Question

Assume that a currency's spot and future prices are the same, and the currency's interest rate is higher than the U.S. rate. The actions of U.S. investors to lock in this higher foreign return would ____ the currency's spot rate and ____ the currency's futures price. Question 4 options: put upward pressure on; put upward pressure on put downward pressure on; put downward pressure on put upward pressure on; put downward pressure on put downward pressure on; put upward pressure on

Answer 1

Answer:

put upward pressure on; put downward pressure on

• The actions of U.S. investors to lock in this higher foreign return would PUT UPWARD PRESSURE ON the currency's spot rate and PUT DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON the currency's futures price.

Explanation:

If both the spot and the forward price of a currency are the same, it means that it should be worth the same today than in the future. If you can earn higher interest by investing in that foreign currency, then investors will start purchasing higher amounts of the foreign in order to invest and gain higher rates.

Since the demand for the foreign currency increases, that put upward pressure its current price. Simply more investors will want to invest in that currency. While that happens right now, the market will tend to adjust to correct this arbitrage, and the way this can be adjusted is by lowering the future price of the currency. That puts downward pressure on the forward rate.