Studying the U.S. financial system in the early twenty-first century can be compared to trying to hit a moving target while riding on a high-speed train. As we speed past the financial landscape, which is undergoing large and visible changes around the globe, "Foundations of Financial Markets and Institutions", Fourth Edition, will provide students with a solid foundation for understanding the continually evolving U.S. financial system and will provide them with the sense of institutional structure and the analytical tools that they will need to understand the innovations that will surely occur throughout their careers.