Selected Articles in Finance - Term Paper Example

For example the CAC 40 Index gets its name from the 40 top stocks dominating the French stock exchange. The index rises and falls in line with the volume of stocks traded and the prices at which the trades are made. When the trend of prices is falling, the market is said to be bearish and when the trend of prices is rising, the market is said to be bullish. Like a business cycle with its peaks and troughs, the stock market also has similar tendencies (www.abcsofinvesting.net). The article by Joe Weisenthal dated 27 Sep 2010 claims that Apple and Microsoft have broken the Stock Market indices.

He bases his claim on the Nasdaq 100 index and states that it gives a weight of 20 percent to Apple, and 80 percent to all the other stocks. Similarly it is claimed that the DJIA gives too much weightage to Caterpillar and since it is trading at three times the value of Microsoft, the DJIA is similarly affected. This also impacts on the value of Exchange Traded Funds of ETF, which track the value of an index. Michael Corkery in his article of 04 August 2011 comments on the failure of city municipalities in the wake of the financial crisis that has swept America and states that cities like Central Falls in Rhode Island are benefitted by a new State Law that places bondholders ahead of other claimants.

Its principal problem remains the pension payments that are due to retired workers. On the other hand, the head of the workers union feels cheated that bondholders are being given a preference over workers in this connection (Corkery, 3). Besides firing workers and raising taxes to create funding, municipalities are now being assisted by firms like New York’s Class Green Capital Partners who not only help cities mortgage their public buildings but also part of the bond proceeds to help promote energy efficiency, which also helps them get around some restrictions regarding public building mortgages.

However their opponents maintain that it is just a way to cover deficit financing (Corkery, 3). Raice and Smith in their piece covering technology stocks as of 04 August 2011 write that the lackluster market is making firms reconsider offering their IPOs right now. The US Government too is considering cashing in its share of 26.5 percent of GM owned stock as the auto manufacturer’s stock has performed poorly. Meanwhile there is lack of investor demand and shares of newly floated IPOs like Pandora and LinkedIn –down 22% and 17% respectively- are also taking a beating (Raice & Smith, 1).

Talking about interest swap deals, some 700 business entities in Pennsylvania alone had made such deals in the wake of rising interest rates in 2003 and beyond. Under such a deal, the bank would pay them a higher fixed interest rate while the businesses paid back the bank a lower, floating rate of interest. But this scheme backfires when market interest rates begin falling, and the price to get out of such deals can also be prohibitive. Addressing the particular case of State College of Pennsylvania, the college had agreed to a swap of $58 million with Royal Bank of Canada in 2007 at a fixed rate of 3.

884 percent, while it paid RBC