The Wall Street Journal Weekly Quiz s29

The Wall Street Journal Weekly Quiz Answer Key Covering front-page articles from Mar 7 - 11, 2005 Developed by: Scott R. Homan Ph.D., Purdue University

Questions 1 – 12 from First Section, Section A

1. The primary job of a landman is______. a. eat chicken-fried steak b. plant crops c. prepare new fields. d. research land ownership Correct

2. What famous person used to be a landman. a. President George W. Bush Correct b. prize fighter George Foreman c. writer Stephen King d. actor Harrison Ford

3. The weaker dollar, too, is helping, by making U.S. goods ______on the world market. a. inferior b. more expensive c. cheaper Correct d. float

4. Orders for non-defense capital goods -- such as office furniture, trucks and computers but excluding aircraft -- ______in January, the Commerce Department said. a. grew 2.9% Correct b. fell 2.9% c. grew 12.9% d. fell 12.9%

5. Boeing said its board unanimously asked Mr. Stonecipher to resign the positions he had held for 15 months because the CEO used ______. a. company funds to fly first class b. excellent judgment c. poor judgment Correct d. the mail room employees to wash his car

6. The events leading up to Mr. Stonecipher's ouster began a little over a week ago. Lew Platt, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO and Boeing's non-executive chairman, confronted Mr. Stonecipher, 68 years old, with a tip from an ______. a. identified stockholder b. identified employee c. anonymous stockholder d. anonymous employee Correct

8. The Chicago Board of Trade is about to launch a futures contract in ______. a. sugar b. ethanol Correct c. coffee d. tea

9. A key feature of the new bankruptcy law is that it aims to compel more debtors to file under ______of the federal bankruptcy law, which requires filers to repay at least some of their unsecured debts with regular payments over five years. a. Chapter 12 b. Chapter 13 Correct c. Chapter 6 d. Chapter 5

10. Currently, more than two-thirds of bankruptcy filers across the country use ______, which wipes out all unsecured debt and allows consumers to start fresh a. Chapter 7 Correct b. Chapter 8 c. Chapter 13 d. Chapter 12

11. In Arizona a highway checkpoint was ensnaring ______critical to the task of picking lettuce and other vegetables. a. undocumented workers Correct b. machinery c. drugs d. animals

12. Tom Nassif did something few law-abiding citizens would ever think to do: He called the ______and suggested agents stop manning a highway checkpoint. a. FBI b. CIA c. U.S. Border Patrol Correct d. local police

Questions 13 – 17 from Marketplace, Section B

13. Rampant ______in places like China, Russia and Mexico has prevented Hollywood studios and major record labels from tapping the full growth potential of those tantalizing markets.

14. At many companies managers down the ranks are being given targets that can be met only by ______. a. working overtime b. hiring more workers c. steep cost cutting Correct d. using cell phones

15. Only Connecticut and Delaware have laws requiring companies to notify employees about ______monitoring. a. bathroom b. e-mail Correct c. parking lot d. PDA

16. In its last fiscal quarter, H-P disclosed that its core consumer-inkjet-printer sales _____ from the year-earlier period. a. went down then up b. stayed the same c. rose d. fell Correct

17. Annoying software that can secretly track users' movements around the Internet and do such things as dish up pop-up ads is called ______. a. Symantec b. vaporware c. spyware Correct d. trackware

Questions 18 – 22 from Money & Investing, Section C

18. After an investing bubble, an ______bubble -- where investors rush in to buy all over again -- isn't uncommon. a. echo Correct b. orange c. olive d. éclair

19. Broker Kevin O. Kelley is facing indictment for ______. a. fraud Correct b. making too much profit c. making too little profit

20. Sony has a new ______. a. baseball team b. soccer team c. HR team d. management team Correct

21. A ______is one of the most provocative ideas to come out of a broader project and new book called "Restoring Trust in American Business," compiled by a group convened by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. a. new marketing plan b. color program c. code of ethics Correct d. list of sentencing guidelines

22. Investors allege that the former bond underwriters, including J.P. Morgan, failed to adequately investigate the company's ______when they sold $17 billion of WorldCom bonds in 2000. a. financial health Correct b. profits c. losses d. management team

Questions 23 – 25 from Personal Journal, Section D

23. With the dollar mired in a prolonged ______, some financial institutions are pushing products that make it easier for small investors to take advantage of any further declines in the U.S. currency. a. flamingo market b. tiger market c. bull market d. bear market Correct

24. The new bankruptcy legislation makes it far more likely that middle-income Americans who fall into financial trouble will ______of their debts if they file for personal bankruptcy. a. pay back 1000 dollars b. pay back none c. pay back all d. pay back some Correct

25. After years of ceding the front of men's closets to more fashion-forward three-button suits, the ______is re-emerging from the shadows. a. five-button b. four-button c. two-button Correct d. one-button