It’s time again for our finance news quiz, but to be honest we were struggling to find a prize to give away this week. Because Rock Your Stock is still in its infancy, the bean counters around here have not yet blessed us with a budget to order some cool swag to give out. Thankfully, a number of our sister sites have generously donated some of their swag to the cause.
This week’s prize is a bag of wonderful work-out socks from Fitness Gear 101, a site edited by writer, personal trainer and all-around fitness maven Anna Fleet. Anna's blog is updated daily and has all sorts of cool advice about working out, eating right and living a healthy lifestyle. Thanks for the socks, Anna!
If you haven’t taken our weekly quiz before, check out the very first one to get the lowdown on the rules. E-mail your answers to editor@rockyourstock.com by noon tomorrow and we’ll enter your name in the draw.
Okay, it’s time to rock your socks – erm, stocks. Here’s the quiz:
1. On Monday, coffee distributor Van Houtte announced it had received a takeover bid from Connecticut-based private equity firm Littlejohn & Co for about $600 million. Van Houtte, which distributes coffee to about 70,000 workplaces throughout North America, is traded on which exchange?
a) The New York Stock Exchange
b) The Nasdaq
c) The Toronto Stock Exchange
d) The KOSPI
2. On Tuesday, which major international airline saw its stock price nosedive after an $8.9 million (US) takeover bid fell through?
a) British Airlines
b) Qantas
c) Singapore Airlines
d) Lufthansa
3. Disney announced this week that its Q2 earnings are up by:
a) 2.7 percent
b) 27 percent
c) 270 percent
d) Trick question: Disney’s earnings are down 2.7 percent.
4. Which leading automaker surprised analysts on Wednesday by posting a drop in operating profits for the quarter?
a) Toyota
b) Hyundai
c) Ford
d) GM
5. Viacom announced on Thursday that its Q1profits had:
a) dropped by 3.6 percent
b) dropped by 36 percent
c) risen by 3.6 percent
d) risen by 36 percent
6. Which major retailer posed its worst sales record ever in its 27-year history this week?
a) Wal-Mart
b) K-Mart
c) Holt Renfrew
7. On Friday, telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA posted a loss for Q1 of:
a) $1 billion
b) $108 million
c) $10.8 million