Q&A Hero

Q: An investor can design a risky portfolio based on two stocks, A and B. Stock A has an expected return of 21% and a standard deviation of return of 39%. Stock B has an expected return of 14% and a standard deviation of return of 20%. The correlation coefficient between the returns of A and B is .4. The risk-free rate of return is 5%. The expected return on the optimal risky portfolio is approximately _________. (Hint: Find weights first.) A. 14% B. 16% C. 18% D. 19%

Q: An investor can design a risky portfolio based on two stocks, A and B. Stock A has an expected return of 21% and a standard deviation of return of 39%. Stock B has an expected return of 14% and a standard deviation of return of 20%. The correlation coefficient between the returns of A and B is .4. The risk-free rate of return is 5%. The proportion of the optimal risky portfolio that should be invested in stock B is approximately _________. A. 29% B. 44% C. 56% D. 71%

Q: An investor can design a risky portfolio based on two stocks, A and B. Stock A has an expected return of 18% and a standard deviation of return of 20%. Stock B has an expected return of 14% and a standard deviation of return of 5%. The correlation coefficient between the returns of A and B is .50. The risk-free rate of return is 10%. The standard deviation of return on the optimal risky portfolio is _________. A. 0% B. 5% C. 7% D. 20%

Q: An investor can design a risky portfolio based on two stocks, A and B. Stock A has an expected return of 18% and a standard deviation of return of 20%. Stock B has an expected return of 14% and a standard deviation of return of 5%. The correlation coefficient between the returns of A and B is .50. The risk-free rate of return is 10%. The expected return on the optimal risky portfolio is _________. A. 14% B. 15.6% C. 16.4% D. 18%

Q: An investor can design a risky portfolio based on two stocks, A and B. Stock A has an expected return of 18% and a standard deviation of return of 20%. Stock B has an expected return of 14% and a standard deviation of return of 5%. The correlation coefficient between the returns of A and B is .50. The risk-free rate of return is 10%. The proportion of the optimal risky portfolio that should be invested in stock A is _________. A. 0% B. 40% C. 60% D. 100%

Q: Consider two perfectly negatively correlated risky securities, A and B. Security A has an expected rate of return of 16% and a standard deviation of return of 20%. B has an expected rate of return of 10% and a standard deviation of return of 30%. The weight of security B in the minimum-variance portfolio is _________. A. 10% B. 20% C. 40% D. 60%

Q: The standard deviation of return on investment A is .10, while the standard deviation of return on investment B is .04. If the correlation coefficient between the returns on A and B is -.50, the covariance of returns on A and B is _________. A. -.0447 B. -.0020 C. .0020 D. .0447

Q: A portfolio is composed of two stocks, A and B. Stock A has a standard deviation of return of 35%, while stock B has a standard deviation of return of 15%. The correlation coefficient between the returns on A and B is .45. Stock A comprises 40% of the portfolio, while stock B comprises 60% of the portfolio. The standard deviation of the return on this portfolio is _________. A. 23% B. 19.76% C. 18.45% D. 17.67%

Q: The standard deviation of return on investment A is .10, while the standard deviation of return on investment B is .05. If the covariance of returns on A and B is .0030, the correlation coefficient between the returns on A and B is _________. A. .12 B. .36 C. .60 D. .77

Q: A portfolio is composed of two stocks, A and B. Stock A has a standard deviation of return of 24%, while stock B has a standard deviation of return of 18%. Stock A comprises 60% of the portfolio, while stock B comprises 40% of the portfolio. If the variance of return on the portfolio is .0380, the correlation coefficient between the returns on A and B is _________. A. .583 B. .225 C. .327 D. .128

Q: The _________ reward-to-variability ratio is found on the ________ capital market line. A. lowest; steepest B. highest; flattest C. highest; steepest D. lowest; flattest

Q: The optimal risky portfolio can be identified by finding: I. The minimum-variance point on the efficient frontier II. The maximum-return point on the efficient frontier and the minimum-variance point on the efficient frontier III. The tangency point of the capital market line and the efficient frontier IV. The line with the steepest slope that connects the risk-free rate to the efficient frontier A. I and II only B. II and III only C. III and IV only D. I and IV only

