78159 - Financial Products and Markets

Learning outcomes

At the completion of the course, students will be equipped with the fundamental concepts of financial market analysis, from within the perspective of corporate financing and risk management. This includes the ability to apply these concepts to financial decision making and interpret the market evidence related to the investment field

Course contents

Financial Products and Markets (78159) will provide students with an overview of financial markets and the valuation of securities traded therein, with a focus on the use of such instruments by corporations for financing and risk management. The course will start presenting the financial system and a taxonomy of the type of securities traded in financial markets. The single asset classes will be then studied, including fixed-income securities, forward and futures, swaps, and options. The last part of the course will deal with the use of futures and options for risk management.

Readings/Bibliography

The main textbook of the course is the following.

• Hull, J., 2014, Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives, 9^th Ed., Pearson-Prentice Hall.

Additional readings may be assigned by the instructor as the course progresses. Please note that slides used in class (available in the “teaching material” section, accessible from the course unit webpage) are also required.

Assessment methods

Final class test. - A 90 minutes final class test will take place after the class ending, within the official exam sessions. It will include 8 multiple choice questions (8 points), 1 short answer question (6 points) and 2 exercises (16 points, i.e. 8 points each). The class test will be in the form of a closed-book exam, and no textbooks or notes will be allowed.

Assignment. - Attending students will be offered the option to solve an assignment and to deliver the solution to the lecturer (by email) not later than the date of the final class test (delivery date). Students will have to solve the assignment as a group (2 to 3 students per group), and the solution will consist in one PDF file. The assignment will be graded and assigned a payoff of 0 to 5 points, to be added to the final grade of the module. The option cost is 2 points, subtracted to the final grade of the module as soon as the solution to the assignment is delivered. Please note that there will be only one grade per group, no matter how the work load is distributed among the group members. Students will be required to pick their own group members and to let the instructor know (a) names, and (b) email addresses of all of them by the third scheduled meeting.

Office hours

See the website of Massimiliano Barbi