How precise do my market levels need to be?

Close enough to show you check daily. Within about a tenth of a percent on the 10 year yield and a percent or two on the S&P 500 is fine. Being far off, or not knowing, is the problem.

Do I need a personal trading account?

No. Interviewers like it if you have one and can talk about a trade that went wrong, but following markets daily and having a view matters more.

What should I read to stay current?

One major financial paper's markets coverage, a free bank or broker morning note, and the economic calendar. Depth on a few sources beats skimming many.

Will they ask about a desk I did not apply for?

Often. S&T interviewers want breadth before you rotate. Know the basics of rates, credit, equities, FX, and commodities even if you lean toward one.

How is this different from a banking interview?

Banking tests accounting and valuation. S&T tests markets, quick math, and how you think under pressure. The behavioral part overlaps.

Market questions in S&T interviews, and how to stay current

Sales and trading interviews test whether you follow markets every day: what moved this morning, roughly where the S&P 500, the 10 year yield, oil, and the dollar sit, and what happens to each if inflation or jobs data surprises. Build a twenty minute morning routine months before interviews, and always answer with a mechanism, not just a direction.

Updated November 6, 2026. Live data checked against each firm's own careers site 1m ago.

What market questions do S&T interviewers actually ask?

They fall into three kinds. Level checks: where are the major markets right now. What happened: what moved markets this morning or this week, and why. Scenarios: if this data surprises tomorrow, what happens to rates, stocks, the dollar, and commodities. The sample below is from our S&T markets bank.

1.What moved markets this morning?
2.What drives the price of gold?
3.A client calls and asks for your best idea in thirty seconds. Go.
4.What does the MOVE index measure?
5.What makes a good catalyst for a trade, and what is a weak one?
6.Pitch me an options trade that costs nothing upfront, and say what you give up.
7.What is the equity risk premium, and how would you estimate it quickly?
8.What is one trade you would put on this week, and what would make you take it off?
9.If you had to bet on one market going up over the next year, which and why?
10.A Canadian pension fund buys US stocks. What currency risk does it take, and how could it hedge?

Drill these with answers

Which numbers should you know every morning?

Know each of these within a sensible range on the day of your interview, and know how it moved over the last week. Interviewers do not expect decimals. They expect you to be close and to know the direction.

S&P 500 and Nasdaq levels, and the day's move in percent.
The 2 year and 10 year Treasury yields, and the spread between them.
The fed funds target range and what the market expects at the next meeting.
WTI and Brent oil.
EUR/USD, USD/JPY, and the dollar index.
Gold.
The VIX.
One credit measure: investment grade or high yield spreads, roughly.

How do you answer a scenario question?

Name the first order move, explain the mechanism, then add the second order effect or a caveat. The mechanism is what gets scored. "Stocks go down" is a guess. "Front end yields rise because the market prices fewer cuts, which raises discount rates, so long duration growth stocks fall most" is an answer.

Worked example: CPI prints hotter than expected. Front end yields rise most, since the market pushes back expected rate cuts, so the curve likely flattens. The dollar strengthens on wider rate differentials. Equities fall, led by long duration growth names. Gold is ambiguous: inflation helps it, but higher real yields hurt it. Then the caveat: check whether the surprise came from core or from food and energy, since core is what the Fed watches.

Say what moves first and which way.
Explain why, in one sentence, through rates, growth, or risk appetite.
Walk across asset classes: rates, equities, the dollar, credit, commodities.
Add one caveat: what is already priced in, or what detail in the data would change your answer.

What does a twenty minute morning routine look like?

Do it every weekday from the summer before your interviews, not the week of. Fluency comes from repetition, and interviewers can tell the difference between someone who read up last night and someone who has watched the market for months.

Five minutes: check futures, the 2 and 10 year yields, oil, the dollar, and gold. Write the levels in a note with the date.
Five minutes: read the main markets headlines from a major financial paper or a bank's free morning note. Find the one story that explains most of the moves.
Five minutes: check the economic calendar for this week. Know which data and central bank meetings are coming and what consensus expects.
Five minutes: write two sentences on what moved and why, as if you were telling a trader. That note becomes your answer to what moved markets this week.

How do you pitch a trade in an S&T interview?

Like a stock pitch, but in a macro product. The structure is the view, the instrument, the entry, the catalyst with a date, the stop, and the risk and reward. Have one ready in rates or FX as well as one stock, since a markets interviewer may ask for a trade that is not a stock.

A short example: you expect the Fed to cut faster than priced, so you expect the 2s10s curve to steepen. You buy 2 year Treasuries and sell 10 year, weighted so each leg has the same DV01, which means selling far less notional of the 10 year. The catalyst is the next FOMC meeting. The stop is a level on the spread, not on either yield.

What if you are asked about a market you do not follow?

Say what you do know, reason from first principles, and be honest about the gap. "I follow rates more closely than commodities, but if oil fell 20% I would expect energy stocks and high yield energy credit to fall, airlines to benefit, and inflation expectations to drop, and I would want to know whether it was supply or demand." That answer shows a framework, which is what the question is testing.

Questions students ask

How precise do my market levels need to be?: Close enough to show you check daily. Within about a tenth of a percent on the 10 year yield and a percent or two on the S&P 500 is fine. Being far off, or not knowing, is the problem.
Do I need a personal trading account?: No. Interviewers like it if you have one and can talk about a trade that went wrong, but following markets daily and having a view matters more.
What should I read to stay current?: One major financial paper's markets coverage, a free bank or broker morning note, and the economic calendar. Depth on a few sources beats skimming many.
Will they ask about a desk I did not apply for?: Often. S&T interviewers want breadth before you rotate. Know the basics of rates, credit, equities, FX, and commodities even if you lean toward one.
How is this different from a banking interview?: Banking tests accounting and valuation. S&T tests markets, quick math, and how you think under pressure. The behavioral part overlaps.