Kindly include step by step explanation to the solutions.

1. By the most recent time, do you observe any news, signals & trends about possible shifts in US & global macro economic and financial market conditions? How may such possible changes affect the "cost of capital" and/or "estimated free cash flows" of your selected group of rival firms which are Walmart, Target, Ebay, Alibaba, and Amazon and their industry

2. Across your selected group of rival firms in the same industry, which are Walmart, Target, Ebay, Alibaba, and Amazon. Which firms have relatively larger gap of additional funds needed (AFN) to fill? (using data from yahoo finance) What would be the implication on such firms' share values?

3. A producer of single engine aircraft plans to build 1,600 aircraft in the coming year. The fixed cost of placing an order is $50 regardless of order size. The variable cost of carrying inventory is one dollar per unit per period on the average inventory balance. In order to optimize the total cost of inventory, how many aircraft should the firm order and how many times should they place an order? (calculate using economic order quantity (EOQ))

4. Assuming that Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) would grow "5.40%" next year as predicted.Use the data provided in Caterpillar's current-year or current-twelve-months financial statements (Finance Yahoo, "Financials"), and apply the AFN Equation to compute Caterpillar Inc. (CAT)'s AFN amount. Additional information:

Total asset = $82,793,000

Total liability = $66,277,000