The Excel file posted with this assignment contains 53 weekly market closing values for five prominent assets:

• SP500 = S&P 500 index
• DOW30 = Dow-Jones Industrial average
• APPL = Apple (dollars per share)
• BRK-B = Berkshire Hathaway B-shares (dollars per share)
• BTC = Bitcoin (dollars per coin)

For each index, you should compute the weekly log-return as 100*(ln(Y_t) - ln(Y_{t-1})) where Y_t is the index value for week t and Y_{t-1} is the index value for the preceding week (t-1). An example is provided in the spreadsheet for the first log-return of SP500, and you should copy this cell formula to generate the log-returns for the other weeks and assets. Although the asset values are stated in difference units, we can use the weekly log-returns (measured in percentage changes) to compare the performance of the different assets. Due to the differencing operation, you should recover 52 log-returns for weeks 2 to 53.

For this initial portion of the term project, you should use the log-return data for the five assets to describe the observed performance of these assets over the past year. In particular, you should report the sample mean return, median return, sample standard deviation, and observed range (maximum minus minimum). Based on these summary statistics, you should assemble a brief (one page at most) comparison of the observed returns for these assets. In particular, which assets had the highest or lowest average return? Do you get different results based on median returns? Which assets exhibited the highest variability (largest range or standard deviation) or lowest variability (smallest range or standard deviation)? Please assemble your analysis in a paper that includes a title page, introduction section that lists the data series, data comparison section that presents your summary statistics and analysis, and an appendix that includes any tables or figures you use in the analysis. If you use any external references beyond our course textbook, you should cite these references in the paper and list the references at the end of the paper. The paper should be roughly 5-8 pages long and follow the APA format convention.