• Learn the aspects of bonds, what influence the price and the effect of bankruptcy risk on the yield to maturity of the bond
• Understand the effect of leverage on risk
• Learn the basic characteristics of derivatives and the leverage hidden in that investment tool
• Understand the process of financial markets movements and the roll derivatives play in stability and instability of financial markets
• Understand how to recognize hidden derivatives in real "simple life" agreements and deals
• Most important: understand how investments are characterized so better choose investments for private/firm portfolio

This course will cover the different investment assets and investment tools including debt (bonds), equity, derivatives and the cross relation between them. This will give the students a broad view on recent financial markets and the macro economy, markets that have developed and adjusted to the recent technology available for trading. 
 The course will cover recent and previous crisis, the correlation (or not?) of  financial markets to real economies, effects on savings, pension, risk taking etc.
 The roll of big investor (hedge funds, saving funds and others) will be examined, and a question mark on them supporting/damaging financial markets will be raised.

 The first part of the course will cover the debt market, including the recent developments in the interest rates and central banks.
 In the second part it will focus on options (and other derivatives) and emphasize the relation between risk and return.
 The third part will combine bonds and options, add equity (stocks) and show the link between the three, discussing Arbitrage and leverage.
 The forth part will use the previous material to explain the 2008 crisis, the hedge-fund industry, commodities prices, employee options and hedging, etc.

Preliminary assignment:

"Low interest rate:  the impact on investments and long term savings"

Please read the following short articles:
1. "The long-term impact of low rates" , September 9 2012, Financial Times 
2. "Why low interest rates are now doing more harm than good" , September 2 2016, The Telegraph 

Class 1&2. Bonds: structure, YTM (yield to maturity), duration, risk, yield curve and spreads; discussion in class.
Class 3. Options, basics, definition, graphical demonstration and Arbitrage; Hull chapter 9.
Class 4&5. Strategies, Put Call Parity (PCP), the Binomial model. Hedging and arbitrage, contingent claims. Demonstration: the option value of stocks, the effect on the debt ytm; Hull chapter 9,10,11.
Class 6&7. B&S model, the Greeks, evaluating employee options, volatility and the volatility index (VIX, the fear factor); Hull chapter 13,17.

Feedback activity: an optional "take home exam"

Class 8. Debt, leverage, derivatives and recent crisis; Hull 14,22,23.
Class 9. Futures, Commodity markets, Forex markets; Hull chapter 5
Class 10 The Macro Economy and current investments shift towards risk; discussion in class.
Class 11. The roll of big investor: hedge funds, mutual funds, algorithmic trading and stability/instability; discussion in class.

Preliminary Assignment: To help students get maximum value from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a small number of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before the start of classes with a related task scheduled for class 1 in order to 'jump-start' the learning process.

Course timetable is available on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams.

We reserve the right to cancel the course if we do not get enough applications. This will be communicated on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams end February 2018 at the latest.

Mandatory readings:

John C. Hull, "Options futures and other derivatives "
7th-10th edition

"The long-term impact of low rates" , September 9 2012, Financial Times 

"Why low interest rates are now doing more harm than good" , September 2 2016, The Telegraph 

Additional relevant readings:

"Pound's flash crash 'was amplified by inexperienced traders'", January 13 2017, the Guardian

"Do Hedge Fund Managers Misreport Returns? Evidence from the Pooled Distribution", Boolen and Pool, 2009, the Journal of Finance

" Mutual fund performance", Sharp, 1966, the Journal of Business

" Mutual fund performance", Fama and French, 2008, the Journal of Finance

"Bonuses don't have that much to do with performance", June 3 2015, The Telegraph

"Here’s all the money in the world, in one chart", January 29, 2016, MarketWatch 

"Boys will be boys: gender, overconfidence and common stock investments", Barber ans Odean, 2001, the Quarterly Journal of Economics