James McDonald and Veasna Lu were discussing different ways of valuing a Treasury security. During their discussion Lu made the following statements:
Statement 1: It is inappropriate to discount the cash flows of a Treasury security by a single discount rate because that is implicitly assuming that the yield curve is flat. Therefore, each individual cash flow should be discounted by its corresponding spot rate.
Statement 2: The spot rates used for different time periods that produce a value equal to the market price of a Treasury bond are called forward rates or future expected spot rates.
With regards to the statements made by Lu:
Statement 2 is incorrect because the spot rates used for different time periods that produce a value equal to the market price of a Treasury bond are called arbitrage-free Treasury spot rates. Statement 1 is correct. |