Ross et al.: Fundamentals
of Corporate Finance, Sixth
Edition, Alternate Edition
VIII. Topics in Corporate
Finance
- Risk Management: An
Introduction to Financial
Engineering
© The McGraw−Hill^805
Companies, 2002
unexpected changes in overall price levels, there are three specific areas of particular im-
portance to businesses in which volatility has also increased dramatically: interest rates,
exchange rates, and commodity prices.
Interest Rate Volatility
We know that debt is a vital source of financing for corporations, and interest rates are
a key component of a firm’s cost of capital. Up until 1979, interest rates in the United
States were relatively stable because the Federal Reserve actively managed rates to keep
them that way. This goal has since been abandoned, and interest rate volatility has in-
creased sharply. Figure 23.2 illustrates this increase by plotting the changes in five-year
Treasury bond rates. The increase in volatility following 1979 is readily apparent.
Before 1979, U.S. firms were able to plan for and predict their future borrowing costs
with some confidence. In today’s financial world, because of the increased uncertainty
surrounding interest rates, this is no longer the case.
Exchange Rate Volatility
As we discuss in an earlier chapter, international operations have become increasingly
important to U.S. businesses. Consequently, exchange rates and exchange rate volatility
have also become increasingly important. Figure 23.3 plots percentage changes in the
deutsche mark–U.S. dollar exchange rate and illustrates that exchange rate volatility has
increased enormously since the early 1970s.
CHAPTER 23 Risk Management: An Introduction to Financial Engineering 779
FIGURE 23.2
200
250
150
100
50
0
50
100
150
200
Basis points
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
The rate changes in this figure are changes in month-end and are measured in basis points,
where one basis point is 1 percent of 1 percent, that is .0001.
Source: Charles W. Smithson, Managing Financial Risk: A Guide to Derivative Products, Financial Engineering,
and Value Maximization,3rd ed. (New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, 1998).
Changes in Five-Year Treasury Bond Rates: 1960–97