Understanding the Equity Markets

In addition to your class tuition and study materials, you will receive the following:


Complimentary e-learning module
Case Study

• Examine 35 key steps in the IPO process (which takes a company from pitch stage to tombstone!)
• Looking at a large block trade, examine how the integrated trading platform would handle and generate revenues across multiple functions
• Using real world examples and prices, value the companies and 'put on' an equity long-short intra-sector trade

Other Extras

• Certificate of attendance

Level: Introductory


Synopsis:
So how do the equity markets really work? Gain an insight into the global equity markets and the role played by investment banks and other financial institutions. This course provides a comprehensive overview of the global equity markets, how they are changing, their structure and development and a detailed review of the participants and their motivations. The course takes a business-like approach to the ways in which participants really operate and how the key participants profit from these important products.


At the end of the course participants will be able to: Identify and interpret equity information in the financial press and other related publications . Understand the main components of the settlement and clearing cycle . Examine a range of approaches to, and compute and analyse, key ratios . Understand how share prices are formed and how major stockmarkets work . Describe the key steps around IPOs and other issues . Examine the key roles in the Equity Division and how these are changing . Identify the range of investor-types and their motivations behind equity investing . Explain the role of an investment bank in the equity market . Know the size of the equity market and the major participants within it .


Prerequisites:
None


Suitable For:
New employees to an investment bank's equity division. The course is particularly useful for individuals working in, or supporting, the front office. The course will also benefit anyone working in operations and IT areas- both inside and outside the banks.


What is equity?

• Key definitions
• Review of main equity products
• Equity performance examined

Who buys and sells equity?

• Breakdown of fund managers by style: active, passive, hedge
• Twelve types of investor - focus on international institutions
• How clients are structured
• Major issues in global fund management

Key roles in the equity division

• Revenues streams across the division
• Handling the institutional client
• The major offices
• Focus on the key roles

The IPO process

• Key steps in the IPO

Secondary market trading

• The morning meeting
• Initiating / handling an order
• The market makers' book
• Sources of liquidity

The operation of a stockmarket

• Key roles and functions of the stockmarket
• Types of stockmarket - order vs. quote driven
• The process of price formation and price discovery
• The major order types characterised

Ideas on valuing markets and companies

• Why do stockmarkets move?
• How to value stockmarkets and companies
• Relative valuation techniques
• Absolute valuation techniques
• Strategic analysis of companies and industries

The major global stockmarkets

• The major markets in Europe
• Europe as a single market
• The American exchanges - NASDAQ and NYSE

Custody and settlement

• Overview of the life cycle of an equity trade
• The settlement and clearing flow
• The role of the custodian