risk-return tradeoff, this fear leaves markets susceptible to sudden and large fluctuations. Markets develop a long- run normal and regulatory actions should be different for non-normal trading days. Regulators should amend their precautionary...

Risk aversion theory is based on individuals' choice among risky assets with expected utility in its foundation. It is about investor behavior (i.e. investor choice), under normal circumstances, towards assets with various levels of risk. A positive and marginally diminishing relationship...

Four financial technical analysis tools are provided including moving averages, Bollinger bands, moving average convergence divergence (MACD) and the relative strength index (RSI). The tftools command is used with four subcommands, each referring to a technical analysis tool: bollingerbands,...

The 2008 financial crisis refocused investors' attention to several safe-haven assets, most notably gold and US Treasuries. We compare the role of these two assets as potential hedge instruments for thirteen major indexes' returns and their volatilities. Our study extends the literature by using...

Diversification and portfolio selection is an integral part of finance teaching. In this study, multi-factor Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is estimated for components of Dow Jones Composite Index using data from Yahoo! Finance. Along with CAPM's Beta, other statistics are calculated that...

These lecture notes are intended for finance students as supplements to textbooks. These notes are summaries and not textbook substitutes. Stata is used throughout. Each topic is provided as independent lecture notes that can be printed and handed out to students