Course Detail (Course Description By Faculty)

This course is designed to provide a foundation for the fundamental concepts in investments. Topics covered include models of risk and return (including the CAPM and multifactor models); stock and bond valuation; the term structure of interest rates; portfolio selection based on mean-variance analysis; performance evaluation; market efficiency and derivative security pricing (including options, futures, and forwards). Students who master the course material will acquire the analytical tools and financial theory necessary for making good investment decisions and understanding the paradigms by which financial securities are valued. 

Although this course doesn’t have any formal prerequisites, this class could be very challenging if taken with limited mathematical and economic background. Having knowledge of the following material is recommended:

• Statistics at the level of STATS 23400
• Calculus at the level of MATH 150’s/160’s
• Some linear algebra
• ECON 200-201

Cannot enroll if BUSN 20400 taken previously.

• Lecture slides/handouts: Lecture slides will be posted on Canvas. 
• Textbook: Bodie, Zvi, Alex Kane, and Alan Marcus, Investments, McGraw Hill

The course requirements are a midterm exam, a final exam and five graded problem sets. Your course grade will be determined by the maximum of Methods A and B below. 

Notice that class attendance and participation are not graded, but highly encouraged.