There’s great variation in the degree to which CFOs factor data about the general economy into decision-making. J.P. Morgan, for its part, published an advisory, “Striking Facts to Guide Your Corporate Finance Decisions in 2018,” from which the answers below are drawn. How much do you know about the economy outside your company’s walls?
1. What is the shortest time period it took the Dow Jones Industrial Average to climb from one 1,000-point threshold to the next? (Hint: it was achieved in 2017.)
A. 122 days
B. 38 days
C. 375 days
D. 24 days
2. How many physical currencies have more value in circulation than the current total amount of cryptocurrency?
A. 6
B. 15
C. 9
D. 12
3. The OECD recently reported that 100% of the countries it tracks were experiencing economic growth. How many years has it been since that was last the case?
A. 10
B. 7
C. 13
D. 5
4. What percentage of U.S. IPO dollars were raised by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) in 2017?
A. 14%
B. 20%
C. 9%
D. 4%
5. Over the last three years, how did the amount of capital invested in nonpublic U.S. firms compare with the capital raised via IPOs?
A. 10% less
B. 20% less
C. 125% more
D. 25% more
6. What was the dollar volume of corporate preferred equity issued by U.S. companies in 2017?
A. $12.7 billion
B. $3.3 billion
C. $7.4 billion
D. $10.6 billion
7. What is the approximate yield spread (basis points) between two-year and 10-year U.S. Treasuries that has prevailed in 2018?
A. 40 bps
B. 30 bps
C. 50 bps
D. 60 bps
Answers: 1-D; 2-A; 3-A; 4-B; 5-D; 6-C; 7-C