Question

Suppose 6 months ago a Swiss investor bought a 6-month U.S. Treasury bill at a price of $9,708.74, with a maturity value of $10,000. The exchange rate at that time was 1.420 Swiss francs per dollar. Today, at maturity, the exchange rate is 1.324 Swiss francs per dollar. What is the annualized rate of return to the Swiss investor

Answer 1

Answer:

The annualized rate of return to the Swiss investor is -7.93%.

Explanation:

This is an instance of foreign currency bond.

Using the exchange rate of $1 = 1.420, purchase price of the bond is calculated as $9,708.74 x 1.420 = 13,786.4108 Swiss Francs

Using the exchange rate of $1 = 1.324, maturity value is $10,000 x 1.324 = 13,240 Swiss Francs

Holding period is 6 months.

So, annualized rate of return is: (Maturity amount - Purchase price)/Purchase price x 12 / No of months

Annualized rate of return is: (13,240 - 13,786.4108)/13,786.4108 x 12/6 = -0.079268028.

Annualized rate of return is -7.93% approximately.