If a project's net present value (NPV) is zero, then its internal rate of return (IRR) will be:
The required return of a project is 10%, given as an effective annual rate.
What is the payback period of the project in years?
Assume that the cash flows shown in the table are received smoothly over the year. So the $121 at time 2 is actually earned smoothly from t=1 to t=2.
Project Cash Flows | |
Time (yrs) | Cash flow ($) |
0 | -100 |
1 | 11 |
2 | 121 |
According to the theory of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), total variance can be broken into two components, systematic variance and idiosyncratic variance. Which of the following events would be considered the most diversifiable according to the theory of the CAPM?
In Australia in the 1980's, inflation was around 8% pa, and residential mortgage loan interest rates were around 14%.
In 2013, inflation was around 2.5% pa, and residential mortgage loan interest rates were around 4.5%.
If a person can afford constant mortgage loan payments of $2,000 per month, how much more can they borrow when interest rates are 4.5% pa compared with 14.0% pa?
Give your answer as a proportional increase over the amount you could borrow when interest rates were high ##(V_\text{high rates})##, so:
###\text{Proportional increase} = \dfrac{V_\text{low rates}-V_\text{high rates}}{V_\text{high rates}} ###
Assume that:
- Interest rates are expected to be constant over the life of the loan.
- Loans are interest-only and have a life of 30 years.
- Mortgage loan payments are made every month in arrears and all interest rates are given as annualised percentage rates (APR's) compounding per month.
Question 556 portfolio risk, portfolio return, standard deviation
An investor wants to make a portfolio of two stocks A and B with a target expected portfolio return of 12% pa.
- Stock A has an expected return of 10% pa and a standard deviation of 20% pa.
- Stock B has an expected return of 15% pa and a standard deviation of 30% pa.
The correlation coefficient between stock A and B's expected returns is 70%.
What will be the annual standard deviation of the portfolio with this 12% pa target return?
Question 579 price gains and returns over time, time calculation, effective rate
How many years will it take for an asset's price to double if the price grows by 10% pa?
Question 598 future, tailing the hedge, cross hedging
The standard deviation of monthly changes in the spot price of lamb is $0.015 per pound. The standard deviation of monthly changes in the futures price of live cattle is $0.012 per pound. The correlation between the spot price of lamb and the futures price of cattle is 0.4.
It is now January. A lamb producer is committed to selling 1,000,000 pounds of lamb in May. The spot price of live cattle is $0.30 per pound and the June futures price is $0.32 per pound. The spot price of lamb is $0.60 per pound.
The producer wants to use the June live cattle futures contracts to hedge his risk. Each futures contract is for the delivery of 50,000 pounds of cattle.
How many live cattle futures should the lamb farmer sell to hedge his risk? Round your answer to the nearest whole number of contracts.
Question 817 expected and historical returns, income and capital returns
Over the last year, a constant-dividend-paying stock's price fell, while it's future expected dividends and profit remained the same. Assume that:
- Now is ##t=0##, last year is ##t=-1## and next year is ##t=1##;
- The dividend is paid at the end of each year, the last dividend was just paid today ##(C_0)## and the next dividend will be paid next year ##(C_1)##;
- Markets are efficient and the dividend discount model is suitable for valuing the stock.
Which of the following statements is NOT correct? The stock's:
Question 892 foreign exchange reserve, foreign exchange rate, no explanation
The Chinese central bank has the largest amount of foreign currency reserves.
What could the large amounts of foreign exchange reserves held by the Chinese government be used for in a currency crisis? China's currency is called the Renminbi (RMB) or Yuan (CNY). In a Chinese currency crisis the Chinese government is likely to use its FX reserves to: