International Investing Project Assignment

This project allows you to learn more about international investing and about firms that compete in the global arena. You will be asked to create a stock portfolio of at least two U.S.-based multinational corporations (MNCs) and two foreign stocks. You will monitor the performance of your portfolio over the semester and ultimately will attempt to explain why your portfolio performed well or poorly relative to the portfolios created by other students in your class. The explanations will offer insights on what is driving the valuations of the U.S. -based MNCs and the foreign stocks over time.

Step 1: Form your portfolio

1. Select two stocks of US.-based MNCs: If you want to review a list of possible stocks or do not know the ticker symbol of the stocks you want to invest in, go to the website http://biz.yahoo.com/i/, which lists stocks alphabetically, or to http://biz.yahoo.com/p/, which lists stocks by sectors or industries. You can select an industry; Click on "More Info" on the right most and then click on "Company Index". You will see a list of companies in this industry.

Requirements on US-based MNCs:

a). The firms are from different industries
b). The firms must conduct a substantial amount of international business.

2. Select two foreign stocks: Select two foreign stocks that are traded on US stock exchanges. Many foreign stocks are traded on US stock exchanges as American depository receipts (ADRs), which are certificates that represent ownership of foreign stock. ADRs are denominated in dollars, but reflect the value of a foreign stock, so an increase in the value of the foreign currency can have a favorable effect on the ADR's value. To review a list of ADRs in which you may invest, go to http://www.adr.com/, and click on DR Search. Then you can select ADRs. Alternatively, you can select foreign stocks from the list of ADRs (Excel file) posted on class website on Canvas.

Requirements on ADRS: The ADRs that you select must meet the following requirements as we need to compare the stock performance with the local stock index in Step 3.

a). Listed on NYSE or NASDAQ
b). Not from the same foreign country
c). The firms are based in any of the countries shown on the website

https://finance.yahoo.com/world-indices

The match of country and index code is shown below:

1. Argentina               ^MERV
2. Brazil                     ^BVSP
3. Canada                  ^GSPTSE
4. Mexico:                  ^MXX
5. Australia                ^AORD
6. Japan                    ^N225
7. China                     ^SSEC
8. India                      ^BSESN
9. Indonesia               ^JKSE
10. Malaysia               ^KLSE
11. New Zealand         ^NZ50
12. Singapore            ^STI
13. Taiwan                 ^TWII
14. HongKong            ^HSI
15. South Korea         ^KS11
16. Austria                 ^ATX
17. Belgium                ^BFX
18. France:                ^FCHI
19. Germany              ^GDAXI
20. Nitherlands           ^AEX
21. Norway                ^OSEAX
22. Italy                    ^MIBTEL
23. Spain                  ^SMSI
24. Sweden               ^OMXSPI
25. Swiss                  ^SSMI
26. England               ^FTSE
27. Egypt                  ^CCSI
28. Isreal                   ^TA100
29. United States       ^GSPC

Click on any company listed to review background information, including a description of its business and its stock price trend over the last year. It is assumed that you will invest $10,000 in each stock that you purchase.