INVE3000 Introduction to Derivative Securities

Question 1.

Please search case study “Orange County Bankruptcy” in Google. First, do some self-learning, and then write an essay to give me some directions on:

1. Who is Robert Citron?
2. What was the Orange County Governance Structure?
3. What was the political and economic background before the bankruptcy?
4. What was the Orange County Investment Pool and balance sheet (1994)?
5. What was Citrons Strategy?
6. How the Fed action affects the interest rate in 1994?
7. Describe the crisis following the Fed action.
8. Describe the outcomes. (1 mark)
9. Finally what are the lessons to learn?
10. Please list all the references.

The essay should be within three pages including tables and references. The font is Times New Roman, size 12pt, 1.5 line space, and each of the nine questions to be answered in their own paragraph is preferred.

Question 2.

Background:  Metallgesellschaft AG was formerly one of Germany's largest industrial conglomerates based in Frankfurt. It had over 20,000 employees and revenues in excess of 10 billion US dollars. It had over 250 subsidiaries specializing in mining, specialty chemicals (Chemetall), commodity trading, financial services, and engineering (Lurgi). In 1993, the company lost 1.3 billion dollars suffering from flawed long hedge strategy in near term futures contracts that was meant to protect against forward sales commitments. A fall in spot prices forced margin calls for the company and the contracts were closed at a loss. Subsequently, the spot price increased and the company suffered even greater losses covering its customer commitments. It is debated whether the company was speculating after unwinding the long futures hedge since they became essentially exposed or naked against their forward customer commitments.

(a) To make the hedge portfolio risk-free, the value of the portfolio should not vary no matter stock price rises or falls (or, equivalently, the hedge portfolio should not make profit in one state and make loss in the other, where the state means stock price rises or falls). Please based on the above fact, solve the optimal hedge ratio

(b) To make the hedge portfolio risk-free, the hedge portfolio should not make profit in one state and make loss in the other, where the state means stock price rises or falls. Please use the optimal hedge ratio solved in

Question 3.

The following webpage discusses 10 trading strategies, https://www.investopedia.com/trading/options-strategies/

If you anticipate that stock price will rise, which strategies should you take? (0.5 marks)

If you anticipate that stock price will drop, which strategies should you take? (0.5 marks)

If you anticipate that stock price will roughly stay, which strategies should you take? (0.5 marks)

If you anticipate that stock price will move a lot (either risk or decline), which strategies should you take? (0.5 marks)

Please summarize on how to choose a trading strategy. (1 mark)

Question 4.

Two companies have investments which pay the following rates of interest:

Assume A prefers a fixed rate and B prefers a floating rate. Show how these two firms can both benefit by entering into a swap agreement. If an intermediary charges both parties equally a 0.1% fee and any benefits are spread equally between Firm A and Firm B, what rates could A and B receive on their preferred interest rate?