Introduction to Capital Markets and Financial Math

Overview

Dive into the world of capital markets with a course that brings finance to life. Start by exploring the key players and structure of the markets, then build your foundation in fixed income with clear, practical lessons on interest rates, treasury securities, and bond basics. From there, level up with advanced topics like bond pricing, holding period yield, duration, and convexity—equipping you with the financial math skills essential for real-world investing and analysis. Subjects include:

• Capital markets overview
• Primary vs. secondary markets
• Capital markets participants
• Nominal vs. real interest rates
• US Treasury securities (bills, notes, bonds)
• Structure of fixed income securities
• Bond fundamentals
  • Key terminology
  • Bond prices vs. yields
  • Coupon rate vs. current yield vs. yield-to-maturity
• Financial math
  • Zero-coupon bonds
  • Annuities
  • Coupon bonds
• Price-yield relationship
• Bond pricing
• Modified IRR
• Holding period yield
• All-in-cost vs. yield-to-maturity
• Price value of basis point and yield value of 32nd
• Duration
• Convexity