Financial Markets
General knowledge
Bonds
Stocks
Mystery box
100

Explain what is a primary and secondary market. What is the difference?

Original issue of financial securities is sold via primary market through public offering of private placement.

Existing securities are traded on secondary market.

100

Which security is used more often to raise external capital: bonds or shares? Why?

Bonds are used more often.

Reason: cheaper to issue, tax advantage.

100

If a bond is callable, what does it mean?

Callable bonds can be paid by the company to the investor before the maturity at a certain price.
100

$1.455 trillion

100

At the time of IPO how such was Facebook's market valuation?

$104 billion

200

What is IPO

Initial Public Offering

Sale of shares investors through primary market 

200

Name 2 grades of credit rating.

Investment grade

Junk bonds/speculative

200

9.98%

2047

200

What was the lowest Price of NVIDIA during the last year and in which month exactly?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1epLZl88WFw9V2mbkxjNhFb2oB5ZA3NLB/view?usp=sharing

Price: $95.04

Month: April 2025, but May 2025 is acceptable.

200

Explain the bidding process by investors for IPO shares.

Give an example in numbers.

Bidding process is when investors request to purchase for more shares than they expect to receive.

Request to purchase: 1 million shares

Actually receive: 0.5 million shares

300

What is Due Diligence? And when is it performed?

Due diligence is detailed study of the company. It is carried out by an investment bank/underwriter before the IPO or major investment.

300

Name 3 credit rating companies.
Define what they do.

Standard and Poor's
Moody's
Fitch

Provide credit rating for the bonds of corporations and governments.

300

Name at least 4 components of the bond.

Face value/ Par value

Ticker

coupon rate

coupon payment

Price

Maturity

YTM


300
​Name:

Ticker

Today's Price 

Yesterday's Price

% change from yesterday


Ticker: AAPL

Today's Price: $253.50

Yesterday's Price: $258.86

% change from yesterday: -2.07%

300

How much was the fees Morgan Stanley and other companies in syndicate earn for taking Facebook public? 

$176 Million

400
Define underwriter and syndicate.

Underwriter is an investment bank that helps a corporate sell its securities and deal with markets.


Syndicate is a group/network of underwriters (investment banks) that help market the security

400
Mention 2 groups of investors:


who prefer dividend payout 

who dont want a dividend payout


Provide reasons.

Small investor prefer payout because they are motivated by consistent cash flow from earnings.

Wealthy investor prefer no payout, or non-cash payout to avoid taxes.

400

Explain Seesaw effect:

Bond Price and YTM relationship

Price ↑ → Yield ↓

Price ↓ → Yield ↑

400

What is a dividend?

What is a dividend policy?

Dividends are earnings of the company distributed to the shareholders as cash or stock.

Dividend policy is a framework/documents that determines how much of the profit is to be paid out as dividends and how much is to be retained and reinvested into the business. 

400

Based on the Facebook IPO case, explain why and against who investors filed lawsuits 

Give 2 reasons

1. against NASDAQ for technical issues

2. against Facebook and underwriters for not disclosing lower forecasts

500

Explain the following corporate actions:

Stock split 3:1

Reverse stock split 1:3

Spinoff

Merger and acquisition

Stock split: each share receives 2 more

Reverse stock split: 3 shares become 1

Spin off: subsidiary breaks off from main company and share separate

M&A: One company buys another one and this is reflected in the price.

500

Give 5 differences between bonds and stocks

-debt vs equity

-fixed vs non-fixed payments

-no ownership vs ownership

-no voting rights vs voting rights

-priority claim vs lower priority in claim

-lower risk vs higher risk

-lower return vs higher return

500

Exxon Mobil bond with $1,000 face value has a coupon rate of 4 percent and a 7-year life before maturity. Investors require at least 6% annual return.

Calculate Bond price. Explain why it differs from Face Value.

$887.

500

Give 4 differences between preferred stock and common stock

-fixed vs non-fixed dividends

-no ownership vs ownership

-no voting right vs voting rights

-higher claim vs lower claim

500

Based on the Facebook IPO case, explain why the Price of the stock fell during the first days and the first quarter.

Mention at least 4 reasons.

1. Technical issues at NASDAQ due to high volume that delayed trade

2. Company offered more shares that investors expected

3. IPO price was higher than expected ($38 instead of $35)

4. Bankers reduced future earnings estimates of Facebook

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