A project's NPV is positive. Select the most correct statement:
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.
- 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.
Alice, Bob, Chris and Delta are traders in the futures market. The following trades occur over a single day in a newly-opened equity index future that matures in one year which the exchange just made available.
1. Alice buys a future from Bob.
2. Chris buys a future from Delta.
3. Alice buys a future from Chris.
These were the only trades made in this equity index future. What was the trading volume and what is the open interest?
"Buy low, sell high" is a well-known saying. It suggests that investors should buy low then sell high, in that order.
How would you re-phrase that saying to describe short selling?
On 1 February 2016 you were told that your refinery company will need to purchase oil on 1 July 2016. You were afraid of the oil price rising between now and then so you bought some August 2016 futures contracts on 1 February 2016 to hedge against changes in the oil price. On 1 February 2016 the oil price was $40 and the August 2016 futures price was $43.
It's now 1 July 2016 and oil price is $45 and the August 2016 futures price is $46. You bought the spot oil and closed out your futures position on 1 July 2016.
What was the effective price paid for the oil, taking into account basis risk? All spot and futures oil prices quoted above and below are per barrel.
A one year European-style put option has a strike price of $4.
The option's underlying stock currently trades at $5, pays no dividends and its standard deviation of continuously compounded returns is 47% pa.
The risk-free interest rate is 10% pa continuously compounded.
Use the Black-Scholes-Merton formula to calculate the option price. The put option price now is:
Question 889 cross currency interest rate parity, no explanation
Judging by the graph, in 2018 the USD short term interest rate set by the US Federal Reserve is higher than the JPY short term interest rate set by the Bank of Japan, which is higher than the EUR short term interest rate set by the European central bank.
At the latest date shown in 2018: ##r_{USD}>r_{JPY}>r_{EUR}##
Assume that each currency’s yield curve is flat at the latest date shown in 2018, so interest rates are expected to remain at their current level into the future.
Which of the following statements is NOT correct?
Over time you would expect the:
By convention, money market securities' yields are always quoted as:
Question 975 comparative advantage in trade, production possibilities curve, no explanation
Arthur and Bindi are the only people on a remote island.
Luckily there are Coconut and Date palm trees on the island that grow delicious fruit. The problem is that harvesting the fruit takes a lot of work.
Arthur can pick 1 coconut per hour, 4 dates per hour or any linear combination of coconuts and dates. For example, he could pick 0.5 coconuts and 2 dates per hour.
Bindi can pick 2 coconuts per hour, 1 date per hour or any linear combination. For example, she could pick 0.5 coconuts and 0.75 dates per hour.
This information is summarised in the table and graph:
Harvest Rates Per Hour | ||
Coconuts | Dates | |
Arthur | 1 | 4 |
Bindi | 2 | 1 |
Which of the following statements is NOT correct?