Obtain closing data and compute daily returns for the full year 2017 for the S\&P 500 and for First Solar (FSLR), which was a component of the index during that period. FSLR has historically been one of the most volatile stocks in the index.

(a) Produce a q-q plot with respect to a normal distribution and a half-normal plot of daily returns of FSLR.

Comment on the differences in these two kinds of displays. Which of these is more useful in getting a picture of the data?

(b) Produce a q-q plot of the FSLR returns versus the S\&P 500 returns. This is a two-sample plot; it is not a plot against a reference distribution, although by putting the quantiles of the S\&P 500 returns on the horizontal axis, the S\&P 500 returns can be considered a "reference sample".

Interpret the plot. Which distribution has heavier tails?