30. F I L E (Use Excel) The mon th ly c lo s ing s tock prices (rounded to th e nea r e s t dollar) for Starbucks Corp. and Panera Bread Co. for th e first six mo n th s o f 2 0 1 0 are reported in th e fo l lowin g table. The data are also avai lable on th e text web s i t e , labe led M o n th ly Stock Prices.

Month Starbucks Corp. Panera Bread Co.
January 2010 $22 $71 February 2010 23 73 March 2010 24 76 April 2010 26 78 May 2010 26 81 June 2010 24 75 Source: w w w .fin an c e.y ah o o .c om .

a. State th e null and th e alternative h y p o th e s e s in order to d e t e rmin e if th e variance o f price differs for th e tw o firms.

b. What a s sump t io n regarding th e pop u la t ion is n e c e s sa ry to im p l em e n t this s tep?

c. Use Excel's F.TEST fu n c t ion to c a lculate th e p -value.

d. At α = 0.0 5 w h a t is your conc lus ion?