IBA 301 - One of your company's essential suppliers is located in Japan.

Exercise 1

One of your company's essential suppliers is located in Japan. Your company needs to make a 1 million Japanese yen payment in six months. Considering that your company primarily operates in U.S. dollars, you are assigned the task of deciding on a strategy to minimize your transaction exposure. Identify the spot and forward exchange rates between the two currencies. What factors influence your decision to use each? Which one would you choose? How many dollars must you spend to acquire the amount of yen required?

Exercise 2

Sometimes, analysts use the price of specific products in different locations to compare currency valuation and purchasing power. For example, the Big Mac Index compares the purchasing-power parity of many countries based on the price of a Big Mac. Locate the latest edition of this index that is accessible. Identify the five countries (and their currencies) with the lowest purchasing-power parity according to this classification. Which currencies, if any, are overvalued?