1. Which of the following is not a function of the financial system?
A.To regulate arbitrageurs’ profits (excess returns).
B.To help the economy achieve allocational efficiency.
C.To facilitate borrowing by businesses to fund current operations.
2. Akihiko Takabe has designed a sophisticated forecasting model, which predicts the movements in the overall stock market, in the hope of earning a return in excess of a fair return for the risk involved. He uses the predictions of the model to decide whether to buy, hold, or sell the shares of an index fund that aims to replicate the movements of the stock market. Takabe would best be characterized as a(n):
A.hedger.
B.investor.
C.information-motivated trader.
3. Lisa Smith owns a manufacturing company in the United States. Her company has sold goods to a customer in Brazil and will be paid in Brazilian real (BRL) in three months. Smith is concerned about the possibility of the BRL depreciating more than expected against the US dollar (USD). Therefore, she is planning to sell three-month futures contracts on the BRL. The seller of such contracts generally gains when the BRL depreciates against the USD. If Smith were to sell these future contracts, she would most appropriately be described as a(n):
A.hedger.
B.investor.
C.information-motivated trader.
4. James Beach is young and has substantial wealth. A significant proportion of his stock portfolio consists of emerging market stocks that offer relatively high expected returns at the cost of relatively high risk. Beach believes that investment in emerging market stocks is appropriate for him given his ability and willingness to take risk. Which of the following labels most appropriately describes Beach?
A.hedger.
B.investor.
C.information-motivated trader.
5. A friend has asked you to explain the differences between open-end and closed-end funds. Which of the following will you most likely include in your explanation?
A.Closed-end funds are unavailable to new investors.
B.When investors sell the shares of an open-end fund, they can receive a discount or a premium to the fund’s net asset value.
C.When selling shares, investors in an open-end fund sell the shares back to the fund whereas investors in a closed-end fund sell the shares to others in the secondary market.
6. Consider a mutual fund that invests primarily in fixed-income securities that have been determined to be appropriate given the fund’s investment goal. Which of the following is least likely to be a part of this fund?
A.Warrants.
B.Commercial paper.
C.Repurchase agreements.
7. Which of the following statements about exchange-traded funds is most correct?
A.Exchange-traded funds are not backed by any assets.
B. The investment companies that create exchange-traded funds are financial intermediaries.
C.The transaction costs of trading shares of exchange-traded funds are substantially greater than the combined costs of trading the underlying assets of the fund.
8. An oil and gas exploration and production company announces that it is offering 30 million shares to the public at $45.50 each. This transaction is most likely a sale in the:
A.futures market.
B.primary market.
C.secondary market.
9. A hedge fund holds its excess cash in 90-day commercial paper and negotiable certificates of deposit. The cash management policy of the hedge fund is best described as using:
A.capital market instruments.
B.money market instruments.
C.intermediate-term debt instruments.
10. The Standard & Poor’s Depositary Receipts (SPDRs) is an investment that tracks the S&P 500 stock market index. Purchases and sales of SPDRs during an average trading day are best described as:
A.primary market transactions in a pooled investment.
B.secondary market transactions in a pooled investment.
C.secondary market transactions in an actively managed investment.