Q: Rational risk-averse investors will always prefer portfolios _____________. A. located on the efficient frontier to those located on the capital market line B. located on the capital market line to those located on the efficient frontier C. at or near the minimum-variance point on the efficient frontier D. that are risk-free to all other asset choices

Q: The term complete portfolio refers to a portfolio consisting of _________________. A. the risk-free asset combined with at least one risky asset B. the market portfolio combined with the minimum-variance portfolio C. securities from domestic markets combined with securities from foreign markets D. common stocks combined with bonds

Q: On a standard expected return versus standard deviation graph, investors will prefer portfolios that lie to the _____________ of the current investment opportunity set. A. left and above B. left and below C. right and above D. right and below

Q: You put half of your money in a stock portfolio that has an expected return of 14% and a standard deviation of 24%. You put the rest of your money in a risky bond portfolio that has an expected return of 6% and a standard deviation of 12%. The stock and bond portfolios have a correlation of .55. The standard deviation of the resulting portfolio will be ________________. A. more than 18% but less than 24% B. equal to 18% C. more than 12% but less than 18% D. equal to 12%

Q: Suppose that a stock portfolio and a bond portfolio have a zero correlation. This means that ______. A. the returns on the stock and bond portfolios tend to move inversely B. the returns on the stock and bond portfolios tend to vary independently of each other C. the returns on the stock and bond portfolios tend to move together D. the covariance of the stock and bond portfolios will be positive

Q: Harry Markowitz is best known for his Nobel Prize-winning work on _____________. A. strategies for active securities trading B. techniques used to identify efficient portfolios of risky assets C. techniques used to measure the systematic risk of securities D. techniques used in valuing securities options

Q: Which one of the following stock return statistics fluctuates the most over time? A. Covariance of returns B. Variance of returns C. Average return D. Correlation coefficient

Q: Firm-specific risk is also called __________ and __________. A. systematic risk; diversifiable risk B. systematic risk; nondiversifiable risk C. unique risk; nondiversifiable risk D. unique risk; diversifiable risk

Q: Market risk is also called __________ and _________. A. systematic risk; diversifiable risk B. systematic risk; nondiversifiable risk C. unique risk; nondiversifiable risk D. unique risk; diversifiable risk

Q: Consider an investment opportunity set formed with two securities that are perfectly negatively correlated. The global minimum-variance portfolio has a standard deviation that is always _________. A. equal to the sum of the securities' standard deviations B. equal to -1 C. equal to 0 D. greater than 0

Q: Approximately how many securities does it take to diversify almost all of the unique risk from a portfolio? A. 2 B. 6 C. 8 D. 20

Q: The risk that can be diversified away is __________. A. beta B. firm-specific risk C. market risk D. systematic risk

Q: Beta is a measure of security responsiveness to _________. A. firm-specific risk B. diversifiable risk C. market risk D. unique risk

Q: The expected rate of return of a portfolio of risky securities is _________. A. the sum of the securities' covariances B. the sum of the securities' variances C. the weighted sum of the securities' expected returns D. the weighted sum of the securities' variances

Q: Diversification is most effective when security returns are _________. A. high B. negatively correlated C. positively correlated D. uncorrelated

Q: The correlation coefficient between two assets equals _________. A. their covariance divided by the product of their variances B. the product of their variances divided by their covariance C. the sum of their expected returns divided by their covariance D. their covariance divided by the product of their standard deviations

Q: Asset A has an expected return of 20% and a standard deviation of 25%. The risk-free rate is 10%. What is the reward-to-variability ratio? A. .40 B. .50 C. .75 D. .80

Q: Which of the following statistics cannot be negative? A. Covariance B. Variance C. E(r) D. Correlation coefficient

Q: The ________ is equal to the square root of the systematic variance divided by the total variance. A. covariance B. correlation coefficient C. standard deviation D. reward-to-variability ratio

Q: An investor's degree of risk aversion will determine his or her ______. A. optimal risky portfolio B. risk-free rate C. optimal mix of the risk-free asset and risky asset D. capital allocation line

Q: Adding additional risky assets to the investment opportunity set will generally move the efficient frontier _____ and to the ______. A. up; right B. up; left C. down; right D. down; left

Q: Asset A has an expected return of 15% and a reward-to-variability ratio of .4. Asset B has an expected return of 20% and a reward-to-variability ratio of .3. A risk-averse investor would prefer a portfolio using the risk-free asset and ______. A. asset A B. asset B C. no risky asset D. The answer cannot be determined from the data given.

Q: Based on the outcomes in the following table, choose which of the statements below is (are) correct? I. The covariance of security A and security B is zero.II. The correlation coefficient between securities A and C is negative.III. The correlation coefficient between securities B and C is positive. A. I onlyB. I and II onlyC. II and III onlyD. I, II, and III

Q: Many current and retired Enron Corp. employees had their 401k retirement accounts wiped out when Enron collapsed because ________. A. they had to pay huge fines for obstruction of justice B. their 401k accounts were held outside the company C. their 401k accounts were not well diversified D. none of these options

Q: The _______ decision should take precedence over the _____ decision. A. asset allocation; stock selection B. bond selection; mutual fund selection C. stock selection; asset allocation D. stock selection; mutual fund selection

Q: Risk that can be eliminated through diversification is called ______ risk. A. unique B. firm-specific C. diversifiable D. all of these options

Q: You have the following rates of return for a risky portfolio for several recent years. Assume that the stock pays no dividends. What is the dollar-weighted return over the entire time period? A. 2.87%B. .74%C. 2.6%D. 2.21%

Q: You have the following rates of return for a risky portfolio for several recent years. Assume that the stock pays no dividends. What is the geometric average return for the period? A. 2.87%B. .74%C. 2.6%D. 2.21%

Q: Which of the following arguments supporting passive investment strategies is (are) correct? I. Active trading strategies may not guarantee higher returns but guarantee higher costs. II. Passive investors can free-ride on the activity of knowledge investors whose trades force prices to reflect currently available information. III. Passive investors are guaranteed to earn higher rates of return than active investors over sufficiently long time horizons. A. I only B. I and II only C. II and III only D. I, II, and III

Q: The CAL provided by combinations of 1-month T-bills and a broad index of common stocks is called the ______. A. SML B. CAPM C. CML D. total return line

Q: A loan for a new car costs the borrower .8% per month. What is the EAR? A. .80% B. 6.87% C. 9.6% D. 10.03%

Q: The buyer of a new home is quoted a mortgage rate of .5% per month. What is the APR on the loan? A. .50% B. 5% C. 6% D. 6.5%

Q: According to historical data, over the long run which of the following assets has the best chance to provide the best after-inflation, after-tax rate of return? A. Long-term Treasury bonds B. Corporate bonds C. Common stocks D. Preferred stocks

Q: If the nominal rate of return on investment is 6% and inflation is 2% over a holding period, what is the real rate of return on this investment? A. 3.92% B. 4% C. 4.12% D. 6%

Q: What is the geometric average return over 1 year if the quarterly returns are 8%, 9%, 5%, and 12%? A. 8% B. 8.33 % C. 8.47% D. 8.5 %

Q: What is the geometric average return of the following quarterly returns: 3%, 5%, 4%, and 7%? A. 3.72% B. 4.23% C. 4.74% D. 4.90%

Q: Which one of the following would be considered a risk-free asset in real terms as opposed to nominal? A. Money market fund B. U.S. T-bill C. Short-term corporate bonds D. U.S. T-bill whose return was indexed to inflation

Q: You invest all of your money in 1-year T-bills. Which of the following statements is (are) correct? I. Your nominal return on the T-bills is riskless. II. Your real return on the T-bills is riskless. III. Your nominal Sharpe ratio is zero. A. I only B. I and III only C. II only D. I, II, and III

Q: The price of a stock is $38 at the beginning of the year and $41 at the end of the year. If the stock paid a $2.50 dividend, what is the holding-period return for the year? A. 6.58% B. 8.86% C. 14.47% D. 18.66%

Q: The price of a stock is $55 at the beginning of the year and $50 at the end of the year. If the stock paid a $3 dividend and inflation was 3%, what is the real holding-period return for the year? A. -3.64% B. -6.36% C. -6.44% D. -11.74%

Q: From 1926 to 2010 the world stock portfolio offered _____ return and _____ volatility than the portfolio of large U.S. stocks. A. lower; higher B. lower; lower C. higher; lower D. higher; higher

Q: The Manhawkin Fund has an expected return of 16% and a standard deviation of 20%. The risk-free rate is 4%. What is the reward-to-volatility ratio for the Manhawkin Fund? A. .8 B. .6 C. 9 D. 1

