Introduction; Financial Institutions, Financial Intermediaries, and Asset Management Firms; Depository Institutions: Activities and Characteristics; The U.S. Federal Reserve and the Creation of Money; Monetary Policy in the United States; Insurance Companies; Investment Companies and Exchange-Traded Funds; Pension Funds; Properties and Pricing of Financial Assets; The Level and Structure of Interest Rates; The Term Structure of Interest Rates; Risk/Return and Asset Pricing Models; Primary Markets and the Underwriting of Securities; Secondary Markets; Treasury and Agency Securities Markets; Municipal Securities Markets; Markets for Common Stock: The Basic Characteristics; Markets for Common Stock: Structure and Organization; Markets for Corporate Senior Instruments: I; Markets for Corporate Senior Instruments: II; The Markets for Bank Obligations; The Residential Mortgage Market; Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Market; Market for Commercial Mortgage Loans and Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities; Market for Asset-Backed Securities; Financial Futures Markets; Options Markets; Pricing of Futures and Options Contracts; The Applications of Futures and Options Contracts; OTC Interest Rate Derivatives: Forward Rate Agreements, Swaps, Caps, and Floors; Market for Credit Risk Transfer Vehicles: Credit Derivatives and Collateralized Debt Obligations; The Market for Foreign Exchange and Risk Control Instruments MARKET "Foundations of Financial Markets and Institutions," offers a comprehensive exploration of the revolutionary developments occurring in the world's financial markets and institutions i.e., innovation, globalization, and deregulation with a focus on the actual practices of financial institutions, investors, and financial instruments."

    to write a book that would emulate the spirit of Lef'vre's work in maintaining truth and relevance many years after it was written."-from the Foreword by Jack SchwagerThe book that launched Edwin Lef'vre's literary career, Wall Street Stories is considered by many to be his most memorable work, second only to Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, his classic fictionalization of the life of Jesse Livermore. Published to great critical acclaim in 1901, Wall Street Stories is a literary romp through the habits and customs of Wall Street. Like all of Lef'vre's fiction it is firmly rooted in the facts as he knew them both as a top financial journalist and a successful investor, and, as was his style, many of the fictional characters in the stories are thinly-veiled portraits of well-known Wall Street personalities such as James R. Keene, Elverton R. Chapman, Roswell Pettibone Flower, and Daniel Drew-names as familiar to the public in their day as Warren Buffet, George Soros, and Julian Robertson are today.But the charm of the eight tales in Wall Street Stories isn't just in their ability to convey a sense of life in a bygone era. It comes from the timeless insights they offer into human nature warped in the crucible of the stock market. Each of these witty tales of still resonate with poignancy and simple authority.