1. You can form a portfolio of two assets, A and B, whose returns have the following characteristics:
Stock
|
Expected Return
|
Standard Deviation
|
Correlation
|
A
|
10%
|
20%
|
|
|
|
|
.5
|
B
|
15
|
40
|
|
If you demand an expected return of 12%, what are the portfolio weights? What is the portfolio’s standard deviation?
2. Here are some historical data on the risk characteristics of Dell and McDonald’s:
|
Dell
|
McDonald’s
|
β (beta)
|
1.41
|
.77
|
Yearly standard deviation of return (%)
|
30.9
|
17.2
|
Assume the standard deviation of the return on the market was 15%.
a. The correlation coefficient of Dell’s return versus McDonald’s is .31. What is the standard deviation of a portfolio invested half in Dell and half in McDonald’s?
b. What is the standard deviation of a portfolio invested one-third in Dell, one-third in McDonald’s, and one-third in risk-free Treasury bills?
c. What is the standard deviation if the portfolio is split evenly between Dell and McDonald’s and is financed at 50% margin, i.e., the investor puts up only 50% of the total amount and borrows the balance from the broker?
d. What is the approximate standard deviation of a portfolio composed of 100 stocks with betas of 1.41 like Dell? How about 100 stocks like McDonald’s? ( Hint: Part (d) should not require anything but the simplest arithmetic to answer.)