The object of this Stock Market Project is to introduce students to the stock market. The projects main function is to teach students how to research companies through the financial pages of "The Wall Street Journal" and online resources. Students will be made aware of economic factors that cause fluctuation in the market. By completing this project, students will learn terminology associated with the market as well as how to prepare a business reports.

To complete this assignment, each student is given $25,000.00 in fictitious money to invest in three different companies. The three companies chosen are to be tracked during a three-week period. This project is completed virtually, so there is no risk of losing any real money. Each person is recommend to keep a journal of their activities, history of all buys, sells, to keep track of current portfolios market value and cash in account. Students are encouraged to buy low, sell high, and show profits or losses from each company investment in the end of the three week tracking period. Below is the example of the Report and suggested tools to use to track the stock (daily tracking is not required).

This Stock Market Project is perfect for those who know nothing about the stock market, and for those who want to learn more. Students will learn how to:

• how to read stock market charts
• what ticker symbols are
• Purchase Stocks
• Monitoring the Portfolio
• Selling Stocks
• how to find out what causes affect the rise and fall of stock prices in particular companies
• learn that choosing a company to invest in not just based on the fact that you might like the products the company produces
• choose a company to invest in based on the company's financial information
• Identify a companys rating in the stock market.

At the end of the three week tracking period students prepare the Stock Market Project report on their portfolios value and what they learned during the activity.

Before investing in stocks, students will need to understand some basic tools. One tool is the stock market table. The stock market tables gives students basic information and price history for stocks. Students can use it to see how stocks they own or are interested in owning are performing, how the prices are changing, and how they have performed in the past. Reading a stock market table is simple once students understand how to do it. Students will use this information to prepare their weekly stock reports required for the Stock Market Project. Additional information will be covered in Chapter 19 Using Securities Markets for Financing and Investing Opportunities.