Fight Finance

Question 49  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows, APR, effective rate

In Australia, nominal yields on semi-annual coupon paying Government Bonds with 2 years until maturity are currently 2.83% pa.

The inflation rate is currently 2.2% pa, given as an APR compounding per quarter. The inflation rate is not expected to change over the next 2 years.

What is the real yield on these bonds, given as an APR compounding every 6 months?

(a) 0.3086%

(b) 0.6171%

(c) 0.6181%

(d) 0.6239%

(e) 0.6300%

Question 319  foreign exchange rate, monetary policy, American and European terms

Investors expect the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to keep the policy rate steady at their next meeting.

Then unexpectedly, the RBA announce that they will increase the policy rate by 25 basis points due to fears that the economy is growing too fast and that inflation will be above their target rate of 2 to 3 per cent.

What do you expect to happen to Australia's exchange rate in the short term? The Australian dollar is likely to:

(a) Appreciate against the USD, so the 'European terms' quote of the AUD (AUD per USD) will increase.

(b) Depreciate against the USD, so the 'European terms' quote of the AUD (AUD per USD) will decrease.

(c) Appreciate against the USD, so the 'European terms' quote of the AUD (AUD per USD) will decrease.

(d) Depreciate against the USD, so the 'European terms' quote of the AUD (AUD per USD) will increase.

(e) Appreciate against the USD, so the 'American terms' quote of the AUD (USD per AUD) will decrease.

Question 323  foreign exchange rate, monetary policy, American and European terms

The market expects the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to increase the policy rate by 25 basis points at their next meeting.

As expected, the RBA increases the policy rate by 25 basis points.

What do you expect to happen to Australia's exchange rate in the short term? The Australian dollar will:

(a) Appreciate against the USD, so the 'American terms' quote of the AUD (USD per AUD) will increase.

(b) Depreciate against the USD, so the 'American terms' quote of the AUD (USD per AUD) will decrease.

(c) Appreciate against the USD, so the 'American terms' quote of the AUD (USD per AUD) will decrease.

(d) Depreciate against the USD, so the 'American terms' quote of the AUD (USD per AUD) will increase.

(e) Be unaffected by the change in the policy rate, so the exchange rate will remain the same.

Question 367  CFFA, interest tax shield

There are many ways to calculate a firm's free cash flow (FFCF), also called cash flow from assets (CFFA). Some include the annual interest tax shield in the cash flow and some do not.

Which of the below FFCF formulas include the interest tax shield in the cash flow?

###(1) \quad FFCF=NI + Depr - CapEx -ΔNWC + IntExp### ###(2) \quad FFCF=NI + Depr - CapEx -ΔNWC + IntExp.(1-t_c)### ###(3) \quad FFCF=EBIT.(1-t_c )+ Depr- CapEx -ΔNWC+IntExp.t_c### ###(4) \quad FFCF=EBIT.(1-t_c) + Depr- CapEx -ΔNWC### ###(5) \quad FFCF=EBITDA.(1-t_c )+Depr.t_c- CapEx -ΔNWC+IntExp.t_c### ###(6) \quad FFCF=EBITDA.(1-t_c )+Depr.t_c- CapEx -ΔNWC### ###(7) \quad FFCF=EBIT-Tax + Depr - CapEx -ΔNWC### ###(8) \quad FFCF=EBIT-Tax + Depr - CapEx -ΔNWC-IntExp.t_c### ###(9) \quad FFCF=EBITDA-Tax - CapEx -ΔNWC### ###(10) \quad FFCF=EBITDA-Tax - CapEx -ΔNWC-IntExp.t_c###

The formulas for net income (NI also called earnings), EBIT and EBITDA are given below. Assume that depreciation and amortisation are both represented by 'Depr' and that 'FC' represents fixed costs such as rent.

###NI=(Rev - COGS - Depr - FC - IntExp).(1-t_c )### ###EBIT=Rev - COGS - FC-Depr### ###EBITDA=Rev - COGS - FC### ###Tax =(Rev - COGS - Depr - FC - IntExp).t_c= \dfrac{NI.t_c}{1-t_c}###

(a) 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

(b) 2, 4, 6, 8, 10.

(c) 1, 4, 6, 8, 10.

(d) 2, 3, 5, 7, 9.

