Fight Finance

Question 129  debt terminology

An 'interest rate' is the same thing as a 'coupon rate'. or ?

Question 282  expected and historical returns, income and capital returns

You're the boss of an investment bank's equities research team. Your five analysts are each trying to find the expected total return over the next year of shares in a mining company. The mining firm:

• Is regarded as a mature company since it's quite stable in size and was floated around 30 years ago. It is not a high-growth company;
• Share price is very sensitive to changes in the price of the market portfolio, economic growth, the exchange rate and commodities prices. Due to this, its standard deviation of total returns is much higher than that of the market index;
• Experienced tough times in the last 10 years due to unexpected falls in commodity prices.
• Shares are traded in an active liquid market.

Your team of analysts present their findings, and everyone has different views. While there's no definitive true answer, whose calculation of the expected total return is the most plausible? Assume that:

• The analysts' source data is correct and true, but their inferences might be wrong;
• All returns and yields are given as effective annual nominal rates.

(a) Alice says 5% pa since she calculated that this was the average total yield on government bonds over the last 10 years. She says that this is also the expected total yield implied by current prices on one year government bonds.

(b) Bob says 4% pa since he calculated that this was the average total return on the mining stock over the last 10 years.

(c) Cate says 3% pa since she calculated that this was the average growth rate of the share price over the last 10 years.

(d) Dave says 6% pa since he calculated that this was the average growth rate of the share market price index (not the accumulation index) over the last 10 years.

(e) Eve says 15% pa since she calculated that this was the discount rate implied by the dividend discount model using the current share price, forecast dividend in one year and a 3% growth rate in dividends thereafter, which is the expected long term inflation rate.

Question 346  NPV, annuity due

Your poor friend asks to borrow some money from you. He would like $1,000 now (t=0) and every year for the next 5 years, so there will be 6 payments of $1,000 from t=0 to t=5 inclusive. In return he will pay you $10,000 in seven years from now (t=7).

What is the net present value (NPV) of lending to your friend?

Assume that your friend will definitely pay you back so the loan is risk-free, and that the yield on risk-free government debt is 10% pa, given as an effective annual rate.

(a) $1,340.7944

(b) $1,172.2533

(c) $776.3205

(d) $705.7459

(e) $340.7944

Question 499  NPV, Annuity

Some countries' interest rates are so low that they're zero.

If interest rates are 0% pa and are expected to stay at that level for the foreseeable future, what is the most that you would be prepared to pay a bank now if it offered to pay you $10 at the end of every year for the next 5 years?

In other words, what is the present value of five $10 payments at time 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 if interest rates are 0% pa?

(a) $0

(b) $10

(c) $50

(d) Positive infinity

(e) Priceless

Question 592  future, margin call

A trader buys one December futures contract on orange juice. Each contract is for the delivery of 10,000 pounds. The current futures price is $1.20 per pound. The initial margin is $5,000 per contract, and the maintenance margin is $4,000 per contract.

What is the smallest price change would that would lead to a margin call for the buyer?

(a) A price fall of $0.76 per pound.

(b) A price fall of $0.10 per pound.

(c) A price fall of $0.04 per pound.

(d) A price rise of $0.04 per pound.

(e) A price rise of $0.10 per pound.

Question 642  future, no explanation

Which of the below formulas gives the payoff at maturity ##(f_T)## from being short a future? Let the underlying asset price at maturity be ##S_T## and the locked-in futures price be ##K_T##.

(a) ##f_{SF,T}=S_T+K_T##

(b) ##f_{SF,T}=-S_T-K_T##

(c) ##f_{SF,T}=S_T-K_T##

(d) ##f_{SF,T}=K_T-S_T##

(e) ##f_{SF,T}=S_T##

Question 670  fixed for floating interest rate swap

A company can invest funds in a five year project at LIBOR plus 50 basis points pa. The five-year swap rate is 4% pa. What fixed rate of interest can the company earn over the next five years by using the swap?

(a) 0% pa

(b) 3.5% pa

(c) 4% pa

(d) 4.5% pa

(e) 5% pa

Question 756  bond pricing, capital raising, no explanation

A firm wishes to raise $50 million now. They will issue 5% pa semi-annual coupon bonds that will mature in 3 years and have a face value of $100 each. Bond yields are 6% pa, given as an APR compounding every 6 months, and the yield curve is flat.

How many bonds should the firm issue?

(a) 418,743

(b) 420,478

(c) 513,921

(d) 552,365

(e) 594,562

Question 816  expected and historical returns

If future expected cash flows rise, and future required returns remain the same, then prices will , or remain the ?

Question 871  duration, Macaulay duration, modified duration, portfolio duration

Which of the following statements about Macaulay duration is NOT correct? The Macaulay duration:

(a) Is the weighted average time that an asset’s cash flows are received, usually measured in years.

(b) Divided by (1+y) equals the modified duration, where y is the yield to maturity given as an effective annual rate and duration is measured in years.

(c) Of a zero-coupon bond is equal to the bond’s maturity.

(d) Of a fixed-coupon-paying bond will be less than the bond’s maturity.

(e) Of a portfolio is an arithmetic average of the Macaulay durations of the assets in the portfolio, weighted by their face values.