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Are You An Investment News Junkie?

It's called market noise, and you know better than to let it distract you from your long-term financial plan. But it never hurts to stay informed, so you bookmark your favorite market news sites, never skip the paper's money section, and tune in TV's financial pundits. Use this quiz to gauge how well you paid attention last year.

1. Which currency did not gain ground against the dollar in 2006?
   1. yen
   2. euro
   3. pound
   4. Swiss franc
2. During 2006, the price of a barrel of light sweet crude oil peaked during what month:
   1. January
   2. May
   3. July
   4. November
3. In 2006, margin debt (funds borrowed against securities) reached $270.53 billion. When was the only other time margin debt exceeded $270 billion?
   1. 1987
   2. 2000
   3. 2003
   4. None of the above
4. A radio network, a casino, and a supermarket chain were in the top 10 for 2006 in which category?
   1. initial public offerings
   2. stock market gainers
   3. private equity buyouts
   4. all of the above
5. Incidents involving CNBC star Maria Bartiromo spelled trouble for:
   1. former Citigroup executive Todd Thompson
   2. Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke
   3. both of the above
   4. neither of the above
6. True or false: In 2006, the housing boom faltered, with a decline in both the number and median price of existing home sales.
7. Commercial real estate in 2006 saw a decrease in vacancy rates and a rise in the average per square foot cost for:
   1. offices
   2. retail space
   3. industrial space
   4. all of the above
8. Drawn by the promise of big returns, investors poured a net $92 billion into hedge funds during the first nine months of 2006. For the year, the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index outperformed:
   1. the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index
   2. the Dow Jones World Index
   3. the Lehman Brothers U.S. Aggregate Bond Index
   4. all of the above.
9. In 2006, measured in U.S. dollar terms, how did international market regions fare (from best to worst)?
   1. Latin America, Europe, Asia/Pacific
   2. Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America
   3. Europe, Asia/Pacific, Latin America
   4. Latin America, Asia/Pacific, Europe
10. Art prices soared in 2006 as new investors and collectors flooded into the market. Which artist's work brought the highest price at auction?
    1. Pablo Picasso
    2. Willem de Kooning
    3. Andy Warhol
    4. Rembrandt
11. True or false: At year's end, bond investors, apparently worried about the long-term health of the economy, were paying higher prices for 2-year U.S. Treasuries than for 10-year Treasuries.
12. The best and worst performing U.S. market sectors, respectively, in 2006 (as tracked by Dow Jones Indexes) were:
    1. telecommunications; retail
    2. oil and natural gas; construction materials
    3. media; chemicals
    4. food and beverage; travel and leisure.

Answers: 1a; 2c; 3b; 4c; 5c; 6 true; 7d; 8c; 9a; 10b; 11 false; 12a.