(e) 1, 3, 5, 8, 10.

Question 460  bond pricing, premium par and discount bonds

Below are some statements about loans and bonds. The first descriptive sentence is correct. But one of the second sentences about the loans' or bonds' prices is not correct. Which statement is NOT correct? Assume that interest rates are positive.

Note that coupons or interest payments are the periodic payments made throughout a bond or loan's life. The face or par value of a bond or loan is the amount paid at the end when the debt matures.

(a) A bullet loan has no interest payments but it does have a face value. Therefore it's a discount loan.

(b) A fully amortising loan has interest payments but does not have a face value. Therefore it's a premium loan.

(c) An interest only loan has interest payments and its price and face value are equal. Therefore it's a par loan.

(d) A zero coupon bond has no coupon payments but it does have a face value. Therefore it's a premium bond.

(e) A balloon loan has interest payments and its face value is more than its price. Therefore it's a discount loan.

Question 638  option, option payoff at maturity, no explanation

Which of the below formulas gives the payoff ##(f)## at maturity ##(T)## from being long a put option? Let the underlying asset price at maturity be ##S_T## and the exercise price be ##X_T##.

(a) ##f_{LP,T}=max⁡(S_T-X_T,0)##

(b) ##f_{LP,T}=max⁡(X_T-S_T,0)##

(c) ##f_{LP,T}=-max⁡(S_T-X_T,0)##

(d) ##f_{LP,T}=-max⁡(X_T-S_T,0)##

(e) ##f_{LP,T}=min⁡(X_T-S_T,0)##

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:

(a) Historical capital return last year was negative ##\left( \dfrac{P_0 - P_{-1}}{P_{-1}} < 0 \right)##.

(b) Historical dividend yield last year was negative ##\left( \dfrac{C_0}{P_{-1}} < 0 \right)##.

(c) Expected future capital return next year is positive ##\left( \dfrac{P_1 - P_0}{P_0} > 0 \right)##.

(d) Expected future dividend yield next year is positive ##\left( \dfrac{C_1}{P_0} > 0 \right)##.

(e) Expected future total return next year is positive ##\left( \dfrac{P_1 - P_0 + C_1}{P_0} > 0 \right)##.

Question 844  gross domestic product deflator, consumer price index, inflation, no explanation

An Australian-owned company produces milk in New Zealand and exports all of it to China. If the price of the milk increases, which of the following would increase?

(a) Australia’s GDP deflator.

(b) Australia’s CPI.

(c) New Zealand’s CPI.

(d) China’s GDP deflator.

(e) China’s CPI.

Question 859  money supply, no explanation

The below table shows Australian monetary aggregates. Note that ‘M3’ is the sum of all the figures in the table and ‘ADI’ stands for Authorised Deposit-taking Institution such as a bank, building society or credit union.

Australian Monetary Aggregates
March 2017, AUD billions
Currency	Current deposits with banks	Certificates of deposit issued by banks	Term deposits with banks	Other deposits with banks	Deposits with non-bank ADIs	M3
69.3	271.6	207.2	562.3	838.7	36.9	1986.0

 

Source: RBA Statistical Table D3 Monetary Aggregates.

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) Current deposits are the notes and coins that banks keep in their physical vaults and Automatic Teller Machines (ATM’s).

(b) Current deposits with banks pay little interest to depositors but are highly liquid since they can be withdrawn using ATM’s.

(c) The government directly controls the amount of notes and coins.

(d) The central bank indirectly controls the amount of deposits by changing the cash rate.

(e) When a commercial bank lends money to a borrower to buy a house, that money is likely to be deposited by the house seller into another bank.

Question 931  confidence interval, normal distribution

A stock's returns are normally distributed with a mean of 10% pa and a standard deviation of 20 percentage points pa. What is the 90% confidence interval of returns over the next year? Note that the Z-statistic corresponding to a one-tail:

• 90% normal probability density function is 1.282.
• 95% normal probability density function is 1.645.
• 97.5% normal probability density function is 1.960.

The 90% confidence interval of annual returns is between:

(a) 30% and -10% pa.

(b) 32.9% and -32.9% pa.

(c) 35.64% and -15.64% pa.

(d) 42.9% and -22.9% pa.

(e) 49.2% and -29.2% pa.