Q: A security with normally distributed returns has an annual expected return of 18% and standard deviation of 23%. The probability of getting a return between -28% and 64% in any one year is _____. A. 68.26% B. 95.44% C. 99.74% D. 100%

Q: You have the following rates of return for a risky portfolio for several recent yearsThe annualized (geometric) average return on this investment is _____. A. 16.15%B. 16.87%C. 21.32%D. 15.60%

Q: You have the following rates of return for a risky portfolio for several recent years: If you invested $1,000 at the beginning of 2008, your investment at the end of 2011 would be worth ___________. A. $2,176.60B. $1,785.56C. $1,645.53D. $1,247.87

Q: You are considering investing $1,000 in a complete portfolio. The complete portfolio is composed of Treasury bills that pay 5% and a risky portfolio, P, constructed with two risky securities, X and Y. The optimal weights of X and Y in P are 60% and 40%, respectively. X has an expected rate of return of 14%, and Y has an expected rate of return of 10%. The dollar values of your positions in X, Y, and Treasury bills would be _________, __________, and __________, respectively, if you decide to hold a complete portfolio that has an expected return of 8%. A. $162; $595; $243 B. $243; $162; $595 C. $595; $162; $243 D. $595; $243; $162

Q: You are considering investing $1,000 in a complete portfolio. The complete portfolio is composed of Treasury bills that pay 5% and a risky portfolio, P, constructed with two risky securities, X and Y. The optimal weights of X and Y in P are 60% and 40%, respectively. X has an expected rate of return of 14%, and Y has an expected rate of return of 10%. If you decide to hold 25% of your complete portfolio in the risky portfolio and 75% in the Treasury bills, then the dollar values of your positions in X and Y, respectively, would be __________ and _________. A. $300; $450 B. $150; $100 C. $100; $150 D. $450; $300

Q: You are considering investing $1,000 in a complete portfolio. The complete portfolio is composed of Treasury bills that pay 5% and a risky portfolio, P, constructed with two risky securities, X and Y. The optimal weights of X and Y in P are 60% and 40% respectively. X has an expected rate of return of 14%, and Y has an expected rate of return of 10%. To form a complete portfolio with an expected rate of return of 8%, you should invest approximately __________ in the risky portfolio. This will mean you will also invest approximately __________ and __________ of your complete portfolio in security X and Y, respectively. A. 0%; 60%; 40% B. 25%; 45%; 30% C. 40%; 24%; 16% D. 50%; 30%; 20%

Q: You are considering investing $1,000 in a complete portfolio. The complete portfolio is composed of Treasury bills that pay 5% and a risky portfolio, P, constructed with two risky securities, X and Y. The optimal weights of X and Y in P are 60% and 40%, respectively. X has an expected rate of return of 14%, and Y has an expected rate of return of 10%. To form a complete portfolio with an expected rate of return of 11%, you should invest __________ of your complete portfolio in Treasury bills. A. 19% B. 25% C. 36% D. 50%

Q: The return on the risky portfolio is 15%. The risk-free rate, as well as the investor's borrowing rate, is 10%. The standard deviation of return on the risky portfolio is 20%. If the standard deviation on the complete portfolio is 25%, the expected return on the complete portfolio is _________. A. 6% B. 8.75 % C. 10% D. 16.25%

Q: You have $500,000 available to invest. The risk-free rate, as well as your borrowing rate, is 8%. The return on the risky portfolio is 16%. If you wish to earn a 22% return, you should _________. A. invest $125,000 in the risk-free asset B. invest $375,000 in the risk-free asset C. borrow $125,000 D. borrow $375,000

Q: You invest $1,000 in a complete portfolio. The complete portfolio is composed of a risky asset with an expected rate of return of 16% and a standard deviation of 20% and a Treasury bill with a rate of return of 6%. The slope of the capital allocation line formed with the risky asset and the risk-free asset is approximately _________. A. 1.040 B. .80 C. .50 D. .25

Q: You invest $1,000 in a complete portfolio. The complete portfolio is composed of a risky asset with an expected rate of return of 16% and a standard deviation of 20% and a Treasury bill with a rate of return of 6%. A portfolio that has an expected value in 1 year of $1,100 could be formed if you _________. A. place 40% of your money in the risky portfolio and the rest in the risk-free asset B. place 55% of your money in the risky portfolio and the rest in the risk-free asset C. place 60% of your money in the risky portfolio and the rest in the risk-free asset D. place 75% of your money in the risky portfolio and the rest in the risk-free asset

