Tentative Course Schedule - Emory University



Economics 433W (Fall 2017)“Advanced Financial Markets”TUE/THU 4:00-5:15pmClassroom: RICH 104Instructor: Prof. Bin WeiE-mail: bin.wei@emory.eduOffice Hours: Wed, 12:45pm-2:45pm, and by appointmentOffice: RICH 311BCourse description: This course provides an in-depth, technical study of financial markets and investments. We study measures of risk, capital allocation to risky portfolios, optimal portfolios, the capital asset pricing model, indicators of market efficiency, and valuation of various financial instruments.Textbook: Investments, 10th edition, by Bodie, Kane, and Marcus. This is the latest edition of this extremely popular text.The “W” component: Students will write an essay of about 15 (or more) pages or two shorter eassyes for the course in order to earn the ‘W’ designation. You can write an essay about a topic that interests you. Or you can base your essay on the projects (see below for more detail). The writing plan will be posted in Canvas.Attendance: Attendance in class is important, and you are expected to attend every class. If you have to miss a class for an excusable reason, please let me know before that class. Please do not make travel arrangements that will cause you to miss class or the final exam. If you cannot make class because you are ill or injured, please email me before class. I will not offer makeup quizzes or exams or drop grades after the fact.Phones:Please ensure that your phone is powered off and put away in your bag for the duration of puters: Computers are not allowed to be used in class, unless I ask you to do so. You should take notes with paper and pen/pencil.Recording devices: Please do not record class without explicit permission from me.Homework: There will be six homework assignments. You can access the homework and turn it in through Canvas. No late homework assignments will be accepted.Exams: I am planning on giving three exams during the semester. All exams will be closed-book tests and may test material that has been covered up to that point but will focus on the chapters since the previous test. You are allowed to bring one 8 ?”x11” page handwritten “formula-sheet”. There is no final exam during exam week. Unless I explicitly exclude something, exams and quizzes may cover any material presented in the assigned chapters, in assigned supplemental readings, and in lectures. Lectures often contain stories, examples, and anecdotes not discussed in the textbook, so be sure to take careful and complete notes. You should review all of your notes and readings on a continuous basis, as cramming doesn’t work very well for most people.Projects: There will be two projects that help students to apply classroom knowledge to real-world problems. In the first project, you will use real-world data and Excel to determine an optimal portfolio of stocks and the risk-free asset. You will then create the portfolio and track its performance. In the second project, you will design, implement, and evaluate an active investment portfolio. You will register a brokerage account on StockTrak, an online trading simulator. You will formulate an active investment strategy, select securities, execute trades, evaluate the performance. One idea for the writing assignment is to base the essay on these two projects. For example, you can describe your investment strategy and analyze the performance. The essay can be written, for example, as an “annual report” to communicate with clients and investors. Grading: Students will be graded on the basis of essay (15%), exams (45% total), projects (20% total), homework assignments (15% total), and participation (5%).participation (5%) + homework (15%) + 3 exams (3x15%) + 2 projects (2 x10%) + essay (15%)Contacting me: I am looking forward to getting to know all of you. You should see me after class or come to my office hours in order to discuss anything related to the course. If you cannot make it to my office hours, you may schedule an appointment by emailing me at least a day ahead of when you want to see me. You must include “Econ 433W” in the subject header of your message to ensure that I see your message and can therefore reply. I receive dozens of messages each day, so I can easily miss a message if it does not get filtered to my class mailbox. If you do not receive a reply from me within 24 hours, you should check that you used the right subject header!Tentative Course ScheduleClassTopicNote1 (8/24)Course Overview;Background and Issues in Investment (Chap 1)2 (8/29)Background and Issues in Investment (Chap 2)3 (8/31)Security Trading I (Chap 3)(9/4)Labor Day; No Class4 (9/5)Security Trading II (Chap 3) 5 (9/7)Basics of Risk and Return (Chap 5) HW1 Due6 (9/12)Portfolio Theory I (Chap 6)7 (9/14)Portfolio Theory II (Chap 6)8 (9/19)Portfolio Theory III (Chap 7); Review Session HW2 Due9 (9/21)First Exam 10 (9/26)Capital Asset Pricing Model I (Chap 9) 11 (9/28)Capital Asset Pricing Model II (Chap 9)12 (10/3)Capital Asset Pricing Model III (Chap 9)13 (10/5)Project 1 HW3 Due (10/9,10)Fall Break; No Class14 (10/12)EMH & Empirical Asset Pricing (Chap 11 & 13)15 (10/17)Bond Valuation I (Chap 14)16 (10/19)Bond Valuation II (Chap 14) & Review Session HW4 Due17 (10/24)Second Exam Project 1 DUE18 (10/26)Project 2 19 (10/31)Equity Valuation I (Chap 18)20 (11/2)Equity Valuation II (Chap 18)21 (11/7)Options Markets I (Chap 20)22 (11/9)Options Markets II (Chap 20) HW5 Due23 (11/14)Option Valuation I (Chap 21)24 (11/16)Option Valuation II (Chap 21)25 (11/21)Futures Market (Chap 22) (11/22-24)Thanksgiving; No Class26 (11/28)Review Session HW6 Due 27 (11/30)Third Exam Project 2 DUE28 (12/5)Finish Up Final Paper Due ................
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