The course addresses the fundamentals of financial markets and pricing of financial assets in the global economy that are the foundation knowledge for all other finance courses. Topics include the structure of financial markets and role of financial intermediation, time value of money, structure and pricing of fixed income securities, risk and return across asset classes in capital markets, diversification and asset allocation in investment portfolios, introduction to derivatives instruments and their use in hedging risk in financial markets, and how foreign exchange risk affects fixed income and equity returns. Note: Required for finance and real estate majors. Required for Finance 3503 and all upper level finance courses except Finance 3521 and 3551. A minimum grade of C is required to enroll in Finance 3503. No credit is is given for both Finance 3502 and 3101.