It is July 16. A company has a portfolio of stocks worth $100 million. The beta of the portfolio is 1.2. The company would like to use the CME December futures contract on the S&P 500 to change the beta of the portfolio to 0.5 during the period July 16 to November 16. The index futures price is 2,000 and each contract is on $250 times the index. A) What position should the company take?

B) Suppose that the company changes its mind and decides to increase the beta of the portfolio from 1.2 to 1.5. What position in futures contracts should it take?

Suppose that: 1. malaysia requires 1 hour of labor to produce 1 pound of rice and 2 hours of labor to produce 1 pencil; 2. indonesia requires 2 hours of labor to produce 1 pound of rice and 4 hours of labor to produce 1 pencil; 3. each country has 10,000 hours of labor to allocate between the production of rice and pencils; and 4. in autarky, malaysia consumes 5,000 pounds of rice and 2,500 pencils. which country has an absolute advantage in rice production? in pencil production? which country has a comparative advantage in rice production? in pencil production? will trade between the two countries be mutually beneficial?

Robert black, regional manager for ford in texas and oklahoma, faced a dilemma. the ford f-150 pickup truck was the best-selling pickup ever, yet ford's headquarters in detroit had decided to introduce a completely redesigned f-150. how could mr. black sell both trucks at the same time? he still had "old" f-150s in stock. in his advertising, mr. black referred to the new f-150s as follows: "not a better f-150. just the only truck good enough to be the next f-150." this statement represents ford's of the new f-150.

On average, someone with a bachelor's degree is estimated to earn times more than someone with a high school diploma. a)1.2 b)1.4 c)1.6 d)1.8