Bower shorts the floating rate bond given in Table 2. Which of the following will best reduce Bower's interest rate risk?
A) |
Buying an interest rate floor. | |
B) |
Shorting Eurodollar futures. | |
C) |
Shorting an interest rate floor. | |
If he adds a short position in Eurodollar futures to the existing liability in the correct amount, he is able to lock in a specific interest rate. A short Eurodollar position will increase in value if interest rates rise because the contract is quoted as a discount instrument so increases in rates reduce the futures price. (Study Session 17, LOS 62.a)
Bower has studied swaps extensively. However, he is not sure which of the following is the swap fixed rate for a one-year interest rate swap based on 90-day LIBOR with quarterly payments. Using the information in Table 1 and the formula below, what is the most appropriate swap fixed rate for this swap?
The swap fixed rate is computed as follows:
Z90-day = |
1 |
1 + (0.055 × 90 / 360) |
= |
0.98644 |
Z180-day = |
1 |
1 + (0.05625 × 180 / 360) |
= |
0.97264 |
Z270-day = |
1 |
1 + (0.057499 × 270 / 360) |
= |
0.95866 |
Z360-day = |
1 |
1 + (0.058749 × 360 / 360) |
= |
0.94451 |
The quarterly fixed rate on the swap = |
1 ? 0.94451 |
0.98644 + 0.97264 + 0.95866 + 0.94451 |
= 0.05549 / 3.86225 = 0.01437 = 1.437%
The fixed rate on the swap in annual terms is:
1.437% × 360 / 90 = 5.75%
(Study Session 17, LOS 61.c)
Bower would like to perform some sensitivity analysis on a one year collar to changes in LIBOR. Specifically, he wonders how the price of a collar (buying a cap and selling a floor) is affected by an increase in the LIBOR forward rate volatility. Using the information in Tables 1 and 2 which of the following is most accurate? The price of the collar will:
The price of the floor will increase more than the price of the cap since the floor is closer to being at the money than the cap. Therefore, the floor price is more sensitive to volatility changes in the LIBOR forward rate. Since the price of the collar is equal to the price of the cap minus the price of the floor, the net effect is a price decrease for the collar. (Study Session 17, LOS 62.a)
Bower computes the implied volatility of a one year caplet on the 90-day LIBOR forward rates to be 18.5%. Using the given information what does this mean for the caplet's market price relative to its theoretical price? The caplet's market price is:
A) |
undervalued or overvalued. | |
|
|
Volatility and option prices are always positively related. Therefore, since the option implied volatility is lower than the estimated volatility, this implies that the caplet is undervalued relative to its theoretical value. (Study Session 17, LOS 62.a)
For this question only, assume Bower expects the currently positively sloped LIBOR curve to shift upward in a parallel manner. Using a plain vanilla interest rate swap, which of the following will allow Bower to best take advantage of his expectations? Purchase a:
A) |
receive fixed interest rate swap. | |
B) |
floating rate bond and enter into a receive fixed swap. | |
C) |
pay fixed interest rate swap. | |
Since the interest rates are expected to rise for all maturities, one can benefit from this rise by receiving a floating rate (LIBOR) and borrowing at a fixed rate (i.e. a pay fixed swap). (Study Session 17, LOS 61.c) |