Chapter 26 Managing Risk 703
bre44380_ch26_673-706.indd 703 09/30/15 12:09 PM
f. Suppose interest rates suddenly fall to 4%. The term structure remains flat. What happens
to the six-month futures price on the five-year Treasury note? What happens to a trader
who shorted 100 notes at the futures price calculated in part (a)?
g. An importer must make a payment of one million ruples three months from now. Explain
two strategies the importer could use to hedge against unfavorable shifts in the ruple–dollar
exchange rate.
- Swaps Is a total return swap on a bond the same as a credit default swap (see Section 23-1)?
Why or why not? - Hedging “Speculators want futures contracts to be incorrectly priced; hedgers want them
to be correctly priced.” Why? - Hedge ratios Your investment bank has an investment of $100 million in the stock of the
Swiss Roll Corporation and a short position in the stock of the Frankfurter Sausage Company.
Here is the recent price history of the two stocks:
Percentage Price Change
Month Frankfurter Sausage Swiss Roll
January − 10 − 10
February − 10 − 5
March − 10 0
April + 10 0
May + 10 + 5
June + 10 + 10On the evidence of these six months, how large would your short position in Frankfurter
Sausage need to be to hedge you as far as possible against movements in the price of
Swiss Roll?CHALLENGE
- Interest rate swaps Phillip’s Screwdriver Company has borrowed $20 million from a bank
at a floating interest rate of 2 percentage points above three-month Treasury bills, which now
yield 5%. Assume that interest payments are made quarterly and that the entire principal of
the loan is repaid after five years.
Phillip’s wants to convert the bank loan to fixed-rate debt. It could have issued a fixed-rate
five-year note at a yield to maturity of 9%. Such a note would now trade at par. The five-year
Treasury note’s yield to maturity is 7%.
a. Is Phillip’s stupid to want long-term debt at an interest rate of 9%? It is borrowing from the
bank at 7%.
b. Explain how the conversion could be carried out by an interest rate swap. What will be the
initial terms of the swap? (Ignore transaction costs and the swap dealer’s profit.)
One year from now short-and medium-term Treasury yields decrease to 6%, so the term
structure then is flat. (The changes actually occur in month 5.) Phillip’s credit standing is
unchanged; it can still borrow at 2 percentage points over Treasury rates.
c. What net swap payment will Phillip’s make or receive?
d. Suppose that Phillip’s now wants to cancel the swap. How much would it need to pay the
swap dealer? Or would the dealer pay Phillip’s? Explain.