Preparing an Analysis of the Market

Create your portfolio. First, set out your investment objectives and decide how much risk you are willing to take. You may invest for yourself or for an imaginary client. If it is an imaginary client, you need to write the instructions he or she has given you with regard to the investment objectives and the risk tolerance level.

Construct a portfolio with a fictitious $1,000,000 using Yahoo finance Click My Portfolios and use the drop down menu to choose New Portfolios. Select 10 stocks that you think meet your investment objectives and decide how much to invest in each stock. The total should not exceed $1,000,000. You are to use the previous business day's closing price as your purchase price.

Post the investment objectives and the composition of the portfolio, with a brief explanation of your selection of stocks.

Keep track of the portfolio throughout the course. You are not to change the composition of the portfolio once it is constructed. This is not an investment competition. Rather, it is a vehicle for stock analysis. You will not be evaluated on the returns but on your analysis of the portfolio performance and the overall market.

In your market and portfolio analysis each week, include:

1. Summary of portfolio performance

2. Analysis of firm- and industry-specific causes of portfolio performance

3. Summary and analysis of market changes and their causes

4. Effect of market changes on the portfolio

Write your market and portfolio analysis as a 2-page report in a Word document formatted in the current APA style. You will retain this and each subsequent module's Portfolio entry in your own file. Then in the week that begins Module 7 you should start to assemble your tracking portfolio for a final analysis of how the investment performed over the length of this course. To help you in identification of your information This work will not be graded until combined and presented as a single analysis to be submitted in Module 8.
It will be worth 300 pts.
Name your document LastnameFirstInitial_M1_Portfolio.doc.
For example, if your name is John Smith, your document will be named SmithJ_M1_Portfolio.doc.
All written assignments and responses should follow APA rules for attributing sources.
Investment Portfolio Analysis Factors for this Module
Identified and explained the major factors driving the market during the week.
Identified and explained causes of changes in the market and the index.
Developed investment objectives and defined risk tolerance levels.
Created a portfolio by selecting 10 stocks and provided explanations for the selection.
Wrote in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrated ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources, displayed accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Analyze the market over the week. What was driving the market? What do you think caused the changes in the market and the Dow Jones? Did the market react quickly to news?

Continue to track your portfolio. What was the return on the portfolio and how did it compare with the market? Which stocks in your portfolio went up and which went down, and why? How were the stocks in your portfolio affected by the changes in the market, and by events in the companies or industries?

Write an analysis of the market and of your portfolio as a 4-page double-spaced report in a Word document formatted in current APA style.

You will retain this and each subsequent module's Portfolio entry in your own file. Then in the week that begins Module 7 you should start to assemble your tracking portfolio for a final analysis of how the investment performed over the length of this course. To help you in identification of your information This work will not be graded until combined and presented as a single analysis to be submitted in Module 8.

All written assignments and responses should follow APA rules for attributing sources.

Investment Portfolio Analysis Factors for this Module

Identified and explained the major factors driving the market during the week.

Identified and explained causes of changes in the market and the index.

Calculated the return on the portfolio over the week and compared portfolio return with market return.

Analyzed performance of stocks in portfolio and correlated stock performance to industry and market factors.

Wrote in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrated ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources, displayed accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.