beginning term 1/01/2018-11/12/2018

1.Explaining changes in interest rates (from Chapter 2)

a. Compare the 13-week Treasury bill rate (which is a proxy for short-term interest rates) at the end of the school term to the rate that existed at the beginning of the school term.

b. Recall that Chapter 2 offered reasons why interest rates change over time. Apply the concepts in that chapter to explain why you think interest rates have changed over the school term

2.Comparing yields among securities (from Chapter 3)

a. What is the difference between the yield on corporate high-quality bonds and the yield on Treasury bonds at the end of the school term?

b. Apply the concepts discussed in Chapter 3 to explain why this premium exists.

c. What is the difference between the yield on long-term Treasury bonds and the yield on long-term municipal bonds at the end of the school term?

d.Apply the concepts discussed in Chapter 3 to explain why this difference exists.

3.Assessing the forecasting ability of the yield curve (from Chapter 3)

a. What was the difference between the 26-week T-bill yield and the 13-week T-bill yield at the beginning of the school term?

b. Does this imply that the yield curve had an upward or downward slope at that time?

c. Assuming that this slope can be primarily attributed to expectations theory; did the direction of the slope indicate that the market expected higher or lower interest rates in the future?

d.Did interest rates move in that direction over the school term?

4.Explaining shifts in the yield curve over time (from Chapter 3

a. What was the difference between the long-term Treasury bond yield and the 13-week T-bill yield at the beginning of the school term?

b.What is the difference between the long-term Treasury bond yield and the 13-week -

T-bill yield at the end of the school term?

c. Given your answers to the two previous questions, describe how the yield curve changed over the school term. Explain the changes in expectations about future interest rates that are implied by the shift in the yield curve over the school term.

5.The Fed's influence on interest rates (from Chapter 5)

a. Did the Fed change the federal funds rate over the school term?

b.Do you think the movements in interest rates over the school term were caused by the Fed's monetary policy? Explain.

6.Measuring and explaining premiums on money market securities (from Chapter 6)

a. What is the difference between the yield on 90-day commercial paper and the yield on 13-week T-bills at the end of the school term? Apply the concepts discussed in Chapter 6 to explain why this premium exists.

b.Compare the premium on the 90-day commercial paper yield (relative to the 13- week T-bill yield) that exists at the end of the school term to the premium that existed at the beginning of the term. Apply the concepts discussed in Chapter 6 to explain why the premium may have changed over the school term.

7.Explaining bond premiums and price movements (from Chapter 8)

a. What is the difference between the yields on high-yield corporate bonds at the end of the school term versus the yield on high-quality corporate bonds at the beginning of the school term? Apply the concepts discussed in Chapter 8 to explain why this premium exists.

b. Compare the long-term Treasury bond yield at the end of the school term to the long- term Treasury bond yield that existed at the beginning of the school term. Given the direction of this change, did prices of long-term bonds rise or fall over the school term

c. Compare the change in the yields of Treasury, municipal, and corporate bonds over the school term. Did the yields of all three types of securities move in the same direction and by about the same degree? Apply the concepts discussed in Chapter 8 to explain why yields of different types of bonds move together.

d.Compare the premium on high-yield corporate bonds (relative to Treasury bonds) at the beginning of the school term to the premium that existed at the end of the school term. Did the premium increase or decrease? Apply the concepts discussed in Chapter 8 to explain why this premium changed over the school term.

8.Explaining mortgage rates (from chapter 9)

a. Compare the rate paid by a homeowner on a 30-year mortgage to the rate (yield) paid by the Treasury on long-term Treasury bonds at the end of the school term. Explain the difference.

b.Compare the 30-year mortgage rate at the end of the school term to the 30-year mortgage rate that existed at the beginning of the school term. What do you think is the primary reason for the change in 30-year mortgage rates over the school term?

