Ms. Yao is a portfolio manager who is responsible for a $200 million portion of the bond portfolio of Himalayas pension fund. The current investment guidelines specify that the duration for the portfolio can be in a range of minus two and plus two of the benchmark. Currently, the duration for the benchmark is 5 and the duration for the portfolio is 5. Ms. Yao expects that the interest rate will rise sharply and thus she plans to make some adjustment to the portfolio duration by using Treasury bond futures contracts, which she is authorized to use by the pension funds investment guidelines.

1. Please make your suggestion to Ms. Yao how she should adjust the portfolio duration. (2 marks)
2. What position (long or short) should Ms. Yao take in Treasury bond futures to adjust the portfolio duration? (2 marks)
3. Suppose that the dollar duration per Treasury bond futures contract (based on the cheapest-to-deliver issue) for a 50 basis point change in rates is $5,000. How many Treasury bond futures contracts must be bought or sold? (3 marks)