Mutual fund tracking assignment
Each student will be given 2 mutual funds, 1 from the stock mutual fund list and 1 from the bond mutual fund list. Invest $10,000 in each fund.

Use a table format (example provided on Pilot) to record the initial number of shares purchased and closing price of each investment as of the close of the stock market on Friday of each week beginning with Friday, September 4 until the Friday, November 6, 2015 (10 weeks). You can access this information at the library using The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Investor’s Business Daily or other research material in the finance laboratory, Rike 294, and through different on-line services. You may find the MSN Money or Yahoo Finance sites particularly helpful.
• Complete an Investment Data and Analysis Sheet (sample provided) for each of your mutual funds. The information can be found on Morningstar data sheet provide in class or at www.library.morningstar.com which is accessible from any computer in Rike Hall. In addition to the fund information, do the following:
1. Calculate the “low/high” ratio for each investment during the time you were investing (low/high ratio = divide the lowest observed price of each investment on any Friday close by the highest observed for the same investment). Show your work and explain what the ratio tells you about the fund.
2. Based on the above ratios, what conclusions would you make about each investment and their suitability for either short-term, intermediate term or long-term goals? Explain your rationale.
3. Calculate the total return, and annualized total return (annualized holding period yield) for each investment. Show your work.
4. Explain how in the future, when making your own investment decisions, you will decide on what investments to use for which term goal.
5. Write a short essay, typically 3-4 pages analyzing the risk and return characteristics of ONE of you funds according to the outline provided in Pilot.

Mutual fund tracking assignment
Each student will be given 2 mutual funds, 1 from the stock mutual fund list and 1 from the bond mutual fund list. Invest $10,000 in each fund.

Use a table format (example provided on Pilot) to record the initial number of shares purchased and closing price of each investment as of the close of the stock market on Friday of each week beginning with Friday, September 4 until the Friday, November 6, 2015 (10 weeks). You can access this information at the library using The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Investor’s Business Daily or other research material in the finance laboratory, Rike 294, and through different on-line services. You may find the MSN Money or Yahoo Finance sites particularly helpful.
• Complete an Investment Data and Analysis Sheet (sample provided) for each of your mutual funds. The information can be found on Morningstar data sheet provide in class or at www.library.morningstar.com which is accessible from any computer in Rike Hall. In addition to the fund information, do the following:
1. Calculate the “low/high” ratio for each investment during the time you were investing (low/high ratio = divide the lowest observed price of each investment on any Friday close by the highest observed for the same investment). Show your work and explain what the ratio tells you about the fund.
2. Based on the above ratios, what conclusions would you make about each investment and their suitability for either short-term, intermediate term or long-term goals? Explain your rationale.
3. Calculate the total return, and annualized total return (annualized holding period yield) for each investment. Show your work.
4. Explain how in the future, when making your own investment decisions, you will decide on what investments to use for which term goal.
5. Write a short essay, typically 3-4 pages analyzing the risk and return characteristics of ONE of you funds according to the outline provided in Pilot.