Boeing imported a Rolls-Royce jet engine for £10 million payable in three months
ID: 2788874 • Letter: B
Question
Boeing imported a Rolls-Royce jet engine for £10 million payable in three months. The current spot rate is $1.36/£ and three-month forward rate is $1.3/£. A three-month put option on pounds with a strike price of $1.32/£ has a premium of $0.015 per pound, while a three-month call option on pounds with the same strike price has a premium of $0.018 per pound . Currently, three-month interest rate is 3.2% per annum in the U.S. and 4.4% per annum in the U.K.
Boeing is considering alternative ways of hedging this foreign currency payable. It tries to minimize the dollar cost of paying off the payable. All questions below refer to cash flows in three months.
1) What would be the expected future U.S. dollar cost of buying £10 million for Boeing if they decide NOT to hedge, assuming that Boeing regards the forward rate as an unbiased predictor of the future spot rate? How risky (certain/uncertain) is this cash flow?
Explanation / Answer
1) If Boeind decide not to hedge the payable in UK Pound after 3 months. And Predicts that the 3 Month Fwd rate quoted today will be the Spot rate after 3 months then the cost in US $ will be 10*1.3 = 13 Millions US $.
This cash flow is very uncertain since the banks quote the fwd rates only with their experience regarding the fluctuations in the currency market which fluctuate every second. So this prediction can not be regarded as certain.