Chapter 03 - Supply and Demand

Chapter 3 Web Activities

  1. Go to the commodity futures section of Bloomberg.com, accessible at and look for the “Commodities News” (right side of screen) stories. Pick any story that you see there that seems the most interesting to you.
  2. What is the headline of the article? Summarize its content.
  3. Explain any part of the article that described shifts in the supply or the demand for a specific commodity. What impact should this shift have on the price of the commodity?
  4. Draw supply and demand diagramsto show the changes in supply and/or demand that you discussed in part b.
  1. Go to the Collectibles section of eBay ( and pick any subcategory that looks interesting to you. Find an auction that is just about to end and bookmark it. When the auction has ended, return to the auction page and click on “Bid History.” (If you have an eBay account, you have the option for searching “Completed Listings.”)
  2. What was the item? For how much did it eventually sell? How many bidders were there? How many bids? Record the eBay item number so that your instructor can verify the listing.
  3. Use the bid history to construct a demand curve. (HINT: You may have to “reorder” the bids a bit to figure this out. Try to figure out the maximum price that each of the bidders is willing to pay, and then use that information to construct the demand curve.)
  1. Visit the Hollywood Stock Exchange at Here, users can buy and sell virtual shares in movies and celebrities using a virtual currency in a real-time online marketplace. It’s just like buying and selling shares of stock. You can buy shares of your favorite American Idol contestant, for example, and then sell those shares when she wins!
  2. Use the search feature to search for your favorite celebrity and summarize the recent history of his or her share price. What, in your opinion, has caused the share price to go up or down over time?
  3. Use the search feature to search for an upcoming movie that you are excited about seeing and summarize the recent history of its share price. What, in your opinion, has caused the share price to go up or down over time?
  4. If you joined today, what celebrity stock or movie stock would you buy, and why?