It turns out that, while debt reduces a company’s tax liability because interest payments are deductible expenses, increasing amounts of debt raise both the cost of equity capital and the interest rate on debt because of the increasing probability of bankruptcy. In other words, higher amounts of debt raise the financial risk of a company, and this risk is reflected on the cost of all the types of capital the company uses. As such, the relationship between financial leverage and WACC is not a straight line, but more of a U-shaped curve, with a minimum WACC between the extremes of debt utilization. Apart from the risk associated with a firm’s fundamental
According to Keynes, why might deflation create problems for an economy? ▪ In expectation of increased spending, too many entrepreneurs would begin businesses and most would fail. ▪ The cost of repricing goods would increase costs, and therefore reduce profits, for businesses and they would cut production. ▪ People would drop out of unions because unions would become ineffective at keeping wages of members high. ▪ Consumers might expect prices to fall further and cut back consumption now.
However, according to the research, the average bid-ask spread is huge in the callable government bond market, the callable bonds are somewhat illiquid. Tax consideration For investors who need to pay for the tax, they need to keep adjusting their position continuously. For a long-term arbitrage portfolio, it is hard to manage the risk for the adjustment. Cost of short selling and repurchase agreement Short selling and repo certainly have risk and transaction cost (broker fee and initial margin). But for investors who own the callable bonds, costs of repo and short selling don’t exist.
The discount rate, in turn, directly affects the rates at which banks can lend money to its customers. When the Fed lowers the rate, it tends to have the effect of increasing consumer demand for money, since consumers are able to borrow money from banks at lower rates. The second way is by adjusting reserve ratios. The reserve ratio is the amount of cash banks most keep on hand in relation to the amount of money they loan out to consumers. When the Fed lowers the reserve ratio, it means that banks are able to loan out more money to its customers since they need to keep fewer dollars in cash reserves relative to the amount of money they lend out.
“Because and swaps—are instruments for speculation as well as hedges bonuses on Wall Street are tied to transaction volume, this creagainst a drop in an asset’s value. They can be used to bet ates an obvious problem.” that the price of an asset will go up or down. Derivatives also One fear is that losses in the trading department of a large can have more of an effect on a portfolio than simply buying bank, say, could cause a meltdown of the financial system, a or selling a stock or bond because of the leverage involved. scenario that has sometimes prompted calls for stricter regulaLast November, for instance, an investor could buy nearly $1 tion. Critics of government meddling note that these dire million in futures contracts on the Standard & Poor’s 500 In- warnings have never
Bernanke indicated that current monetary policy is directed toward easing and reversing the effects of a “weak economy.” Chairman Bernanke also credited a “deteriorating global credit boom” caused by a housing bubble in the U.S. and other countries, and worsening mortgage markets that led to “deteriorating asset values and credit conditions.” In the U.S. the financial crises was progressively worsening by the failing of some of the larger banking institutions. The Fed had to respond to the threat of a world financial collapse an event that would have severely damaged the global economy (Bernanke,
If we think money as a good then there will be a price of borrowing money, which is the interest rate of money. The higher the interest rate the less people will want to borrow money, and the opposite is true, the lower the interest rate the more people will want to borrow money. As the change in money supply affects the value of the interest rate because as there is more or less of money the current pool of money becomes more or less valuable. As there is more money the interest rate will decrease because there will be more money floating around and if there is less money the interest rate will increase because there will be less money floating
Estimated foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities have more than tripled since 2001. Some worry about the geopolitical consequences of foreign governments investing so deeply in U.S. Treasurys. But the investments also tie the fortunes of foreign governments more closely to those of the United States. March 2001 $5.8 trillion DOMESTIC +100% increase FOREIGN +350%
Case Study: The Russian Ruble Crisis of 1998 1991 marks the breakup of the former Soviet Union and be beginning of new financial difficulties for Russia. Throughout the 1990s, Russian government spending exceeded their tax revenues, resulting in an increasing federal deficit. The deficit was financed by borrowings and by the printing of more currency, the ruble. In spite of these difficulties, the stability of the Russian ruble during the early 1990s was seen as a major success of the Russian Government. During this time, the currency, the ruble, operated under a managed float.
b. Most sinking funds require the issuer to provide funds to a trustee, who holds the money so that it will be available to pay off bondholders when the bonds mature. c. A sinking fund provision makes a bond more risky to investors at the time of issuance. d. Sinking fund provisions never require companies to retire their debt; they only establish “targets” for the company to reduce its debt over time. e. If interest rates increase after a company has issued bonds with a sinking fund, the company will be less likely to buy bonds on the open market to meet its sinking fund obligation and more likely to call them in at the sinking fund call price.