Question: Covered interest arbitrage problem: Example: suppose yen-dominated interest rate is 2% $-dominated interest rate is 6% current ($/yen) exchange rate is 0.009 The theoretical 1-year

Covered interest arbitrage problem:

Example: suppose

yen-dominated interest rate is 2%

$-dominated interest rate is 6%

current ($/yen) exchange rate is 0.009

The theoretical 1-year forward exchange rate is 0.009e^(6%-2%) = 0.009367

However, suppose the observed 1 - year forward exchange is 0.0093, then, the professor claims that in this case, the interest rate of dollars might be too high(therefore we will lend out $) or the interest rate of yen might be too low(therefore we will borrow yen) to do the arbitrage. But shouldn't be the interest rate of dollars to be too low or the interest rate of yen be too high and that's why the observed exchange rate to be lowered than 0.009367 e.g. 0.009e^(5.5%-2.3%) < 0.009367? Please help me to undertstand the mechanism from the formula's perspective, thank you very much.

Step by Step Solution

There are 3 Steps involved in it

1 Expert Approved Answer
Step: 1 Unlock blur-text-image
Question Has Been Solved by an Expert!

Get step-by-step solutions from verified subject matter experts

Step: 2 Unlock
Step: 3 Unlock

Students Have Also Explored These Related Finance Questions!