A Short (Financial) Quiz of the Year

(November 22, 2013) — Bank of America Merrill Lynch has put together a quiz to see how well their clients (and the rest of us) have been paying attention to financial markets.

You have until December 11 to finalise your answers…

1. If the Fed’s buying of securities in 2013 were converted into dollar bills and laid end to end, how many times would it stretch around planet Earth: four, 40, 400, or 4000?

2. Which of the following has risen the most in value (in US dollar terms) this year: Netflix, Venezuelan stock prices, the Solar Energy ETF, or T-bills in Greece?

3. Which of the following financial institutions experienced the biggest decline in their credit default swaps in 2013: Morgan Stanley, Unicredito, Banco Santander, or Nomura?

4. Inflows to global equities in 2013 as a percentage of assets under management are the best since 1999, 2004, or 2007?

5. In which of the following markets is the consensus currently forecasting more than 15% earning per share growth in 2014: Spain, Italy, Korea, India, or Brazil?

6. Is the market cap of the Eurozone equity market currently bigger or smaller than the combined market cap of the UK and Swiss stock markets?

7. Which US region is currently experiencing the strongest growth in total consumer spending, commercial real estate loans, and purchase mortgage applications: the West, the South, the Midwest, or the Northeast?

8. Which US metropolitan area has seen the smallest increase in home prices in the last 12 months: Cleveland, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York, or Washington DC?

9. Since 2000 which US metropolitan area has enjoyed the largest increase in “one-percenters” or households with incomes in the nation’s top 1%?

10. In dollar terms, which performed worse in 2013: emerging market sovereign bonds or TIPS?

11. What is the only US investment grade sector with positive year-to-date gains in 2013?

12. Name the two best performing currencies versus the US dollar during the “taper tantrum” of 2013?

13. What is currently less than 5% away from exceeding the $17.1 trillion US national debt?

14. As a share of GDP what central bank increased the size of its balance sheet the most over the past 12 months: the Fed, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, or the Swiss National Bank?

15. And finally, 1994 was a year of classic “escape velocity” for the US economy: which of the following asset classes was the best performer in the US: real estate, stocks, bonds, gold, or cash?

Keep hold of your answers and we and Bank of America Merrill Lynch will reveal if you were right on December 11.