In: Finance
(Computingthe standard deviation for a portfolio of two risky investments)Mary Guilott recently graduated from Nichols State University and is anxious to begin investing her meager savings as a way of applying what she has learned in business school. Specifically,she is evaluating an investment in a portfolio comprised of two firms'common stock. She has collected the following information about the common stock of Firm A and Firm B:
| 
 Expected Return  | 
 Standard Deviation  | 
|
| 
 Firm A's Common Stock  | 
 0.17  | 
 0.16  | 
| 
 Firm B's Common Stock  | 
 0.18  | 
 0.25  | 
| 
 Correlation Coefficient  | 
 0.4  | 
a. If Mary invests half her money in each of the two common stocks,what is the portfolio'sexpected rate of return and standard deviation in portfolio return?
b. Answer part a where the correlation between the two common stock investments is equal to zero.
c. Answer part a where the correlation between the two common stock investments is equal to +1.
d. Answer part a where the correlation between the two common stock investments is equal to −1.
e. Using your responses to questionsa—d,describe the relationship between the correlation and the risk and return of the portfolio.