Capital Markets (FINC 950) SyllabusPrepared by: Phillip A. Braun Version: 2.18.18

Syllabus – 2

Questions this Class Will Answer

This class will focus on answering this main question:

What is the best (optimal) investment portfolio for you to hold?

There are a lot of sub-questions to this main question that we will answer as we go through the class

Here are just a few examples:

Which securities should you hold, e.g. should you hold commodities in your portfolio?

How do you decide how to divide your investment dollars across different securities?

How do you know if a security is cheap to indicate you should buy it or expensive to indicate you should sell it?

Is this process different for different securities, e.g. stocks vs. bonds?

How can you manage the risk of your portfolio with options?

Syllabus – 3

Perspective of the Capital Markets Class

Critically, this class will answer these questions from a specific perspective that is most likely unfamiliar to most of you, but is how many portfolio managers invest today

Most of you are probably familiar with fundamental analysis (discounted cash flow analysis) and the concept of stock picking (a form of active investment management)

We will not learn fundamental analysis in this class, this is taught in Securities Analysis, FINC 463). We will, however, learn how to trade based on the information garnered from fundamental analysis

Our approach will use quantitative analysis which uses mathematical and statistical techniques to determine portfolio strategies

Please be aware that the approach we use includes a lot of regression analysis, which is essential to quantitative investing

Some of what we will study includes active investing; but, from a broad perspective that includes not just fundamental analysis, but also more quantitative approaches

Syllabus – 4

The prerequisites for this course are:

Knowledge of probability and statistics through multivariate regression

Fin I or Accelerated Corporate Finance (ACF)

Basic Excel (as used in Fin I) is necessary for some problems and cases we will do

When more advanced Excel concepts are needed, they will be taught as part of this class

Prerequisites

Syllabus – 5

Group Case Assignments

There are eight case assignments

Five of the case assignments are group assignments

At the end of the quarter, group members have the opportunity to evaluate one another

Syllabus – 6

You may recommend a group member(s) for a grade reduction from your group’s overall case grade

I will take the average grade reduction for a group member (across all group members) then apply this to their grade

For example, assume that your group’s overall case grade is 84%; if a group member receives an average reduction of 10%, then that group member would receive a 74% instead

You may not recommend that all of your group members receive a grade reduction

To submit a peer evaluation, simply email me the names of everyone in your group whom you would want to deduct points from and how much at the end of the quarter

Email me only if you want to downgrade a group member’s overall score

Peer Evaluation of Group Members

Syllabus – 7

Portfolio Simulations

We will conduct four portfolio simulations during the class, these are individual exercises

Except for the first simulation, the simulations involve analyzing your own portfolio. If you do not have an investment portfolio, you will learn how to create one in the first two weeks of the class

The portfolio simulations will use a trading platform developed at Wharton called OTIS. After classes start, see the announcement on Canvas on how to register for OTIS, it costs around $19.95

Note: You can only trade securities on OTIS when the actual markets in the US are open—so this excludes weekends and evenings

Furthermore, mutual funds and bonds only trade once a day at the end of trading hours

Because of this, you must complete your trades at least 18 hours before we discuss the simulation in class

Syllabus – 8

Assignments to Analyze Your Own Portfolio

The will be two (for some three) individual cases and three portfolio simulations to give you the opportunity to

1. Create a portfolio if you do not already have one (You will do this in the “Create Your Own Portfolio” case)

2. Give you the opportunity to analyze your current portfolio if you have one or the one you will create

As part of these exercises you need to provide me what US securities you are or will be investing in so that I can collect the necessary data for you

The tickers need to be listed out with one ticker per row

Instructions on how to find tickers is posted with the “Email Your Tickers to Prof Braun” assignment

Syllabus – 9

Quizzes

There will be seven online Canvas quizzes (one almost every week)

Each quiz will cover material we went over in the class the week before the quiz is due

The quizzes will be posted one-week before they are due (so that I know what material to quiz you on)

You can take each quiz as many times as you wish

Ideally until you get all the answers correct

In addition to the quizzes there are practice questions for each Module we study. These questions and their answers are posted on Canvas and are not graded

It is strongly recommended you do some of these practice questions in preparation for the exams

Syllabus – 10

The midterm and final exams are open-book and notes exams

You are allowed to use your laptop and any electronic or paper material you wish during the exam

