Quiz of the week 21-27 November

1. Wrexham Football Club is set for a £2m investment after it was bought by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Ryan Reynolds is famous for playing Deadpool in the Deadpool movies. But which sitcom is McElhenney known for, especially in the United States?

a. Friends, b. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, c. Two and a Half Men, d. Seinfeld

2. US president-elect Joe Biden is set to nominate Janet Yellen to become the next Treasury secretary. If elected, Yellen will become the first person to have headed three major US economic organisations. Which of these has she not taken charge of?

a. Federal Reserve, b. White House Council of Economic Advisers, c. Federal Trade Commission, d. All of the above

3. Alex Bourne, 36, won a government contract worth at least £30m for supplying vials for coronavirus tests. But what was his relationship to health secretary Matt Hancock?

a. Brother-in-law, b. Cousin, c. Neighbour, d. Schoolfriend

4. Which company announced this week it would be spending $500m on Christmas bonuses for its staff after its success throughout the pandemic?

a. Amazon, b. Zoom, c. Netflix, d. PayPal

5. Research by consumer group Which? found what when tracking the prices of 219 popular home and tech products for six months before and after the 2019 Black Friday sale?

a. Nine out of ten items were 25% cheaper on Black Friday, b. Nine out of ten items were 33% cheaper on Black Friday, c. Nine out of ten items were the same price on Black Friday as they were two weeks before, d. Nine out of ten items were available for the same price or cheaper earlier in the year before Black Friday

6. Co-op shop workers received what this week to help monitor increasing levels of abuse towards towards them in a £70m effort by the supermarket to boost security measures?

a. Self defence training, b. Body cameras, c. Emergency whistles, d. Portable alarms that ring 999

7. The UK economy is set to end the year 11% smaller than it was expected to because of the effect of the coronavirus pandemic. GDP is expected to remain 3% smaller by which year?

a. 2021, b. 2023, c. 2025, d. 2027

8. Aberdeen Standard Investments, one of Europe’s biggest asset managers, is to launch a fund solely investing in hedge funds run by who?

a. Women, b. Fund managers from ethnic minorities, c. Fund managers under 40, d. Fund managers with at least 20 years of experience

9. Bitcoin rallied to a new record high this week, trading as high as $19,510 after seeing a 75% increase in the past three months and recovering 400% since its heavy drop in March. What happened last time it hit a peak?

a. It plateaued, b. It lost 80% over one year, c. It went on to hit record highs for three days in a row, d. Investors sold their Bitcoin en masse to make a profit

10. Tesla’s market value increased to over $500bn this week following a fresh wave of buying, prompted by what?

a. Elon Musk’s announcement that Tesla was going to diversify into vaccines, b. Its very impressive half-year report, c. Elon Musk’s overtaking of Bill Gates to become the world’s second richest person, d. Its debut on the S&P 500 stock index next month

Answers

1. b. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. McElhenney created the show and played Mac, which follows a group of friends who run an Irish pub.

2. c. Federal Trade Commission. Yellen was head of the Federal Reserve under President Obama and President Trump from 2014 to 2018, and chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 1999, but has not headed the Federal Trade Commission.

3. c. Neighbour. Bourne is the former landlord of the health secretary’s local pub. He owns a food carton company called Hinpack that switched to supplying millions of plastic tubes for coronavirus testing. Bourne admitted to contacting Hancock over WhatsApp with an offer to help respond to the demand for testing vials, but denied this played a role in his becoming a supplier. He has also insisted Hancock was not involved in Hinpack securing a government contract. The Department of Health and Social Care said there is no evidence to support claims of cronyism.

4. a. Amazon. Amazon announced full-time warehouse workers in the UK and the US are receiving £300 or $300, while part time staff would receive £150 or $150. The company is spending $500m in total. Jeff Bezos’s wealth grew by $48bn from March to June this year due to people’s reliance on online shopping throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

5. d. Nine out of ten items were available for the same price or cheaper earlier in the year before Black Friday. Retailers including Amazon and John Lewis offered deals year round, not just during seasonal shopping events.

6. b. Body cameras. Shop workers received body cameras to keep them safe as they face unprecedented levels of abuse and violence during the coronavirus pandemic.

7. c. 2025. The chancellor’s spending review portrayed a bleak image of what is to come.

8. a. Women. The new fund is going to track the performance of an index of hedge funds runby women. It was a strong year for them compared to the overall industry after many were able to limit losses during March’s market turmoil. HFR’s Woman Access Index is up 6.9% this year to the end of October, compared with a 1.1% rise in the broader HFRI 500 Fund Weighted Composite Index.

9. b. It lost 80% over one year. Analysts said the growing interest from professional investors could mean this latest peak is more sustainable than the one of December 2017, when bitcoin hit $19,458. The crash was most likely to have been due to speculative retail investors and computer-driven trading funds, says the Financial Times. This time, investors are looking at the cryptocurrency as a long-term investment.

10. d. Its debut on the S&P 500 stock index next month. Tesla is set to debut on the blue-chop index next month. Shares in the company have risen more than six-fold this year, hitting $555 on Tuesday.