Using data from the Yahoo quote service (Links to an external site.) and the St. Louis Federal Reserve (Links to an external site.)evaluate the following companies: Merck (MRK), Oracle (ORCL) and a 10- year U.S. Treasury bond.

For each, calculate several relevant price earnings ratios. Be sure to identify which earnings number you used (e.g. ttm which is trailing 12 months, next 12 months, past quarter * 4, next quarter * 4). Which has the highest P/E ratio? What factors account for differences? How can a company have negative price/earnings ratio and a high stock price?