(Statistics for stocks and portfolio) The table below presents the year-end prices for the shares of Ford and PPG from 2002 to 2014:

a. Calculate the following statistics for these two shares: average return, variance of returns, standard deviation of returns, covariance of returns, and correlation coefficient.

b. If you invested in a portfolio composed of 50% Ford and 50% PPG, what would be the expected portfolio return and standard deviation?

c. Comment on the following statement: “Ford has lower returns and higher standard deviation of returns than PPG. Therefore, any rational investor would invest in PPG only and would leave Ford out of her portfolio.”

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A 1 B C PRICES FOR FORD AND PPG STOCK Ford PPG 2 Date stock price stock price 3 31-Dec-2002 1.100 35.630 4 31-Dec-2003 2.400 47.040 5 31-Dec-2004 4.180 51.580 6 31-Dec-2005 8.900 45.080 7 31-Dec-2006 4.190 51.490 8 31-Dec-2007 2.370 57.900 9 31-Dec-2008 2.230 36.260 10 31-Dec-2009 2.100 52.360 11 31-Dec-2010 3.220 77.610 12 31-Dec-2011 1.670 79.140 13 31-Dec-2012 1.480 131.140 14 31-Dec-2013 1.550 186.620 15 31-Dec-2014 1.040 230.490