Pass the PRMIA PRM Certification 8006 Questions and answers with CertsForce

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Knock-out options start as plain vanilla options and are 'knocked-out', ie cease to exist, when the barrier is hit. Knock-in options start lifeless and 'kick-in', ie come into play as plain vanilla options when the barrier is hit. Therefore statement I is not correct.

Barrier options are certainly cheaper than equivalent vanilla options because vanilla options have a larger range of prices over which they pay out. Therefore statement II is correct.

Statement III is not correct. Average price options, also called Asian options, are less attractive to a buyer of options and therefore they are cheaper and not more expensive than vanilla options. This is because average prices are less volatile, and also when compared to a strip of equivalent vanilla options, some of the individual vanilla options in the strip may pay out whereas on the average nothing may pay out.

Digital options have a very high gamma close to the strike price as the option payout becomes uncertain and fluctuates sharply between 0 and 1. Therefore statement IV is correct.

The key point in this question is that the bond is zero coupon, and can only be called at face value. Since the bond is zero coupon, its value will always be less than its par value at any time during its existence (as any interest rate will be a positive number). Therefore the issuer will never exercise the call. Thus the bond will have a duration equal to what an equivalent non-callable bond would have.

Since zero coupon bonds have a duration equal to their maturity, the bond's duration is 10 years.

A forward contract is a derivative contract, and has a delta of 1. Therefore Choice 'd' is the correct answer. This is because the value of a forward contract is given by S - Ke^(-rt), where S is the current spot price, r the risk free rate, K the forward price, and t the time to maturity. As S changes from S to (S + δS), the value changes to (S + δS) - Ke^(-rt), ie the change in value is exactly δS in response to a change in the price of the underlying by δS. Therefore the forward contract has a delta of 1.

All other choices are incorrect.

Note that this is different from the delta of a futures contract which is different from 1, and equal to e^(rt), a number greater than 1.

Each of the choices describes various scenarios related to the issue of bonds. A when-issued market is a market in government securities where securities are traded as forward contracts prior to their issue. Choice 'c' is the correct answer.

Choice 'd' refers to a 'bought deal'. Choice 'b' refers to the 'grey market', usually in corporate bonds. Choice 'a' refers to a fixed price re-offer mechanism.

Explanation:

The return on an asset is a function of the covariance of the asset's return to the returns of the market portfolio. They do not depend upon the standard deviation of the asset itself. Therefore Choice 'b' is correct and Choice 'c' is incorrect.

The expected returns on an asset are equal to the risk free rate plus the beta times the market risk premium, therefore Choice 'a' is correct.

Portfolios on the efficient frontier will all have a different Sharpe ratio, which is the ratio of excess returns to portfolio volatility.

Choice 'c' is the correct answer (note that the question is asking for an identification of the INCORRECT statement).

Since Macaulay duration is 6 years, the modified duration is 6/(1+5%) = 5.71. This means that if interest rates were to rise by 1%, the bond price would decrease by 5.71%. Since interest rates have risen by 10 bps, (100bps = 1%), the bond's price would fall by roughly 0.571%, or 57 basis points

Backwardation is said to occur when futures prices are lower than the current spot prices. This would happen only when carrying costs are negative. Carrying costs are equal to interest, plus storage costs and less any 'convenience yield'. The existence of large convenience yields may explain backwardation in commodity futures prices. Therefore Choice 'd' is the correct answer.

Contango is the 'normal' market situation where forward prices are higher than spot prices. Storage costs explain contango, not backwardation. Risk free rates, or the cost of funding for the futures position, are always positive and do not explain backwardation.

The underlying asset in a Treasury note futures contract is any long term Treasury note with a maturity of no less than 6.5 years and no more than 10 years. The underlying asset in a treasury bond futures contract is any long term US Treasury bond with a maturity of more than 15 years and not callable within 15 years.

Note the difference betwen what the underlying asset is for treasury bond futures and treasury note futures. In either case, adjustments will be made for the coupon and maturity of the actual bond delivered (the concept of the adjustment of 'cheapest-to-deliver').

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.

A 'hard call protection' means the bond cannot be called until a certain date, regardless of what the share price is. Therefore statement I is false. Also note that a 'soft call protection' means that a bond can be called only if the share price reaches a certain threshold.

It is advantageous for the issuer to call its convertible securities when the share price exceeds the conversion price - because these shares can instead be sold in the market at the higher share price than the lower conversion price. Statement II is true.

When the issuer's share price is very high, the convertible bond trades at a discount to the share price because it is almost certain to be called by the issuer and be redeemed at par. Therefore statement III is right. Statement IV is incorrect because convertible bonds need to pay less coupon than equivalent non-convertible bonds because of the value of the option embedded in them.