Gold may be a good investment if:

Inflation is expected to increase.
You like the color.
World peace comes to pass.
Foreign governments sell their gold reserves.

A benchmark asset, commonly considered by investors to be risk-free:

Treasury Bill (T-Bill).
Share of preferred stock.
A Eurobond
A junk bond.

The P/E ratio:

Is the same for all firms in a given industry.
Does not change over time.
Is typically higher for firms whose earnings are expected to grow rapidly.
Is the same as the dividend yield.

Technical analysis is a technique based on factors that are inherent to the market and include:

Number of shares sold on a specific day.
Number of consecutive days of price increases of a stock.
Changes in the direction of movement of a market index.
All of the above

Beta is commonly used as a relative measure of risk. It measures:

Standard deviation of a stock’s price.
The expected total returns of a diversified portfolio.
The unsystematic risk component of an investment.
The risk of a security or portfolio relative to the overall market.

Stocks whose returns are tied closely to the overall national economy are typically called:

Blue Chip stocks.
Defensive stocks.
Speculative stocks.
Cyclical stocks.

The total stock market (S&P 500) return during the 1990s was:

Predicted by most Wall Street analysts at the beginning of the decade.
Lower than the historical average
The highest of any decade in the 20th century.
Approximately the same as the total return during the 1970s.

Dividends are taxed:

At the investor’s marginal income tax rate.
At a maximum rate of 15%.
Only when the stock is sold.
Dividends are never taxed.