In: Statistics and Probability
In this exercise, we examine the effect of combining investments with positively correlated risks, negatively correlated risks, and uncorrelated risks. A firm is considering a portfolio of assets. The portfolio is comprised of two assets, which we will call ''A" and "B." Let X denote the annual rate of return from asset A in the following year, and let Y denote the annual rate of return from asset B in the following year. Suppose that E(X) = 0.15 and E(Y) = 0.20, SD(X) = 0.05 and SD(Y) = 0.06, and CORR(X, Y) = 0.30.
(a) What is the expected return of investing 50% of the portfolio in asset A and 50% of the portfolio in asset B? What is the standard deviation of this return?
(b) Replace CORR(X, Y) = 0.30 by CORR(X, Y) = 0.60 and answer the questions in part
(C). Do the same for CORR(X, Y) = -0.60, -0.30, and 0.0.