Economics Stock Market Project Spring Semester 2016

Project Date: January 25 – April 22, 2016 Project Due: May 2, 2016 Presentations: May 16-20, 2016 This is a semester long project that will be worked on in partnership. You will need to select three companies listed on the NYSE from which you will purchase 20 shares of stock per company at the closing rate on January 25, 2016. You will follow the fluctuations of this stock January 25 through April 22, 2016. You will sell your stock at the closing rate on April 22, 2016. Your written paper will contain:

• Three computer-drawn charts that graph your daily/weekly changes • A listing of daily changes • Three articles per company that reference the standing of your companies. The article

must be dated between June 2015 and May 2016. You may not pull articles off the Internet unless it is from a newspaper. Your company should NOT write the articles chosen. The date must be on the article, not handwritten.

• A written profile of your company that reflects 14 weeks of work. It should include the following categories: * A brief history of the company

* Current objectives or goals * Principal Products * Revenues from the previous year (2015) * Strengths/weaknesses * Threats/competition * Capital gain/loss of the stock you purchased * New products

* Your recommendation of investment potential (minimum of three reasons) You may want to contact a broker and seek advice on the companies you’ve chosen. You must contact corporate head office to secure the 2015 Annual Report. These may be available on the company’s website. Your 10-minute oral report will be an assimilation of the information you learned through your research. You should incorporate overheads, handouts, graphs and charts where necessary. You should assess the company’s performance and investment potential. Your presentations should be a recommendation to the class on the financial potential of two of your companies and why they should or should not invest in them. Include a minimum of three reasons why they should or should not invest. You will provide whatever means necessary to support your group’s contentions. Full group participation is expected. Standard format for PowerPoint presentations must be followed. Throughout the semester there will be check dates. These are dates on which you will be required to present the following material requested: Monday, March 7: listing of changes (January 25-March 4, 2016) Wednesday, April 6: two of three articles per company Wednesday, April 27: 2015 annual reports for each company Wednesday, April 27: listing of changes (January 25-April 22, 2016) As competent and responsible seniors, it is expected that you will avoid working on this project at the last moment. The quality of your project and presentation will be essential to receiving a passing grade on this assignment and should reflect a full semester’s amount of work. Late projects will not be allowed – even for excused absences.