Markets
Markets and macro questions
Where the 10-year is, what moved last week, and how to pitch a stock without sounding like a press release.
Sales and trading, asset management and markets-facing banking roles test something different from the accounting questions. They are checking whether you actually follow markets, or merely read about them the week before.
What is the 10-year yield? What is the S&P at?
There is no clever answer here: either you know or you do not, and not knowing is disqualifying for a markets role. Before any interview, be able to state the current level of the US 10-year Treasury yield, your home market’s equivalent, the major equity indices, the policy rate at the main central banks, and roughly where oil and the dollar are.
Know the direction and the reason too. “The 10-year is around X, up about forty basis points over the last quarter as the market has priced out some of the expected cuts” is a completely different answer from a bare number.
What’s moving markets right now?
Pick one theme and go deep rather than listing five. A strong answer has a structure: what happened, why it matters, what it has moved, and what you would watch next. Vagueness is what sinks this answer, not having the wrong view.
Pitch me a stock
The structure
Recommendation first. “I’d be long X.” Do not build to it.
Two or three reasons the market is mispricing it — the point is what you see that consensus does not. “It’s a good company” is not a thesis; it is already in the price.
A catalyst. What causes the gap to close, and over what horizon?
The risks. Name what would make you wrong. Candidates who present no downside look naive, not confident.
Valuation. Roughly what it trades on, and against what.
Pick something you genuinely understand over something that sounds impressive. You will be pushed on it, and the follow-ups are where the pitch is actually judged.
Why do bond prices fall when rates rise?
Because a bond pays a fixed coupon. If newly issued bonds offer a higher rate, an existing bond paying less is worth less — its price falls until its yield is competitive with the new ones. The longer the maturity, the more sensitive the price, which is what duration measures.
What does an inverted yield curve mean?
Short-term yields above long-term ones — unusual, and generally a sign the market expects the central bank to cut rates as growth slows. Inversion has preceded most recent US recessions, which is why it is watched so closely. It is a signal of expectations, not a cause, and the lag between inversion and recession has historically been long and variable. Saying that last part is what distinguishes a considered answer from a memorised one.
How would central bank policy affect your positioning?
Connect the mechanism to the asset. Higher rates raise the discount rate applied to future cash flows, which hurts long-duration assets most — high-growth equities whose value sits far in the future, and long-dated bonds. Banks can benefit, since higher rates widen net interest margins, though that is offset if the economy slows enough to create credit losses. What the interviewer wants is the chain of reasoning, not a prediction.
Now answer them yourself
Real questions from the Basis curriculum, with the explanation after each one. No account needed.
Common follow-ups
What should I know before a markets interview?
How do you pitch a stock in an interview?
Why do bond prices fall when interest rates rise?
What does an inverted yield curve signal?
How do rising interest rates affect different assets?
Drill this properly
Basis teaches the concept first, then tests it — 98 lessons and 449 questions, free in your browser. The Career Accelerator adds DCF, M&A and LBO modules built for front-office interviews.
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