9.Explaining stock price movements (from Chapter 11)

a.Determine the return on the stock market over your school term based on the percentage change in the S&P 500 index level over the term. Annualize this return by multiplying the return by 12/m, where m is the number of months in your school term. Apply the concepts discussed in Chapter 11 to explain why the market return was high or low over your school term.

b.Repeat the previous question for smaller stocks by using the Nasdaq Composite instead of the S&P 500 index. What was the annualized return on the Nasdaq Composite over your school term?

c.Explain why the return on the Nasdaq Composite was high or low over your school term.

d.Determine the return over the school term on the stock in which you chose to invest. The return is (Pt Pt1 D)/Pt1, where Ptis the stock price as of the end of the school term, Pt1is the stock price at the beginning of the school term, and D is the dividend paid over the school term. In most cases, one quarterly dividend is paid over a school term, which is one-fourth of the annual dividend amount per share shown in stock quotation tables.

e.What was your return over the school term on the stock you selected from the New York Stock Exchange? What was your return over the school term on the stock you selected from the Nasdaq market? Apply the concepts discussed in Chapter 11 to explain why you think these two stocks experienced different returns over the school term.

10.Measuring and explaining futures price movements (from Chapter 13)

a. Assume that you purchased an S&P 500 futures contract at the beginning of the school term, with the first settlement date beyond the end of the school term. Also assume that you sold an S&P 500 futures contract with this same settlement date at the end of the school term. Given that this contract has a value of the futures price times$250, determine the difference between the dollar value of the contract you sold and the dollar amount of the contract that you purchased.

b. Assume that you invested an initial margin of 20 percent of the amount that you would owe to purchase the S&P 500 index at the settlement date. Measure your return from taking a position in the S&P 500 index futures as follows. Take the difference determined in the previous question (which represents the dollar amount of the gain on the futures position) and divide it by the amount you originally invested (the amount you originally invested is 20 percent of the dollar value of the futures contract that you purchased).

c. The return that you just derived in the previous question is not annualized. To annualize your return, multiply it by (12/m) where m is the number of months in your school term

1. Apply the concepts discussed in Chapter 13 to explain why your return on your S&P 500 index futures position was low or high over the school term.
2. Assume that you purchased a Treasury bond futures contract at the beginning of the school term with the first settlement date beyond the end of the school term. Also assume that you sold this same type of futures contract at the end of the school term. Recall that Treasury bond futures contracts are priced relative to a $100,000 face value and the fractions are in thirty-seconds. What was the dollar value of the futures contract at the beginning of the school term when you purchased it?
3. What was the dollar value of the Treasury bond futures contract at the end of the school term when you sold it?
4. What was the difference between the dollar value of the Treasury bond futures contract when you sold it and the value when you purchased it?
5. Assume that you invested an initial margin of 20 percent of the amount that you would owe to purchase the Treasury bonds at the settlement date. Your investment is equal to 20 percent of the dollar value of the Treasury bond futures contract as of the time you purchased the futures. Determine the return on your futures position, which is the difference you derived in the previous question as a percentage of your investment.
6. The return that you just derived in the previous question is not annualized. To annualize your return, multiply your return by 12/m, where m is the number of months in your school term.
7. Apply the concepts discussed in Chapter 13 to explain why the return on your

Treasury bond futures position was low or high.

11. Measuring and explaining option price movements (from Chapter 14)

a. Assume that you purchased a call option (representing 100 shares) on the specific stock that you identified in Part I(f) of this project. What was your return from pur- chasing this option? [Your return can be measured as (Premt Premt1)/Premt1, where Premt1represents the premium paid at the beginning of the school term and Premt represents the premium at which the same option can be sold at the end of the school term.] If the premium for this option is not quoted at the end of the school term, mea- sure the return as if you had exercised the call option at the end of the school term (assuming that it is feasible to exercise the option at that time). That is, the return is based on purchasing the stock at the option's strike price and then selling the stock at its market price at the end of the school term.

b.Annualize the return on your option by multiplying the return you derived in the previous question by 12/m, where m represents the number of months in your school term.

c. Compare the return on your call option to the return that you would have earned if you had simply invested in the stock itself. Notice how the magnitude of the return on the call option is much larger than the magnitude of the return on the stock itself. That is, the gains are larger and the losses are larger when investing in call options on a stock instead of the stock itself.

d.Assume that you purchased a put option (representing 100 shares) on the specific stock that you identified in Part I(g) of this project. What was your return from purchasing this option? [Your return can be measured as (Premt Premt1)/

Premt1, where Premt1represents the premium paid at the beginning of the school

term and Premtrepresents the premium at which the same option can be sold at the end of the school term.] If the premium for this option is not quoted at the end of the school term, measure the return as if you had exercised the put

option at the end of the school term (assuming that it is feasible to exercise the option at that time). That is, the return is based on purchasing the stock at its market price and then selling the stock at the option's strike price at the end of the school term.

