Markets and Financial Investments

Code:

2MiF02

Acronym:

MFI

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Management Studies

Instance: 2020/2021 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Finance

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
ME	0	Bologna Syllabus	1	-	6	42	162
MIF	48	Official Syllabus after 2020-2021	1	-	6	42	162

Teaching language

English

Objectives

This course is designed to provide an understanding of financial markets and of the securities that are traded on them.
A well-functioning financial markets are a basic necessity for a well-functioning economy. Research in the area of financial markets is highly active and deals with issues continuously in the news and the subject of lively policy debate.
The first part of the course will discuss the basic role of financial markets, the types of financial assets and how they are traded.
The second part will cover the main strategies that investors can adopt. The working and regulatory environment affecting the financial investors will also be delineated.
Finally, in the last part of the course, we will examine some of the long-term trends in the financial markets.

Students successfully completing this course should have the necessary tools and understanding of the financial markets operations and the functions of financial markets in the economy.

Learning outcomes and competences

Students successfully completing this course should be able to:
1) identify the main financial markets and instruments and describe their main functions and characteristics;
2) discuss the evidence described in the scientific literature on the main variables that describe the functioning of financial markets (prices, trading volumes, etc.)
3)apply the various concepts of market efficiency based on the analysis of the evolution of the financial prices.

Working method

Presencial

Program

1. Introduction to the Financial Markets

1.1. Importance of the financial markets

1.2. The financial system

1.3. Functioning of the financial markets

 

2. Financial Investments

2.1. Money market instruments

2.2. Stocks

2.4. Other financial investments

 

3. Equilibrium in Financial Markets

3.1. Concepts of market efficiency

3.2. Two views about financial markets

3.3. Tests of market efficiency and anomalies

3.4. Current trends in finance

 

4. Investors, Investment Strategies and Regulation

4.1. Investors’ decisions

4.2. Investment strategies

4.3. Regulation of financial markets

 

5. Investing in Financial Markets: the Empirical Evidence 

5.1. The historical returns of bonds and stocks 

5.2. Long-term risk 

 

 

Mandatory literature

Fabozzi, Frank J., Franco Modigliani and Frank J. Jones; Foundations of Financial Markets and Institutions, Pearson, 2010
Siegel, Jeremy; Stocks for the Long Run, McGraw-Hill, 2008

Complementary Bibliography

Lobão, Júlio; Finanças Comportamentais – Quando a Economia encontra a Psicologia , Actual Editora, 2012

Teaching methods and learning activities

The class will be a mixture of lecture and discussion. Theories, practices, and real-world examples will be examined and analyzed.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Teste	65,00
Trabalho escrito	35,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	10,00
Estudo autónomo	90,00
Frequência das aulas	42,00
Trabalho de investigação	20,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Distributed evaluation with no final exam.

Calculation formula of final grade

Grades will be based on the exam (65%) and on the group work with final presentation (35%).

The students are required to have done the group work in order to have access to the exam (article 9, n. 1, a) of the grading rules).