Order Instructions:

examine how macroeconomic factors affect stock returns.
Order Instructions:
The goal of the project: We examine how macroeconomic factors affect stock returns.
Empirically, we can test the following model;
Rt= ?0 + ?1*Market Indext-1+ ?2*Inflationt-1+ ?3*GDP Growtht-1+ ?4*TERMt-1+ ?5*RISKt-1+?

1. Dependent variable: firms’ stock returns
I posted firms’ stock returns in three industries (air, auto, and computer) to Blackboard. You can analyze any firm as you wish. You can pick multiple firms from three different industries, or a single firm from a specific industry.
Variable Explanations
DATE: the end of trading date at each month
COMNAM: Company name
EXCHCD: Exchange code (1: NYSE, 2: AMEX, and 3:NASDAQ)
HSICCD: Industry classification (e.g., The SIC 4512 represents an airline industry.
PRC: Stock price at the end of each month’s trading date
RET: Stock returns at the end of each month’s trading date
SHROUT: shares outstanding
VWRETD: Market index
2. Independent variables: macroeconomic variables
* The Source of data: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/tags/series
Download data as long as we believe that variables may affect stock returns.
There are some candidates for independent variables.
Market Index=VWRETD, and Firm Size= PRC*SHROUT
Inflation= log (CPIt / CPIt-1), and GDP Growth=log (GDPt / GDPt-1)
TERM= 10-year T/B – 3-month T/B, and RISK= BAAt – 10-year T/B?
Questions
1) Report summary statistics (n, mean, median, standard deviation, min, max) of your picked variables.
2)Why do you include such independent variables? Give me a brief explanation.
3) Run a regression and report coefficients and t-statistics for the explanatory variables.
4) Interpret coefficients of each variable. Compare it with your prediction
5) What is your investment strategy based on your findings?
* To obtain full credit (20 points), you need to submit it by July 8th, 2014.Grade below 10 points will be counted as zero.
* The minimum requirement is 5 different firms and 5 independent variables.
* TERM and RISK should be included as independent variables.
* If you need a reference, please look at the paper written by Nai-Fu Chen, Richard Roll, and Stephen A. Ross. The title is “Economic Forces and the Stock Market (Journal of Business, 1986)”.