Free PRMIA 8006 Practice Exam with Questions & Answers | Set: 5

The yield to maturity for a bond trading at par will be identical to its coupon. Therefore the yield to maturity for this bond will be 5%

Choice 'b' represents a correct description of a bullet bond. All other choices are incorrect.

The portfolio's beta is 0.8, and therefore in order to completely hedge the portfolio (ie reduce beta to 0), the portfolio manager would need to short 0.8 * $25m/(1450*$250) = 55.17 contracts, or 55 contracts. However, the ask here is to reduce the beta to 0.6, and not 0.

The number of contracts required to reduce the beta of a portfolio from ߠto ߱ is give by (ߠ- ߱) * Value of portfolio / Value of a single contract. In this case, this calculation works out to (0.8 - 0.6) * $25m/(1450*250) = 13.8, or roughly 14 contracts.

The portfolio manager should short 14 index futures contracts to reduce the total portfolio beta to 0.6.

A protective put is a put option purchased to protect against the fall in value of a long position. If the price of the underlying in respect of the long position goes down, the put options helps limit losses. If the price of the underlying goes up, the premium paid on the puts is lost but the investor gets to keep the entire upside from the rise in the price.

Therefore statements I, III and IV are correct. Statement II is not correct as any decline in the value of the underlying is offset by the gain from the put, which is the entire idea behind a protective put.

Treasury bills are short-term government securities with maturities ranging from a few days to 52 weeks. Bills are sold at a discount from their face value, and do not carry a coupon.

This question highlights the difference between zero rates, yield-to-maturity and forward rates. Forward rates are from one point in time to another, for example say from year 4 to 5 in the future. A zero rate is from time 0, or now, to a point in time in the future. The zero rate is dependent on the forward rates for all the different periods from now to the future. The yield curve represents the various zero rates at different points in time, and if it is upward sloping it means forward rates for years further out are greater than the years prior. That is what causes the zero rate yields to increase over time and the curve to slope upwards. So the forward rate from year 9 to 10 will certainly be higher than the 10 year zero rate.

The yield-to-maturity for a bond is the rate at which the payments on the bond discount to be equal to the current bond price. It is therefore the average rate that applies to the bond. This average is based upon the different zero rates for the years in which bond holders receive payments. Since coupons are smaller than the payment at maturity, the zero rate that applies to the payment at maturity will have the most impact on the numerical value of the bond's yield-to-maturity. Also affecting the yield-to-maturity will be the values of the coupon payments, which will be discounted at lower rates when the yield curve is upward sloping. So the yield-to-maturity will be an average lower than the 10 year zero. Since the 10 year zero will be lower than the forward rate from t=9-10, the yield-to-maturity will be the lowest rate of the three.

The put-call parity makes sure that all else remaining equal, an increase in the value of a call option will be accompanies by an increase in the value of the corresponding put option.

Simply stated, the put-call parity can be expressed as:

Value of call - Value of put = Spot price - Exercise price discounted to the present

The two terms on the right hand side of this equation are fixed. Therefore, for the equality to be maintained, any increase in the value of the call option on the left hand side has to be accompanied by the value of the put.

Choice 'c' is therefore the correct answer.

Choice 'd' represents the mean-variance function to be maximized for selecting between mutually exclusive gambles. The other choices are incorrect.

(The mean-variance criterion is a fairly complex subject, and this question is only intended to make sure that you know, and can identify the function that is being maximized. A complete explanation/derivation of the mean-variance criterion, that links together expected returns, volatility and the risk tolerance of the investor to arrive at the efficient frontier is beyond the scope of the PRM syllabus.)

A residential mortgage carries a prepayment option for the borrower, where in the event of a decrease in interest rates they are likely to repay the mortgage and refinance at the new lower rate. If rates go up, the bank does not have a similar option. If the volatility of the underlying interest rates increases, mortgage holders are more likely to be faced with new rates that are sufficiently lower to persuade them to refinance. This reduces the ability of the bank to continue to earn the higher interest rate it was earning before.

Therefore an increase in volatility of the mortgage interest rates decreases the value of the mortgage portfolio.

The same rationale applies to callable bonds, where the borrower has the option to call the bond.

A zero coupon bond has a Macaulay duration equal to its maturity, ie in this case 5 years. We can calculate modified duration from Macaulay duration by using the following relationship:

Modified duration = Macaulay duration/(1 + y) where y is the yield.

Therefore the correct answer is 5 / (1.05) = 4.76.

Or intuitively, all the other answers appear clearly incorrect: 5 and 5.25 are too high, and 4 is too low. Therefore the only reasonable choice is 4.76.