A food company is planning to purchase 5,000,000 pounds of beef in six months. The company is concerned about changes in the price of beef. Your assignment is to construct a futures contract hedge to protect the companys cost. The current wholesale price of beef is 106 Cents per pound.

The livestock futures contracts are for 40,000 pounds. The futures contract quoted price is Cents per pound. The coefficient of correlation between livestock and beef is 0.93. The standard deviation of livestock and beef are 56.35 and 68.25 respectively.

The available futures contracts are This information was downloaded from CME Group website:

Month	Last (cents)	Change	Prior Settle	Open	High	Low
Aug-18	106.075	-0.3	106.375	106.85	107.325	105.775
Oct-18	108.65	-0.975	109.625	109.9	110.275	108.3
Dec-18	112.825	-0.875	113.7	113.775	114.05	112.4
Feb-19	116.325	-0.2	116.525	116.5	116.775	115.35
Apr-19	117.825	-0.425	118.25	118.45	118.45	117.125
Jun-19	110.65	-0.5	111.15	111.175	111.175	110
Aug-19	109.675	-0.325	110	109.7	110	108.95
Oct-19	111	-0.6	111.6	111	111	111

Part 3.

Calculate the forward rates given the following zero rates.

Year	Zero rate	Forward rate
1	3.5
2	3.75
3	4.5
4	5.0

Part 4.

Part a. Describe the Repo rate.

Part b. Describe the Fed Funds rate

Part 5.

Calculate the one and two-year zero rate from the following information.

Face value	Current price	Coupon	Maturity
100	95	0	1 year
100	92	1.5 paid every six months; 3.0 total per year.	2 years