Exam II - Chapter 20 Flashcards
What is a “bottoms-up” approach to selecting securities?
Does not use
- Perceived economic cycles
- Industry specific information
What classifies a “top-down” analysis?
- Money managers take a “big picture” perspective of the global economy
- Potential investments are funneled into smaller and smaller groups
What are the 5 components of the top down analysis funnel?
- All possible companies in which to invest
- Global economic analysis
- Industry Analysis
- Company Analysis
- Selected Investments
What is the definition of GDP?
GDP is the market value of goods and services produced over a time period.
What is GDP an indicator of?
GDP is an indicator, or measure, of the standard of living for people in a country.
On what basis is GDP usually reported?
Nominal basis
What type of GDP do economists prefer to focus on?
- Many economists prefer to focus on real GDP
- Real GDP is nominal GDP adjusted for inflation.
What is the advantage of using real GDP?
Using Real GDP makes it easier to compare standard of living across time periods.
Why is real GDP useful for investors?
Real GDP is a better growth measure than nominal GDP when using expected growth rates for investments on a country wide level.
What is the relationship between GDP and market values?
- Significantly correlated.
- Countries with the highest GDP also have the highest equity market valuations.
- The correlation value is .97—almost perfectly positive.
Most economists rely on a group of _____ economic indicators for accurate forecasts of future economic conditions.
leading economic indicators
10 Examples of leading economic indicators:
- Manufacturing Hours
- Unemployment claims
- Manufacturing orders
- Supplier deliveries
- Nondefense capital goods orders
- Private Housing Permits
- Stock Prices, S&P 500
- M2 money growth
- Index of consumer expectations
- Interest rate spread, 10 yr treasury less federal funds rate
4 Examples of coincident indicators:
- Employees on nonagricultural payroll
- Personal income less transfer payments
- Industrial production
- Manufacturing and trade sales
7 Examples of lagging indicators:
- Average duration of unemployment
- Trade inventories to sales ratio
- Index of labor cost per unit of output
- Prime rate charged by banks
- Loans outstanding
- Ratio of consumer credit outstanding to personal income
- Change in consumer price index
Does the stock market normally reflect current economic conditons?
The stock market is typically looking about six months ahead, making it difficult to invest ahead of the market.
Economists divide the nonmilitary working-age population into what three groups?
- Employed
- Unemployed (Seeking Employment)
- Unemployed (Not Seeking Employment)
The labor force is defined as:
All nonmilitary working-age people who are employed or unemployed (but seeking employment).
The unemployment rate is:
The percentage of the labor force that is unemployed but seeking employment.
The labor force participation rate equals:
The labor force divided by the nonmilitary working-age population.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is widely used to:
Measure inflation