Not all stock market indexes are created equal. Different methods are used to calculate various indexes, and different indexes will yield different assessments of market performance. Pick 3 publicly listed firms and construct a price-weighted index and a value-weighted index at the beginning of January 2023 (on the first trading day of this year), respectively. Assume that you sell the index on the last trading day of January.

a. Compute the monthly return on the price-weighted index. b. Compute the monthly return on the value-weighted index. c. Compare the two returns and explain their differences.

You can get the historical price from finance.yahoo.comLinks to an external site., on the tab Historical Data. Use Adj Close for the price to include dividends.

To determine the market value, you can use shares outstanding in the latest financial statement, which you can find in the tab Statistics. Use the price on the first trading day of the year for the market value.

You need to report the prices on the first and last trading days, shares outstanding, and market value following your answer to this question.