Xr04-87 We have recorded the monthly returns for the S&P 500 index and the following six stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange for the period January 2005 to December 2009.

AT&T Aetna Cigna Coca-Cola Disney Ford McDonald’s Calculate the beta coefficient for each stock and briefly describe what it means. (Excel users: To use the scatter diagram to compute the beta coefficient, the data must be stored in two adjacent columns.

The first must contain the returns on the index, and the second stores the returns for whichever stock whose coefficient you wish to calculate.)