Financial Institution Martket Chap 5 solution
Chapter 5
Answers to End-of-Chapter Questions 1. The bond with a C rating should have a higher risk premium because it has a higher default risk, which reduces its demand and raises its interest rate relative to that on the Baa bond. 2. U.S. Treasury bills have lower default risk and more liquidity than negotiable CDs. Consequently, the demand for Treasury bills is higher, and they have a lower interest rate. 3. During business cycle booms, fewer corporations go bankrupt and there is less default risk on corporate bonds, which lowers their risk premium. Similarly, during recessions, default risk on corporate bonds increases and their risk premium increases. The risk premium on corporate bonds is thus anticyclical, rising during recessions and falling during booms. 4. True. When bonds of different maturities are close substitutes, a rise in interest rates for one bond causes the interest rates for others to rise because the expected returns on bonds of different maturities cannot get too far out of line. 5. If yield curves on average were flat, this would suggest that the risk premium on long-term relative to short-term bonds would equal zero and we would be more willing to accept the pure expectations theory. 6. The flat yield curve at shorter maturities suggests that short-term interest rates are expected to fall moderately in the near future, while the steep upward slope of the yield curve at longer maturities indicates that interest rates further into the future are expected to rise. Because interest rates and expected inflation move together, the yield curve suggests that the market expects inflation to fall moderately in the near future but to rise later on. 7. The steep upward-sloping yield curve at shorter maturities suggests that short-term interest rates are expected to rise moderately in the near future because the initial, steep upward slope indicates that the average of expected short-term interest rates in the near future are above
Answers to End-of-Chapter Questions 1. The bond with a C rating should have a higher risk premium because it has a higher default risk, which reduces its demand and raises its interest rate relative to that on the Baa bond. 2. U.S. Treasury bills have lower default risk and more liquidity than negotiable CDs. Consequently, the demand for Treasury bills is higher, and they have a lower interest rate. 3. During business cycle booms, fewer corporations go bankrupt and there is less default risk on corporate bonds, which lowers their risk premium. Similarly, during recessions, default risk on corporate bonds increases and their risk premium increases. The risk premium on corporate bonds is thus anticyclical, rising during recessions and falling during booms. 4. True. When bonds of different maturities are close substitutes, a rise in interest rates for one bond causes the interest rates for others to rise because the expected returns on bonds of different maturities cannot get too far out of line. 5. If yield curves on average were flat, this would suggest that the risk premium on long-term relative to short-term bonds would equal zero and we would be more willing to accept the pure expectations theory. 6. The flat yield curve at shorter maturities suggests that short-term interest rates are expected to fall moderately in the near future, while the steep upward slope of the yield curve at longer maturities indicates that interest rates further into the future are expected to rise. Because interest rates and expected inflation move together, the yield curve suggests that the market expects inflation to fall moderately in the near future but to rise later on. 7. The steep upward-sloping yield curve at shorter maturities suggests that short-term interest rates are expected to rise moderately in the near future because the initial, steep upward slope indicates that the average of expected short-term interest rates in the near future are above