Investments

Investment banks are in the business of providing governments and corporations with investment services, including buying, selling, and trading securities, managing assets, and giving financial advice. The five leading investment-banking firms fill the Bulge Bracket of investment banking: Morgan Stanley-Dean Witter, Merrill Lynch, Salomon-Smith-Barney, and Goldman Sachs.

Regional investment banks like Piper Jaffray fill the middle of the market, while small investing ‘boutiques’ are organized on the local level and specialize in M&A advisory, bond-trading, program trading, and technical analysis. Investment banks are made up of departments that hand specific areas of investment. Sales and trading departments serve securities holders, investment banking departments serve governments and organizations that issue securities, and capital markets departments help mediate the securities exchange process. A review of the services offered ad Goldman Sachs can help you understand how investment banks are structured.

Trading and Sales are highly sought after investment banking positions. As a trader your duties include carrying out bond, currency, equity, futures, and options sales with traders at investment banks, institutions, and commercial banks. In addition to market understanding and knowledge of financial tools, a trader must be able to read people and handle a chaotic work environment. Equity traders spend a lot of time convincing other traders why their product is a good investment purchase, while fixed income traders must be able to use their analysis skills to handle expansive inventories in sometimes-weak economies. Derivative trading is extremely technically demanding and requires an engineer’s analytical abilities. In contrast Foreign exchange traders rely less on analytical skill and more on economic intuition.

An online career guide to a career in investments