You may not reach out to any person for help during the exam

Exams

Syllabus – 11

Investments, Zvi Bodie, Alex Kane, Alan Marcus, 10th Edition, McGraw Hill

Publishers textbook link

http://shop.mheducation.com/highered/product.M0077861671.html

From this link you will find different options to buy the textbook

Amazon textbook link

http://www.amazon.com/Investments-McGraw-Hill-Irwin-Finance-Insurance/dp/0077861671/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414691041&sr=1-2

OPTIONAL Textbook

Syllabus – 12

A course pack with the required cases is available for purchase and is posted on Canvas under the “Study.Net” tab

This course pack includes three cases

The other cases we will use will be provided to you free via Canvas

There are also additional recommended readings for some Modules that are posted under the “Files” “Additional Readings” tab on Canvas by Module or case

Other Material

Syllabus – 13

I am committed to providing you with a learning experience of the highest quality

Since this is a new class, I need your help

If you need something to help you learn better, please let me know

Please provide me with feedback via email throughout the term so that I can fix any problems and improve the quality of the class on an ongoing basis

For example, typos are never any good, but if you find any, please post them on the Canvas discussion board and hopefully save your classmates any frustration that you may have had

Just let me know what you need, what you might find helpful, and I will do my best to provide it

My Commitment

I will be very happy to make changes and adjustments as necessary to make this class a success for you

Course Topics, Recommended Readings, Cases, and Simulations

Syllabus – 15

Realized returns vs. expected returns

Risk

Details on some financial instruments: Different types of bonds, different types of stocks

Interest rate risk (duration)

Credit risk

Taxes and returns

Primer on trading: Market orders and limit orders

Buy-side market participants and their holdings: Households, mutual funds, dealers, brokers, hedge funds and high frequency traders

Readings:

The Wolf Hunters of Wall Street

Topic 1: Introduction to Financial Markets

Syllabus – 16

Topic 1 Case

Exchange-Traded Funds at Vanguard

Vanguard Group management, led by CEO John Brennan, was considering whether to launch exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in early 2000. ETFs, first created in the early 1990s, combined aspects of traditional mutual funds and closed-end funds. Because ETFs were exclusively index-tracking products, Vanguard, the largest index mutual fund company, had some potential expertise in managing ETFs. However, entering this market would present also unique challenges for Vanguard. Vanguard had a philosophy espousing low-turnover investing, while ETFs enabled short-term trading. The company would also need to develop a distribution network for ETFs. Finally, since Vanguard's mutual fund investors owned the company, management considered whether existing shareholders would benefit from an ETF product launch

Learning objective:

To educate students about how exchange-traded funds (ETFs) work, their differences from other types of mutual funds, and the strategic issues for ETFs going forward

Syllabus – 17

Topic 1 Portfolio Simulation

In the first portfolio simulation students will create a portfolio of one stock exchange traded fund and one bond mutual fund

This will be a baseline portfolio that will be used as a performance benchmark for the other portfolios created during the quarter

Syllabus – 18

Quick review of Fin 1 or Accelerated Corporate Finance (ACF) material on portfolio theory

Introduction to portfolio theory for when you are considering investing in more than two assets

Minimum-variance frontier

Capital allocation line and the tangent portfolio

Selecting the optimal portfolio with a utility function

Long term investing: Strategic investing (rebalancing) and tactical investing

Effective of homeownership on investment portfolios

Topic 2: Advanced Modern Portfolio Theory

Syllabus – 19

Topic 2 Case 1

Choosing Mutual Funds for Retirement Accounts (A)

Focuses on an individual's decision to participate in her firm's retirement plan and how to invest her contributions. The (A) case focuses on which mutual funds the participant should invest in. Plan participants have a choice of 24 mutual funds with different investment strategies. Includes data from Morningstar on the composition and performance of the different funds and historical data. Uses Northwestern’s new 403(b) plan as its example

Learning objective:

To expose students to the concepts of Sharpe ratios and mutual fund/exchange-traded fund fees and their role in selecting investments

Subjects covered:

Investments; Mutual funds; Pension plans; Personal finance; Retirement savings; Mutual fund and exchange-trade fund fees; Sharpe ratios

Syllabus – 20

Topic 2 Case 2

Creating Your Own Portfolio

This case is for students who do not currently have an investment portfolio. The case instructs students in how to create a hypothetical portfolio that they will analyze during the quarter

Learning objective:

To expose students to the principals security selection

Subjects covered:

Asset allocation; Asset management; Portfolio management;

