Foundations of Investments

Dr. John Nofsinger is dean and the William H. Seward Endowed Chair in International Finance at the College of Business & Public Policy, University of Alaska Anchorage. Dr. Nofsinger has authored or co-authored 16 finance trade books, textbooks and scholarly books that have been translated into 11 languages. Two books, in particular, THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INVESTING and THE BIOLOGY OF INVESTING, are extremely popular with investment advisors. Dr. Nofsinger is a prolific scholar who has written 74 articles in multiple disciplines that have been published in a variety of prestigious scholarly journals or practitioner journals. He is most widely known for his work in investments, behavioral finance and socially responsible investing. Dr. Troy Adair is a teaching professor in the Decision and Technology Analytics Department in the College of Business at Lehigh University, where he also co-directs the computer science and business degree program as well as the fintech minor. Dr. Adair received his B.S. in computers/information science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, his M.B.A. from the University of North Dakota and his Ph.D. in business from Indiana University. Prior to joining Lehigh University, Dr. Adair held many influential positions in industry. He managed research computing infrastructure and support services for Harvard Business School. He served as a senior business intelligence consultant in the financial services industry to HSBC, JP Morgan Chase and the United Services Automobile Association (USAA). In addition, he served as the banking/risk management professor for the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, where he also oversaw a variety of academic functions as the Associate Provost/Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness at Berkeley College. Dr. Adair is a vocal advocate for the use of technology to enhance business processes. He has authored numerous textbooks leveraging technology in the business decision-making processes, including FINANCE: APPLICATIONS & THEORY, CORPORATE FINANCE DEMYSTIFIED and INTRODUCTION TO R FOR BUSINESS.

PART I: The Investments Environment.
1. Introduction to Investments.
2. Types and Attributes of Financial Instruments.
3. Securities Markets and Transactions.
4. Mutual Funds and Other Investment Companies.
PART II: Portfolio Theory.
5. Measuring Return and Risk.
6. Portfolios and Diversification.
7. Risk-Free and Risky Asset Allocation and the CAPM.
8. Asset Pricing Models and Efficient Markets.
9. Portfolio Performance Analytics.
PART III: Investing in Stock.
10. The Macroeconomic Environment for Investment Decisions.
11. Valuing Common Stock.
12. Valuing Preferred Stock.
PART IV: Investing in Debt.
13. Valuing Corporate Bonds.
14. Valuing Government Securities.
PART V: Investing in Derivative Securities.
15. An Introduction to Futures Contracts and Options.
16. Derivative Valuation and Strategies.
PART VI - Special Topics.
17. Technical Analysis.