The Excel file posted with this assignment contains 53 weekly observations for five major market indices:

SP500 = S&P 500

SPSML = S&P Small-cap

DOW30 = Dow-Jones Industrial average

NDQFIN = NASDAQ financial sector

DJUTL = Dow-Jones utility sector

For each index, you should compute the weekly log-return as 100*(ln(Y_t) - ln(Y_{t-1})) where Y_t is the index value for week t and Y_{t-1} is the index value for the preceding week (t-1). Due to the differencing operation, you should recover 52 log-returns for weeks 2 to 53.

For this initial portion of the term project, you should use the log-return data for the five indices to describe the observed performance of these assets over the past year.You can use any of the tools including the sample mean return, sample standard deviation, skewness, excess kurtosis, CV, Sharpe ratio, and other measures. Please assemble your analysis in a paper

Week	SP500	SPSML	DOW30	NDQFIN	DJUTL
1	3509.44	925.22	28323.4	4594.46	881.76
2	3585.15	994.29	29479.81	4857.14	910.91
3	3557.54	1020.23	29263.48	4858.09	873.29
4	3638.35	1059.67	29910.37	4930.9	873.18
5	3699.12	1085.44	30218.26	5036.53	856.13
6	3663.46	1086.59	30046.37	4977.51	855.1
7	3709.41	1108.16	30179.05	5087.58	857.26
8	3703.06	1121.51	30199.87	5115.5	845.97
9	3756.07	1118.93	30606.48	5157.92	864.64
10	3824.68	1190.26	31097.97	5380.78	851.28
11	3768.25	1211.91	30814.26	5413.22	861.09
12	3841.47	1231.7	30996.98	5401.15	857.94
13	3714.24	1188.71	29982.62	5232.88	852.4
14	3886.83	1252.75	31148.24	5553.4	872.25
15	3934.83	1297.9	31458.4	5635.21	857.1
16	3906.71	1288.77	31494.32	5708.76	846.51
17	3811.15	1278.56	30932.37	5624.95	795.61
18	3841.94	1302.12	31496.3	5746.42	814.03
19	3943.34	1397.66	32778.64	5991.98	844.88
20	3913.1	1355.09	32627.97	5889.21	847.56
21	3974.54	1331.26	33072.88	5893.12	873.55
22	4019.87	1340.3	33153.21	5877.5	879.51
23	4128.8	1334.56	33800.6	5934.78	891.67
24	4185.47	1347.95	34200.67	6011.02	923.71
25	4180.17	1350.06	34043.49	6058.67	918.26
26	4181.17	1345.54	33874.85	6062.13	919.25
27	4232.6	1374.26	34777.76	6173.72	909.9
28	4173.85	1354.82	34382.13	6193.05	907.73
29	4155.86	1343.46	34207.84	6170.1	908.53
30	4204.11	1371.94	34529.45	6218.58	897.35
31	4229.89	1383.8	34756.39	6253.83	900.82
32	4247.44	1396.25	34479.6	6224.5	912.85
33	4166.45	1330.67	33290.08	5990.32	884.86
34	4280.7	1388.76	34433.84	6293.98	889.07
35	4352.34	1369.68	34786.35	6190.25	885.78
36	4369.55	1359.58	34870.16	6117.64	894.2
37	4327.16	1297.56	34687.85	5980.12	914.61
38	4411.79	1318.56	35061.55	6006.97	904.54
39	4395.26	1341.28	34935.47	6020.85	907.42
40	4436.52	1356.27	35208.51	6217.08	926.74
41	4468	1349.91	35515.38	6285.05	938.29
42	4441.67	1320.96	35120.08	6150.6	950.75
43	4509.37	1375.04	35455.8	6367.25	932.25
44	4535.43	1369.73	35369.09	6319.39	944.93
45	4458.58	1326.93	34607.72	6195.59	929.14
46	4432.99	1331.35	34584.88	6190.99	903.8
47	4455.48	1344.76	34798	6334.1	892.8
48	4357.04	1357.37	34326.46	6376.19	872.82
49	4391.34	1358.65	34746.25	6505.33	884.7
50	4471.37	1363.91	35294.76	6615.46	898.54
51	4544.9	1381.14	35677.02	6781.79	921.43
52	4605.38	1376.46	35819.56	6675.93	915.91
53	4625.96	1407.34	35966.42	6776.37	918.33