Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

Report - Essay Example This difference is important to understand as it impacts not only businesses and investors but also governments in their policy formulation. This paper, therefore, aims to study whether different economic indicators influence large and small cap stocks by looking to answer the question: The key research question explored the relationship between economic indicators and stock prices small cap and as large cap companies in the US using available data for the last 10 years (from Jan 2001 to June 2011) based on 9 leading economic indicators and on two stock indices (one each for large and small cap stocks). The economic indicators were the independent variables while the stock price was the dependent variable in the multiple regression models developed for the two stock indices. Using public records, data were collected from publicly available financial statements of corporations. The proposed relationships were tested through regression analyses. Results indicated that the two stock cat egories are influenced by a different set of economic indicators except the Consumer Price Index, the Industrial Production Index (IPI), and the Consumer Confidence Index. The implication for economic change includes governments’ awareness of the need to monitor these factors as their Key Performance Indicators for measuring the impact and success of their past and future economic policy decisions on businesses. Table of Content Chapter 1Introduction 6 1.1Background and Context 6 1.2Objectives 6 1.3Achievements 7 1.4Overview of Dissertation 8 1.5Problem Description 8 Chapter 2Literature Review 10 Chapter 3Research Method 19 Chapter 4Data Analysis and Results 26 4.1Test of Variables 26 4.2Regression Analyses for the stock indices 26 4.2.1Regression analysis: S&P 500 27 4.2.2Regression analysis: S&P SmallCap 600 34 4.2.3Check for the predictability of regression models 43 Chapter 5Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations 46 5.1Summary 46 5.2Evaluation 49 5.3Future Work 51 R eferences 52 Appendix A: Normal distribution of dependent variables 55 Appendix B: Linearity of relation between economic indicators & S&P 500 56 Appendix C: Linearity of relation between economic indicators & S&P SmallCap 600 57 Appendix D: Clarification of concepts and terms 58 Qualifications & Experience 62 Abstract 1 Table of Contents 2 Chapter 1 Introduction 5 Chapter 2 Literature Review 9 Chapter 3 Research Method 18 Chapter 4 Data Analysis and Results 25 Chapter 5 Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations 43 References 49 Appendix A: Normal distribution of dependent variables 51 Appendix B: Linearity of relation between economic indicators & S&P 500 52 Appendix C: Linearity of relation between economic indicators & S&P SmallCap 600 53 Appendix D: Clarification of concepts and terms 54 Qualifications & Experience 58 List of Tables Table 1 9 Table 2 27 Table 3 28 Table 4 29 Table 5 29 Table 6 30 Table 7 34 Table 8 36 Table 9 36 Table 10 37 Table 11 38 Table 12 39 Table 13 39 Table 14 46 List of Figures Figure 1: Histogram of regression model residuals for S&P 500 32 Figure 2: Variance of residuals for S&P 500 regression model 32 Figure 3: Scatter plot of residuals for regression model for S&P