Syllabus – 21

Topic 2 Case 3

Optimizing Your Portfolio

This case has you take your current investment holdings and then optimize the portfolio to increase its return while minimizing its risk. For those students who do not have an investment portfolio, the will use the portfolio they create in the “Creating Your Own Portfolio”

Learning objective:

To expose students to the principals of portfolio theory

Subjects covered:

Asset allocation; Asset management; Portfolio management;

Case reading:

Vanguard’s Diversification Strategy

Syllabus – 22

Module 2 Portfolio Simulations

In two different trading simulations students will use their investment portfolios (including the portfolios created in the “Create Your Own Portfolio” case)

The first simulation has students buy their current portfolio

The second simulation has students buy their optimized portfolio from the “Optimizing Your Portfolio” case

Across the term students will compare the performance of these two simulations to each other and to the baseline stock and bond portfolio created in the Module 1 simulation

Syllabus – 23

Introduction to futures

Discussion of mutual funds that include futures

Review of option payoff diagrams from Fin I/ACF

Option portfolio strategies: Protective puts, covered calls, collars, straddles, etc.

Discussion of mutual funds that include options

Topic 2: Using Derivatives in Your Portfolio

Syllabus – 24

Topic 3 Simulation

In this simulation students will take either their initial investment portfolio or their optimized portfolio and add futures or options to the portfolio to enhance the return of the portfolio and/or manage risk the risk of the portfolio

This portfolio will be compared to the other portfolios created during the term

Syllabus – 25

Topic 4: Factor Models

Multifactor models

Fama-French three-factor model

Carhart four-factor model

Fama-French five-factor model

Three factor model for bonds

Readings:

Characteristics, Covariances, and Average Returns

Dissecting Anomalies with the Five-Factor Model

Explorations in Factors Explaining Money Market Returns

Luck versus Skill in the Cross-Section of Mutual Fund Returns

Syllabus – 26

Topic 4 Case

AQR’s Moment Funds (A)

AQR is a hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut, that is considering offering a wholly new line of product to retail investors, namely the ability to invest in the price phenomenon known as momentum. There is a large body of empirical evidence supporting momentum across many different asset classes and countries. However, up until this point momentum was a strategy employed nearly exclusively by hedge funds, and thus not an investment strategy available to most individual investors. This case highlights the difficulties in implementing this "mutual funditizing" of a hedge fund product, along with the challenges that the open-end and regulatory features that a mutual fund pose to many successful strategies implemented in other contexts

Case readings:

Aspects of Investor Psychology: Beliefs, Preferences, and Biases Investment Advisors Should Know About

Fact, Fiction and Momentum Trading

Syllabus – 27

Performance evaluation with factor models

Indexing and how to create benchmark or factor portfolios

Investing based on forecasts of factors

Smart beta ETFs

What are they and the value added (if any) of investing in them

Topic 5: Applications of Factor Models

Syllabus – 28

Topic 5 Case

Smart Beta Exchange-Traded Funds and Factor Investing

iShares by Blackrock is considering launching an innovative investment management product in the rapidly evolving ETF space, a multifactor ETF. iShares is the world market leader in the overall ETF market, as well as the newer smart beta ETF market. To understand the motivation for this product they reviewed recent academic literature on what are relevant factors that drive investment returns and factor investing. iShares needed to determine if this new multifactor ETF had value added over the ETFs they already sold

Learning objective:

To examine the launching of an innovative factor-based smart beta ETF in the investment management industry

Subjects covered:

Competitive strategy; Corporate strategy; Financial instruments; Investment management; Investments; Smart beta exchange-traded funds

Syllabus – 29

Topic 6: Arbitrage and Active Trading

Law of one price

Law of no arbitrage

Arbitrage trading with stocks

Arbitrage trading with bonds

Active trading with the CAPM

Active trading with the arbitrage pricing theory (APT)

Syllabus – 30

Topic 6 Case

Deutsche Bank: Finding Relative Value Trades

Deutsche Bank's Fixed Income Research Group is looking for yield curve trades to pitch to clients as well as for their proprietary trading desk. The group has data on recent bond trades and a proprietary term structure model, which they can use to develop trading ideas

Learning objective:

To help students understand how the sales and trading function works within an investment bank. To have a qualitative discussion of the motivations and incentives of sell-side firms and the various functions within these firms as well as how these firms interact with clients. Also how to spot potential arbitrage opportunities along the yield curve

Subjects covered:

How bond trading desks work; Trading bonds against theoretical prices; Risks inherent in trading against theoretical prices (model risk)