Project#2: International Financial Markets

Project#2: International Financial Markets (Due on Feb. 21st)

The world’s financial markets have become a 24 hour-a-day business. Advances in technology and the Internet allow investors (serious or casual) and students to keep a constant watch over their affairs. Many websites allow users to get market information from around the world in just seconds. This cyberproblem uses CNNMoney (http://money.cnn.com) to learn more about global financial markets. **Please write down the date when you do the project.

a. Access the “Markets” section of the CNNMoney site. Was it good day for the U.S. financial markets? How did foreign markets do today? Are they correlated with U.S. markets?

b. Scroll down to “Sector performance”. Select several different industries and comment on how they performed today.

c. Select one firm from “gainers” and one from “losers”. Read today’s column and a couple of recent profiles by clicking on the symbol of the stock. What do you think about these companies’ prospects? Are these the kinds of companies you could invest in? Why or why not?

d. Click on “Currencies” and examine how exchange rates of various currencies have changed in recent three months. In general, have most currencies strengthened or weakened against the dollar over the last three months? Offer one or more reasons to explain the recent general movements in currency values against the dollar.

e. Does it appear that the Asian currencies move in the same direction relative to the dollar? Does it appear that the Latin American currencies move in the same direction against the dollar? Explain.