Understanding Financial Markets

How markets link to the economy

This beginner Coursera course maps the main financial markets and their characteristics and shows how each connects to the wider economy. It begins with how the values of stocks and bonds are computed and why they move.

Risk and the less familiar markets

Risk gets careful attention, especially why it matters when measuring an investment's performance. The focus then widens to less popular markets such as gold, emerging markets and real estate. The listed skills include portfolio management, equities, economics and risk analysis.

• Explain in one sentence how a bond responds to rising interest rates.
• Compare how risk differs between a listed stock and a property.
• Watch which markets react to the same economic news.