Fight Finance

Question 2  NPV, Annuity

Katya offers to pay you $10 at the end of every year for the next 5 years (t=1,2,3,4,5) if you pay her $50 now (t=0). You can borrow and lend from the bank at an interest rate of 10% pa, given as an effective annual rate. Ignore credit risk.

Will you or politely Katya's deal?

Question 102  option, hedging

A company runs a number of slaughterhouses which supply hamburger meat to McDonalds. The company is afraid that live cattle prices will increase over the next year, even though there is widespread belief in the market that they will be stable. What can the company do to hedge against the risk of increasing live cattle prices? Which statement(s) are correct?

(i) buy call options on live cattle.

(ii) buy put options on live cattle.

(iii) sell call options on live cattle.

Select the most correct response:

(a) Only (i) is true.

(b) Only (ii) is true.

(c) Only (iii) is true.

(d) Only (i) and (ii) is true.

(e) All statements (i), (ii) and (iii) are true.

Question 634  continuously compounding rate

A $100 stock has a continuously compounded expected total return of 10% pa. Its dividend yield is 2% pa with continuous compounding. What do you expect its price to be in one year?

(a) $112.749685

(b) $110.517092

(c) $110

(d) $108.328707

(e) $108

Question 718  arithmetic and geometric averages

The symbol ##\text{GDR}_{0\rightarrow 1}## represents a stock's gross discrete return per annum over the first year. ##\text{GDR}_{0\rightarrow 1} = P_1/P_0##. The subscript indicates the time period that the return is mentioned over. So for example, ##\text{AAGDR}_{1 \rightarrow 3}## is the arithmetic average GDR measured over the two year period from years 1 to 3, but it is expressed as a per annum rate.

Which of the below statements about the arithmetic and geometric average GDR is NOT correct?

(a) Arithmetic average gross discrete return is ##\text{AAGDR}_{0\rightarrow T} = \dfrac{\text{GDR}_{0 \rightarrow 1}+\text{GDR}_{1\rightarrow 2}+...+\text{GDR}_{T-1 \rightarrow T}}{T}##

(b) Geometric average gross discrete return is ##\text{GAGDR}_{0\rightarrow T} = \dfrac{\text{GDR}_{0 \rightarrow 1} . \text{GDR}_{1\rightarrow 2} ... \text{GDR}_{T-1 \rightarrow T}}{T}##

(c) The geometric average gross discrete return can be quickly found using the first ##(P_0)## and last ##(P_T)## prices. ##\text{GAGDR}_{0\rightarrow T} = \left( \dfrac{P_T}{P_0} \right)^{1/T}##

(d) The arithmetic average is always bigger than or equal to the geometric average, ##\text{AAGDR} \ge \text{GAGDR}##.

(e) The arithmetic and geometric averages of returns will be equal if the variance of the stock's returns is zero.

Question 730  DDM, income and capital returns, no explanation

A stock’s current price is $1. Its expected total return is 10% pa and its long term expected capital return is 4% pa. It pays an annual dividend and the next one will be paid in one year. All rates are given as effective annual rates. The dividend discount model is thought to be a suitable model for the stock. Ignore taxes. Which of the following statements about the stock is NOT correct?

(a) The expected dividend yield is 6% pa.

(b) The expected growth rate of the dividend is 4% pa.

(c) The dividend in one year is expected to be $0.06.

(d) The price is expected to be $1.06 in one year, just before the dividend is paid.

(e) The price is expected to be $1.04 in one year, just after the dividend is paid.

Question 734  real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation, DDM, no explanation

An equities analyst is using the dividend discount model to price a company's shares. The company operates domestically and has no plans to expand overseas. It is part of a mature industry with stable positive growth prospects.

The analyst has estimated the real required return (r) of the stock and the value of the dividend that the stock just paid a moment before ##(C_\text{0 before})##.

What is the highest perpetual real growth rate of dividends (g) that can be justified? Select the most correct statement from the following choices. The highest perpetual real expected growth rate of dividends that can be justified is the country's expected:

(a) Inflation rate.

(b) Nominal GDP growth rate.

