As an investor you are considering buying stock in a relatively new company. American Ship- ping, Ltd., has been in existence for 10 years and is now about to go public. The first stock offering will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange next week. 1. What kind of information would you like to know before investing in the company? Where can you find this information? 2. How does the SEC protect the securities market from companies that are fraudulent or in poor financial condition? 3. Besides stock market investors, what other parties might be interested in knowing finan- cial data about companies?