12.Determining swap payments (from Chapter 15)

Assume that, at the beginning of the school term, you engaged in a fixed-for-floating rate swap in which you agreed to pay 6 percent in exchange for the prevailing 26-week T-bill rate that exists at the end of the school term. Assume that your swap agreement specifies the end of the school term as the only time at which a swap will occur and that the notional amount is $10 million. Determine the amount that you owe on the swap, the amount you are owed on the swap, and the difference. Did you gain or lose as a result of the swap?

13.Measuring and explaining exchange rate movements (from Chapter16

a. Determine the percentage change in the value of the British pound over the school term. Did the pound appreciate or depreciate against the dollar?

b. Determine the percentage change in the value of the Japanese yen over the school term. Did the yen appreciate or depreciate against the dollar?

c. Determine the percentage change in the value of the Mexican peso over the school term. Did the peso appreciate or depreciate against the dollar?

d. Determine the per unit gain or loss if you had purchased British pound futures at the beginning of the term and sold British pound futures at the end of the term.

e. Given that a single futures contract on British pounds represents 62,500 pounds, determine the dollar amount of your gain or loss.

PART II. APPLYING FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS CONCEPTS

Obtain an annual report of (1) a commercial bank, (2) a savings institution, (3) a securi- ties firm, and (4) an insurance company. The annual reports will allow you to relate the theory in specific related chapters to the particular financial institution of concern. The exercises in Part II of this comprehensive project require the use of these annual reports. The annual reports can be obtained by calling the shareholder services departmentfor each financial institution, or they may be available online. Also, order a prospectus of a specific mutual fund in which you are interested. The prospectus can be obtained from the specific investment company that sponsors the mutual fund, or it may be available online.

1.Commercial bank operations (from Chapter 17)

For the commercial bank that you selected at the beginning of the term, use its annual report or any other related information to answer the following questions:

a. Identify the types of deposits that the commercial bank uses to obtain most of its funds.

b. Identify the main uses of funds by the bank.

c. Summarize any statements made by the commercial bank in its annual report about how recent or potential regulations will affect its performance.

d. Does it appear that the bank is attempting to enter the securities industry by offering securities services? If so, explain how.

e. Does it appear that the bank is attempting to enter the insurance industry by offer- ing insurance services? If so, explain how.

2.Commercial bank management (from Chapter 19)

For the commercial bank that you selected at the beginning of the term, use its annual report or any other related information to answer the following questions.

a.Assess the bank's balance sheet as well as any comments in its annual report about the gap between its rate-sensitive assets and its rate-sensitive liabilities. Does it appear that the bank has a positive gap or a negative gap?

b.Does the bank use any methods to reduce its gap and therefore reduce its exposure to interest rate risk?

c.c. Summarize any statements made by the bank in its annual report about how it attempts to limit its exposure to credit risk on the loans it provides.

3.Commercial bank performance (from Chapter 20)

For the commercial bank that you selected at the beginning of the term, use its annual report or any other related information to answer the following questions.

a.Determine the bank's interest income as a percentage of its total assets.

b.Determine the bank's interest expenses as a percentage of its total assets.

c.Determine the bank's net interest margin.

d.Determine the bank's noninterest income as a percentage of its total assets.

e.Determine the bank's noninterest expenses (do not include the addition to loan loss reserves here) as a percentage of its total assets.

f.Determine the bank's addition to loan loss reserves as a percentage of its total assets.

g.Determine the bank's return on assets.

h.Determine the bank's return on equity.

i.Identify the bank's income statement items described previously that would be affected if interest rates rise in the next year, and explain how they would be affected.

j.Identify the bank's income statement items described previously that would be affected if U.S. economic conditions deteriorate, and explain how they would be affected

Source; Financial Markets and Institutions by Jeff Madura... page 662 -668