Hello there,

I need help with my finance discussions. Please see attached details information.

Thanks,

FIN 645 - FIN 630 Week 8 discussions Insider Trading - In July 2003 Samuel Waksal, the founder of ImClone Systems Inc. began a seven-year prison term. In December 2001 Waksal received word that the Federal Drug Administation (FDA) was about to issue a negative report on ImClone's cancer drug Erbitux. Although this knowledge was material information, and Waksal was an insider, he sold some of his ImClone shares and disclosed the information to his daughter, advising her to sell her ImClone shares. Martha Stewart, celebrity and chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, had once been a stockbroker and served on the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange. She was also friend of Samuel Waksal. A day before the FDA made its negative announcement about Erbitux, Martha Stewart sold 3,928 shares of ImClone stock at a price of about $60. In an interview with New Yorker author Jeffrey Toobin, she indicated that the sale constituted about 0.03 percent of her assets. 4 June 2002 Martha Stewart was indicted and charged with nine counts of fraud, perjury, and obstruction of justice. In her defense she claimed that she had an informal stock loss order arrangement with her broker, at a price of $60. In March 2004 a jury found her guilty on all counts, and she served a prison term as a result. By design, the products and services sold by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia are strongly identified with Martha Stewart the person. In this respect the personal actions of Martha Stewart affected the financial performance of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. The Relevance Effect - Imagine that you are a divisional manager. Currently you are a member of a committee which is considering two product investments proposed by two other divisional managers: Joe and John. While walking over to the presentations, Joe seems rather arrogant. He mentions that he golfs with the CEO, is a key player in the firm, and that you could really learn a lot from him. In thinking over the projects after the presentations, you find you are really leaning toward John's proposal even though the projects are quite similar in terms of estimated cash lows and risks. How can you explain this? Rating Agency Performance - I've attached an article from the Wall Street Journal about the performance of the ratings agencies in providing advanced warning about the sub-prime mortgage companies. Does this performance suggest FIN 645 - FIN 630 Week 8 discussions that the investors shouldn't bother looking at bond ratings or is this situation an isolated incident (as was Enron, incidentally)? What role might the banking regulators have played in protecting banks or investors (or both) from the sub-prime industry's difficulties? Rating Agency Rating Agency Private Equity - Comment on the following observation: Private equity investments are risky and illiquid and thus require higher rate of return