Understanding the Economy

Course Description:

Understanding the economy and coping with the economic environment is critical in today’s business performance, which is a major concern for managers and investors. The course will address macro-economic factors that may affect the performance of the business. Marco-economic factors include business cycles, interest rates, economic policy, inflations, unemployment, housing starts, money supply, and foreign exchange rates. For example, how the Fed’s monetary policy affects corporate earnings is stressed. A variety of economic statistics and indicators are also explained in depth.

Learning Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Identify economic trends and direction
• Make informed investment decisions
• Give examples of economic indicators and variables
• Identify sources of economic data/variables to be analyzed
• Find access to current federal economic indicators