A trader owns 55,000 troy oz of silver and decides to hedge with 6-month silver futures contracts. Each futures contract is on 5,000 troy oz. The standard deviation of the change in the spot price of silver is 0.43. The standard deviation of the change in silver futures prices is 0.40. The coefficient of correlation between the two is 0.95.
a) What is the minimum variance hedge ratio?b) What is the optimal number of futures contracts without tailing the hedge?c) What is the optimal number of futures contracts with tailing the hedge? Assume the same hedge ratio.

Uppose stanley's office supply purchases 50,000 boxes of pens every year. ordering costs are $100 per order and carrying costs are $0.40 per box. moreover, management has determined that the eoq is 5,000 boxes. the vendor now offers a quantity discount of $0.20 per box if the company buys pens in order sizes of 10,000 boxes. determine the before-tax benefit or loss of accepting the quantity discount. (assume the carrying cost remains at $0.40 per box whether or not the discount is taken.)

For each of the following cases determine the ending balance in the inventory account. (hint: first, determine the total cost of inventory available for sale. next, subtract the cost of the inventory sold to arrive at the ending balance.)a. jill’s dress shop had a beginning balance in its inventory account of $40,000. during the accounting period jill’s purchased $75,000 of inventory, returned $5,000 of inventory, and obtained $750 of purchases discounts. jill’s incurred $1,000 of transportation-in cost and $600 of transportation-out cost. salaries of sales personnel amounted to $31,000. administrative expenses amounted to $35,600. cost of goods sold amounted to $82,300.b. ken’s bait shop had a beginning balance in its inventory account of $8,000. during the accounting period ken’s purchased $36,900 of inventory, obtained $1,200 of purchases allowances, and received $360 of purchases discounts. sales discounts amounted to $640. ken’s incurred $900 of transportation-in cost and $260 of transportation-out cost. selling and administrative cost amounted to $12,300. cost of goods sold amounted to $33,900.a& b. cost of goods avaliable for sale? ending inventory?

A$100 million interest rate swap has a remaining life of 10 months. under the terms of the swap, the six-month libor is exchanged semi-annually for 12% per annum. the six-month libor rate in swaps of all maturities is currently 10% per annum with continuous compounding. the six-month libor rate was 9.6% per annum two months ago. what is the current value of the swap to the party paying floating? what is its value to the party paying fixed?