(c) Real GDP growth rate.

(d) Nominal total return on the share market index.

(e) Real total return on the share market index.

Question 794  option, Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing, option delta, no explanation

Which of the following quantities from the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing formula gives the Delta of a European call option?

(a) ##N[d_1]##

(b) ##N[d_2]##

(c) ##−N[−d_1]##

(d) ##−N[−d_2]##

(e) ##N[−d_2]##

Where:

###d_1=\dfrac{\ln⁡[S_0/K]+(r+\sigma^2/2).T)}{\sigma.\sqrt{T}}### ###d_2=d_1-\sigma.\sqrt{T}=\dfrac{\ln⁡[S_0/K]+(r-\sigma^2/2).T)}{\sigma.\sqrt{T}}###

Question 838  option, put call parity

A stock, a call, a put and a bond are available to trade. The call and put options' underlying asset is the stock they and have the same strike prices, ##K_T##.

Being long the call and short the stock is equivalent to being:

(a) Long the put only.

(b) Long the put and long the bond.

(c) Long the put and short the bond.

(d) Short the put and long the bond.

(e) Short the put and short the bond.

Question 898  comparative advantage in trade, production possibilities curve, no explanation

Adam and Bella are the only people on a remote island. Their production possibility curves are shown in the graph.

Assuming that Adam and Bella cooperate according to the principles of comparative advantage, what will be their combined production possibilities curve?

(a) a

(b) b

(c) c

(d) d

(e) e

Question 956  option, Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing, delta hedging, hedging

A bank sells a European call option on a non-dividend paying stock and delta hedges on a daily basis. Below is the result of their hedging, with columns representing consecutive days. Assume that there are 365 days per year and interest is paid daily in arrears.

Delta Hedging a Short Call using Stocks and Debt
Description	Symbol	Days to maturity (T in days)
		60	59	58	57	56	55
Spot price ($)	S	10000	10125	9800	9675	10000	10000
Strike price ($)	K	10000	10000	10000	10000	10000	10000
Risk free cont. comp. rate (pa)	r	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05	0.05
Standard deviation of the stock's cont. comp. returns (pa)	σ	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
Option maturity (years)	T	0.164384	0.161644	0.158904	0.156164	0.153425	0.150685
Delta	N[d1] = dc/dS	0.552416	0.582351	0.501138	0.467885	0.550649	0.550197
Probability that S > K at maturity in risk neutral world	N[d2]	0.487871	0.51878	0.437781	0.405685	0.488282	0.488387
Call option price ($)	c	685.391158	750.26411	567.990995	501.487157	660.982878	?
Stock investment value ($)	N[d1]*S	5524.164129	5896.301781	4911.152036	4526.788065	5506.488143	?
Borrowing which partly funds stock investment ($)	N[d2]*K/e^(r*T)	4838.772971	5146.037671	4343.161041	4025.300909	4845.505265	?
Interest expense from borrowing paid in arrears ($)	r*N[d2]*K/e^(r*T)		0.662891	0.704985	0.594994	0.551449	?
Gain on stock ($)	N[d1]*(SNew - SOld)		69.052052	-189.264008	-62.642245	152.062648	?
Gain on short call option ($)	-1*(cNew - cOld)		-64.872952	182.273114	66.503839	-159.495721	?
Net gain ($)	Gains - InterestExpense		3.516209	-7.695878	3.266599	-7.984522	?
Gamma	Γ = d^2c/dS^2	0.000244	0.00024	0.000255	0.00026	0.000253	0.000255
Theta	θ = dc/dT	2196.873429	2227.881353	2182.174706	2151.539751	2266.589184	2285.1895

 

In the last column when there are 55 days left to maturity there are missing values. Which of the following statements about those missing values is NOT correct?

(a) The call option price is expected to be $654.757851.

(b) The stock investment value used for hedging should be $5506.488143, partly funded by $4845.505265 in debt.

(c) The interest expense on the borrowing from the previous day will be $0.663813.

(d) The gain on the stock is zero and the gain on the short call option is $6.225027.

(e) The net gain is $5.561214.