The Wall Street Journal Weekly Quiz s11

The Wall Street Journal Education Program Weekly Review & Quiz Covering front-page articles from Aug 4-10, 2007 Quiz Summer 2007 Developed by: Scott R. Homan Ph.D., Purdue University

1. Mexico’s Carlos Slim has a Mexican monopoly on which industry? a. oil b. entertainment c. telephones d. transportation

2. Only ______of Mexicans have broadband access. a. 1 % b. 4 % c. 12 % d. 15 %

3. Bear Stearns has long been known as one of the most astute ______on Wall Street. a. bond traders b. bankers c. risk managers d. real estate agents

4. Bear Stearns's troubles started in the ____, where it had developed a lucrative business. a. yacht market b. bond market c. stock market d. housing market

5. An extraordinary credit boom that created many first-time homeowners and financed a wave of corporate takeovers seems to be _____. a. expanding b. waning c. moving to include China d. moving to include Japan

6. When the Fed cut interest rates to the lowest level in a generation to avoid a severe downturn, then-Chairman Alan Greenspan anticipated that making short-term credit so cheap would ______. a. expand the economy b. give the poor homes c. create money d. have unintended consequences

© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. WSJ Quiz: Page 1 of 4 7. Modern grocery stores in India are designed to a. make customers stop and look at merchandise by arranging it in clusters b. to be a clean, and orderly alternative to the chaos c. make the hired household help feel comfortable shopping d. both a and c

8. Mr. Kishore Biyani's theory of retail could be called ______. a. simple theory b. pristine theory c. quiet theory d. chaos theory

9. ______prohibits all kinds of speculative behavior that is embedded in Wall Street's DNA. a. Islam b. Christianity c. Judaism d. Buddhism

10. Islamic law, or Shariah, stems from the Quran and subsequent interpretations by scholars. In the economic realm, commerce receives divine approval but several verses speak of a prohibition on ______, a practice viewed as exploiting the borrower. a. profiting b. lending c. charity d. interest

11. Mr. Suebu, 61 years old, acknowledged that his impoverished province needs the economic boost development might bring. But rather than allow Papua to follow the same course as many other Indonesian islands, Mr. Suebu wants Papua to be paid ______. a. for wind farming b. for shrimp farming c. for hosting web pages d. not to cut down its rain forest

12. Carbon "credits" typically allow investors to offset ______elsewhere. a. landfill emissions b. methane emissions c. carbon-dioxide emissions d. carbon-monoxide emissions

13. The new upstart discount airline founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson is called ______. a. Branson b. FareCompare c. Virgin America d. JetBlue Airways

© Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. WSJ Quiz: Page 2 of 4 14. Insights from the writer facing sudden unemployment include a. give in to your anger b. "the key is to maximize your strengths and manage your weaknesses." c. deeper appreciation for the importance of aggressive networking d. both b and c

15. Another type of Chinese export whose safety is being called into question involves: a. beef b. pork c. golf clubs d. cars

16. Alaska Airlines has implemented a new concept in its terminal that a. was awarded a U.S. patent for the check-in process, something it calls the two-step flow-through. b. minimizes the use of the check-in desk c. has a spacious hall dotted with kiosks and roving customer-service agents to help passengers who aren't familiar with the machines. d. all of the above

17. With demand for ethanol soaring, farmers around the country have planted more acres of ___ this year than at any time since World War II. a. soy beans b. corn c. rice d. sorghum

18. Homebuilding companies are suffering because they a. many didn't achieve profit diversity b. still ended up owning too much land c. haven't been able to stockpile as much cash as expected d. all of the above

19. Using JP Morgan's model to calculate the scenarios for home prices and defaults implied by the current level of ABX indexes, the president of Bianco Research LLC found the current price of the AA portion, or tranche, is predicting a _____ in home prices over the next five years a drop he says has occurred nationally only in the Great Depression. a. 7% decline b. 7% increase c. 27% decline d. 27% increase

20. Lately, investors have embraced an array of new mutual funds designed to work ___. a. when the market goes up b. when the market goes down c. when the market stays flat

21. To try to increase the use of ketchup Heinz has a. started thinking about putting pictures of hamburgers and French fries on the labels b. sponsored a hotdog eating contest c. started a Web-based advertising campaign calling for consumers to create their own television commercials featuring creative ways to use ketchup. d. all of the above

22. A major event that is keeping China's economy humming is ______. a. a new Dell factory b. a new Callaway golf factory c. next year's Olympics in Beijing d. the 2009 World’s Fair

23. In the past few weeks, shaky mortgage loans to _____ have emerged in the portfolios of hedge funds, banks and investment vehicles in Australia, Germany, France, Singapore, Korea, China and elsewhere. a. America b. Mexico c. Russia d. Japan

24. The best made travel arrangements to attend the Olympics in Beijing a. include a rental car b. are to book a package through a travel agency c. will take some far-in-advance planning and strategizing d. both b and c

25. Airplanes undergo a "maximum deep clean" a process that includes a thorough cleaning of the lavatories and galleys, vacuuming of carpets and cleaning of seats, seat trays and side walls every a. night b. week c. 2 weeks d. 30 days

26. In June, new-home sales had fallen more than _____ from their peak two years ago, and more than half a million new houses -- nearly eight months of supply -- sit in inventory, according to the most recent report from the National Association of Home Builders. a. 20% b. 30% c. 40% d. 50%