Suppose the interest rates on one-, five-, and ten-year U.S. Treasury bonds are currently 3%,6%and 6%respectively. Investor A chooses to hold only one-year bonds, and Investor B is indifferent with regard to holding five- and ten-year bonds. How can you explain the behavior of Investors A and B?

Short Answer

Expert verified

Investor A's choice will be steady with the segmented market theory as the return is less. Apparently investor B maximizes the expected return.

Step by step solution

01

Definition

Treasury bonds are the long-term debt securities issued by the government. It has a maturity range from three months to 30years. There is no risk of call or default of country U Treasury debt because the country U government is one of the top players and payer in the bond market all over the world.

02

Explanation

Investor A chooses to hold only -year bonds could be more risk-loving than investor B, who is different between holding 5-year and 10-year bonds. This is because the 1-year bonds have an expected return of 3%, while the 5and 10-year bonds have expected returns of 6%. The time to maturity is very different(more than twice between 1and 5-year bonds), yet the return on the1-year bond is half that of the 5and 10-year bonds.

Therefore, investor A must have been willing to take on the additional risk for 1-year bonds, making him a risk-lover relative to the other investor. this would make investor B risk-averse because he chooses to hold the bonds with longer maturities for a return that is not proportional to the time he is investing in them.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Go to the St. Louis Federal Reserve FRED database, and find daily yield data on the following U.S. treasuries securities: one-month (DGS1MO), three-month (DGS3MO), six-month (DGS6MO), one-year (DGS1), two-year (DGS2), three-year (DGS3), five-year (DGS5), seven-year (DGS7), 10-year (DGS10), 20-year (DGS20), and 30-year (DGS30). Download the last full year of data available into a spreadsheet.

a. Construct a yield curve by creating a line graph for the most recent day of data available, and for the same day (or as close to the same day as possible) one year prior, across all the maturities. How do the yield curves compare? What does the changing slope say about potential changes in economic conditions?

b. Determine the date of the most recent Federal Open Market Committee policy statement. Construct yield curves for both the day before the policy statement was released and the day on which the policy statement was released. Was there any significant change in the yield curve as a result of the policy statement? How might this be explained?

If expectations of future short-term interest rates suddenly fell, what would happen to the slope of the yield curve?

If junk bonds are “junk,” then why do investors buy them?

Risk premiums on corporate bonds are usually anticyclical; that is, they decrease during business cycle expansions and increase during recessions. Why is this so?

If a yield curve looks like the one shown in the figure below, what is the market predicting about the movement of future short-term interest rates? What might the yield curve indicate about the market’s predictions for the inflation rate in the future?

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