Below are the holding period returns for the past five years for Microsoft (MSFT) and the S&P 500

Date	MSFT	S&P 500
2017	15%	8%
2016	7%	9%
2015	25%	12%
2014	15%	7%
2013	6%	5%

a. Calculate the average arithmetic return and standard deviation for MSFT and the S&P500.

b. Assuming you are a risk averse investor and expect the next 12 months to be similar to the past twelve months. If you had to make a choice between investing in either MSFT or the S&P 500 which one would you choose? Why?

c. Assuming you could hold 50% of your funds in each security would this change your decision? (please calculate the average return and standard deviation of the equally weighted portfolio assume a correlation coefficient of .5).