Prompt, Context, and Background:

Attorney General William Barr on October 20, 2020 said Today, millions of Americans rely on the Internet and online platforms for their daily lives. Competition in this industry is vitally important, which is why today's challenge against Google ? the gatekeeper of the Internet ? for violating antitrust laws is a monumental case both for the Department of Justice and for the American people On January 24, 2023 Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said "Today's complaint alleges that Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful conduct to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies," and "No matter the industry and no matter the company, the Justice Department will vigorously enforce our antitrust laws to protect consumers, safeguard competition, and ensure economic fairness and opportunity for all." There is nearly an infinite number of other items out there to read; some straightforward, some involving complex theories and ideas, even readings that are agenda driven. Our role in this assignment is to separate fact from fiction, identify the issues and relate them to the idea of regulatory impact on both firms and industries.

Questions to Ponder/Answer: 1. Alphabet Inc, is formally the parent company of Google; we focus here on the entire company. The first question to ask here is "does the stock market care" about the inquiry of the Justice Department into Google's activities? To simplify the analytical work on this, please find the table below which shows the monthly % growth in "adjusted closing price" using daily data from Yahoo.com for three ticker symbols. The raw data and some of the transformations are found in the optional spreadsheet file "ECON605ASST_Data." Your submitted answer to this is confined to 1 page.. **Word count does not matter, but please double space and use2 paragraphs per question to complete the 1 page paper for a and b below.** a. Of course, you must identify what "entities" each ticker symbol represents. If the market is worried over the inquiry, what would you expect to see comparing the data here on stock performance? Fully explain why within, at most, 2 paragraphs. b. Considering the background readings provided - and maybe others you have found on your own - do you see evidence that the market sees an impact on the share prices of GOOG related to the DOJ inquiry? Fully explain within, at most 2 paragraphs.

Change in Adjusted Closing Price First Day of Month to Last Day of Month For "GOOG", "AMZN", and "^IXIC GOOG AMZN AIXIC Dec-23 -12.4% -12.0% -8.8% Jan-23 9.2% 17.2% 9.7% Feb-23 -11.0% -10.4% -3.1% Mar-23 14.9% 12.1% 0.3% Apr-23 3.2% 3.0% 5.9% May-23 14.5% 18.2% 5.2% Jun-23 -2.7% 6.2% 3.8% Jul-23 10.4% 2.7% -1.7% Aug-23 4.1% 4.8% -5.8% Sep-23 -3.6% -8.0% -3.4% Oct-23 -7.3% 2.8% 0.0%