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CHOICE Review

Smith's book, designed to explain how to invest in a particular type of futures contract, covers much of the basic information found in Allan M. Loosigian's Interest Rate Futures (1980); Loosigian's Foreign Exchange Futures (CH, Apr '82); The Handbook of Financial Futures ed. by Nancy Rothstein (1984); and Neil Weiner's Stock Index Futures (1984). Smith describes the features of stock index futures, how they are traded, who participates in the market for these contracts, and investment and hedging strategies. A substantial proportion of the book is superfluous. For example, 26 pages are devoted to enumerating the components of the Value Line Stock Index and the Standard and Poor's 500 Stock Index. Smith devotes considerable coverage to fundamental and technical analysis that may be generally useful to investors not interested in speculating in stock index futures. The book is appropriate for libraries serving programs offering advanced courses in financial markets; however, the Weiner book presents a more sophisticated treatment of similar material that may better serve these libraries.-H. Mayo, Trenton State College