1) Draw a supply/demand diagram to model the US stock market (use the value of a stock price index such as the S&P 500 to represent the overall level of stock prices.) Show the effect on stock prices of a decline in interest rates in the economy. (hint: from the view point of those with accumulated savings to invest, interest bearing financial assets such as money market funds and bank certificates of deposit are substitutes for stock market mutual funds....also, from the viewpoint of future corporate sales, lower interest rates mean that customers can more cheaply finance the purchase of goods)
2) The US treasury isn't the only issuer of bonds. Corporations also issue bonds that have future payment structures like U.S. Treasuries. Of course, unlike the federal government, corporations can go bankrupt, leaving their bondholders unable to collect all of their scheduled payments. Because of this risk of default, corporate bonds must have a higher yield in equilibrium than similarly structured Treasury bonds. Under what economy-wide economic conditions, if any, might you expect to see corporate bond yields rise while Treasury Bond yields fell?
3. In the same context of Q6 above, briefly explain why the prices of Short Term US treasury securities are still high enough to keep the interest low enough despite the fact that the US Bond rating has been downgraded from AAA status to AA+ by S&P in July, 2012.