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To: HeyRainier who wrote (26)12/2/1998 4:27:00 AM
From: HeyRainier  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 70
 
*** Level I

Question 1: Which of the following are not required disclosures
under the Performance Presentation Standards?

a) The inclusion of any non-fee paying portfolios in composites.
b) Whether balanced portfolio segments are included in
single-asset composites.
c) The existence of a minimum asset size for the inclusion in
composites.
d) Portfolio size range and percentage of total assets in the
same class.

Question 2: Under adaptive expectations, the change in decision
makers' expectations as a result of an increase or decrease in
inflation will

a) be determined by factors other than observed inflation.
b) always precede the increase or decrease in inflation.
c) parallel the increase or decrease in inflation.
d) consistently lag behind actual increases or decreases in
inflation.

Question 3: The Eurobond market is:

a) a joint float system of currency exchange between major
European countries.
b) a traditional bond market whereby a syndicate of underwriters
is assembled and in a few weeks floats a bond for a specific
company.
c) none of these answers.
d) a market for short-term borrowing and lending and is an
off-shore market.
e) an interbank market closely linked to the foreign exchange
market.

Question 4: Event studies test

a) market reaction to private information.
b) the semistrong-form EMH.
c) long-term market trends.
d) the strong-form EMH.
e) the weak-form EMH.

Answer 1: d

Rationale & Reference:
The existence of a minimum asset size below which portfolios are
excluded from a composite must be disclosed. Whether balanced
portfolio segments are included in single-asset composites and an
explanation of how cash has been allocated among segments must be
disclosed. The inclusion of any non-fee-paying portfolios in
composites and included in the definition of total firm assets
must be disclosed. Only the number of portfolios, their
description, the amount of assets in a composite, the percentage
of the firm's total assets the composite represents need be
disclosed. The portfolio size range or percentage of total assets
in the same class are only recommended, not required disclosures.

Performance Presentation Standards, pp. 16-17, 23

Answer 2: d

Rationale & Reference:
Adaptive expectations implies that economic agents base their
future expectations on actual outcomes observed during recent
periods. Thus high inflation last period will create an
expectation of high inflation next period. The lag between
reality and expectations will persist since individuals "adapt"
their expectations only after observing the previous period.

Gwartney & Stroup, pp. 360-361

Answer 3: b

Rationale & Reference:
The Eurobond market should be carefully distinguished from the
Eurocurrency market which is a market for short-term borrowing
and lending and is an off-shore market. In contrast, the Eurobond
market is a traditional bond market whereby a syndicate of
underwriters is assembled and in a few weeks floats a bond for a
specific company.

Solnik, p. 17

Answer 4: b

Rationale & Reference:
Event studies test the effects on securities prices of the
announcement of public information concerning important events.
The weak-form EMH only assumes that security-market information
is reflected in prices. Most of the events studied instead
provide nonmarket public information, so event studies are more
suited for testing the semistrong-form EMH, which does assume
that nonmarket public information is reflected in prices. The
strong-form EMH, while also assuming that this type of
information is reflected in prices, also assumes that private
information is reflected in prices as well, so tests of the
effects of private information on returns are better suited to
testing the strong-form EMH.

Reilly & Brown, p. 229

*** Level II

Question: What are the Procedures for Compliance for Standard IV
(A1): Reasonable Basis and Representations?

Answer:

The procedures are:

1. Members should analyze basic characteristics. Before
recommending a specific investment or investment discipline to a
broad client group, a member should investigate the investment's
basic characteristics.

2. Analyze portfolio needs. A member has the obligation to
analyze clients' investment needs as well as the basic
characteristics of investments.

3. At the outset of the relationship, the portfolio manager and
client should develop a statement of investment objectives and
they should review this statement periodically.

4. Maintain files. A member should maintain files to support
investment recommendations.

Standards Handbook (7th ed.), p. 66

*** Level III

Question: Learning Outcome Statement:

Describe various stock market anomalies (return regularities) and
demonstrate an understanding of how the interrelationships of
anomaly-based models can be "disentangled" to produce a "pure
return effect".

Answer:

1. Value Anomalies

Low price/book ratios, Low price/sales, Low price/CF, Low P/E and
dividend yield. Low P/E stocks tend to outperform the average.
Dividend yield has a U-shaped payoff such that both high-yielding
and zero-yielding stocks have the largest payoffs. This effect is
tax driven because taxable investors require a higher return to
compensate for increased tax liability.

2. Earnings Expectations-Based Anomalies

Neglected-Firm effect - measured by the number of security
analysts following a stock.

Trend-in-Analyst'-estimates effect - stocks whose earnings have
been recently upgraded tend to outperform the average. This may
be caused by the herd instinct of Wall Street analysts.

Earnings-Surprise effect - the tendency for stocks to outperform
following a positive earnings surprise.

Earnings-Torpedo effect - represents the bias of analysts to be
overly optimistic for successful companies and overly pessimistic
for unsuccessful ones. Surprise' for high-expectation companies
tend to be negative (torpedo) and positive for low-expectation
companies.

3. Price-Based Anomalies

Price-Per-Share effect - low priced stocks tend to outperform
high priced stocks.

Market Capitalization - small cap stocks have stronger
performance.

Residual Reversal effect - the tendency for recent performance to
reverse over the short run. If GM and Chrysler are up, buy Ford
and it may catch-up.

Reversion to the mean.

4. Calendar-Based Anomalies

Day-of-the-Week effect - tendency for prices to close the week
strong and open weak (Blue Monday effect).

Week-of-the-Month effect - first two weeks of the month tend to
experience positive returns while the last two average flat.
Earnings announcements during the first two weeks are generally
positive and latter in the month less so.

January effect - half of the size effect seems to occur in
January. The entire U-shaped yield effect occurs in the month of
January.

Disentangling Returns - In much the same way as a doctor
evaluates variables such as marital status, age, education, diet,
exercise and income to determine a person's blood pressure; the
anomalies must be "taken together" to determine the overall
performance. By regression analysis we can determine the
coefficient for each anomaly and determine how much it
contributes to the overall return or pure return.

Jacobs & Levy, pp. 36-39