You are asked to estimate betas of the following four funds against the S&P 500 index (e.g., Vanguard 500 index ETF) in this question: the Vanguard Market Neutral Fund (ticker: VMNFX), the ProShares Ultra S&P500 ETF (SSO), Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (ticker: XLP), and Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (ticker: XLY). Intuitively, the ranking of these four funds by beta should look like this: VMNFX < XLP < XLY < SSO (why?). Now estimate these funds betas and see if your estimates are consistent with the ranking. (a) Download monthly prices of these four funds and the Vanguard 500 Index ETF (ticker VOO) over the past five years from Yahoo and then compute their monthly returns using the adj. close prices. (b) Beta can be estimated using either returns or excess returns. As such, please estimate each funds beta (against the S&P 500) using the Excel function SLOPE (see below on how to use this function). Note: (i) Function SLOPE has two arguments: slope(y-array, x-array), where the 1st argument represents the y-variable (returns of a fund) and the 2nd argument represents the x- variable (returns of the S&P 500). For example, XLPs beta = slope(XLP returns, VOO returns). (ii) You may also refer to example-correlation-beta-slope.xls posted on Canvas on how to estimate beta. (iii) See Question 1 of this project on how to download historical prices from Yahoo and calculate monthly returns (iv) Formula for return: Return = (Final Price Initial Price)/Initial Price. Things to turn in (Please organize your work appropriately and label each tab clearly): (i) a brief description of investment objectives of VMNFX, SSO, XLP, and XLY (one or two sentences per ETF would be sufficient); (ii) monthly returns of VMNFX, SSO, XLP, XLY and the Vanguard 500 index ETF over the past 5 years; (iii) your estimates of the four funds betas against the Vanguard 500 index ETF; and (iv) the ranking of these four beta estimates