Q: You invest $1,000 in a complete portfolio. The complete portfolio is composed of a risky asset with an expected rate of return of 16% and a standard deviation of 20% and a Treasury bill with a rate of return of 6%. __________ of your complete portfolio should be invested in the risky portfolio if you want your complete portfolio to have a standard deviation of 9%. A. 100% B. 90% C. 45% D. 10%

Q: You invest $10,000 in a complete portfolio. The complete portfolio is composed of a risky asset with an expected rate of return of 15% and a standard deviation of 21% and a Treasury bill with a rate of return of 5%. How much money should be invested in the risky asset to form a portfolio with an expected return of 11%? A. $6,000 B. $4,000 C. $7,000 D. $3,000

Q: Consider the following two investment alternatives: First, a risky portfolio that pays a 20% rate of return with a probability of 60% or a 5% rate of return with a probability of 40%. Second, a Treasury bill that pays 6%. If you invest $50,000 in the risky portfolio, your expected profit would be _________. A. $3,000 B. $7,000 C. $7,500 D. $10,000

Q: Consider the following two investment alternatives: First, a risky portfolio that pays a 15% rate of return with a probability of 40% or a 5% rate of return with a probability of 60%. Second, a Treasury bill that pays 6%. The risk premium on the risky investment is _________. A. 1% B. 3% C. 6% D. 9%

Q: The holding-period return on a stock was 32%. Its beginning price was $25, and its cash dividend was $1.50. Its ending price must have been _________. A. $28.50 B. $33.20 C. $31.50 D. $29.75

Q: An investor invests 70% of her wealth in a risky asset with an expected rate of return of 15% and a variance of 5%, and she puts 30% in a Treasury bill that pays 5%. Her portfolio's expected rate of return and standard deviation are __________ and __________ respectively. A. 10%; 6.7% B. 12%; 22.4% C. 12%; 15.7% D. 10%; 35%

Q: The holding-period return on a stock was 25%. Its ending price was $18, and its beginning price was $16. Its cash dividend must have been _________. A. $.25 B. $1 C. $2 D. $4

Q: Security A has a higher standard deviation of returns than security B. We would expect that: I. Security A would have a higher risk premium than security B. II. The likely range of returns for security A in any given year would be higher than the likely range of returns for security B. III. The Sharpe ratio of A will be higher than the Sharpe ratio of B. A. I only B. I and II only C. II and III only D. I, II, and III

Q: You purchased a share of stock for $29. One year later you received $2.25 as dividend and sold the share for $28. Your holding-period return was _________. A. -3.57% B. -3.45% C. 4.31% D. 8.03%

Q: Consider a Treasury bill with a rate of return of 5% and the following risky securities: Security A: E(r) = .15; variance = .0400 Security B: E(r) = .10; variance = .0225 Security C: E(r) = .12; variance = .1000 Security D: E(r) = .13; variance = .0625 The investor must develop a complete portfolio by combining the risk-free asset with one of the securities mentioned above. The security the investor should choose as part of her complete portfolio to achieve the best CAL would be _________. A. security A B. security B C. security C D. security D

Q: A portfolio with a 25% standard deviation generated a return of 15% last year when T-bills were paying 4.5%. This portfolio had a Sharpe ratio of ____. A. .22 B. .60 C. .42 D. .25

Q: The formula is used to calculate the _____________. A. Sharpe ratioB. Treynor measureC. Coefficient of variationD. Real rate of return

Q: Historically, the best asset for the long-term investor wanting to fend off the threats of inflation and taxes while making his money grow has been ____. A. Stocks B. Bonds C. Money market funds D. Treasury bills

Q: Two assets have the following expected returns and standard deviations when the risk-free rate is 5%: An investor with a risk aversion of A = 3 would find that _________________ on a risk-return basis. A. only asset A is acceptableB. only asset B is acceptableC. neither asset A nor asset B is acceptableD. both asset A and asset B are acceptable

Q: Most studies indicate that investors' risk aversion is in the range _____. A. 1-3 B. 1.5-4 C. 3-5.2 D. 4-6