Introduction to Asset Classes We’ll try to be brief

State of the Markets How have you been lately?

Equities What do you own? How do you make money? Preferred vs. Common Stock Equity Fundamentals Cause errbody kinda knows

Credit Financing Capital Structure Corporate Debt CDS Money upfront

Other Fixed Income, Rates Treasuries – The Yield Curve Swaps Eurodollar/Federal Funds – What is the Fed? – LIBOR? Governments & You

Currencies Factors – Interest Rate – Liquidity – Purchasing power parity – Risk perception Quotes/Trading? Cash Rules Everything Around Me

Options Right to buy (or sell) something at a certain point in time But you don’t have to if you don’t want to Drivers? – Underlying/Spot – Strike – Dividends – Interest Rates – Time – Volatility The real sexy stuff

Commodities Traditional Commodities – Oil, Natural Gas, Sugar, Corn, Gold Fun stuff – Lean hogs, live cattle, orange juice, pork bellies…basically anything you can touch Drivers? “No one really knows why gold moves” -Ben Bernanke Stuff you can touch

Futures Drivers? – Cost of Carry – Seasonality – Market Projections An Option without the option