When the forward prices are greater than the spot prices, the market is said to be in contango. When forward prices are lower than spot prices, the market is said to be backwarded. A short squeeze may contribute to backwardation. Choice 'a' is the correct answer.

The day count convention used for US treasury bonds is Act/Act. The other choices are incorrect.

The efficient frontier is plotted on a graph with portfolio return (mean) as the y-axis and portfolio volatility, or standard deviation, on the x-axis. Asset beta and standard deviation of the market portfolio have nothing to do with the determination of the efficient portfolio.Therefore Choice 'd' is the correct answer, and the rest of the choices are incorrect.

The LIBOR rate to use is the one at the beginning of the period, is 4.5%. The fixed rate payer owes 5%, and the floating rate payer owes 4.5% + 100bps. Thus the fixed rate payer will receive a payment equal to 0.5% for six months on $1m. This works out to $2500.(Recall that a fixed for floating interest rate swap exchanges fixed for floating rate payments, with only the net payment being made by either party.)

The LIBOR rate to use is the one at the beginning of the period, is 4.5%. The fixed rate payer owes 5%, and the floating rate payer owes 4.5% + 100bps. Thus the fixed rate payer will receive a payment equal to 0.5% for six months on $1m. This works out to $2500.

(Recall that a fixed for floating interest rate swap exchanges fixed for floating rate payments, with only the net payment being made by either party.)

Fixed income instruments go through the 'pull-to-par' phenomenon as they get closer to maturity. In this case, since interest rates stay constant, the bond will rise in price over the year to get closer to its redemption value. Of course, you can apply the standard discounting logic as well to say that while one year's coupon payment drops off, the remaining years' cash flows get discounted for a year less and the value would go up. However it is just easier to remember that at maturity the bond will be close to its notional or face value, and therefore if it is selling at a discount now, it will rise in value over its remaining life to get to the face value.

Exactly the reverse logic would apply to bonds sold at a premium, they would decline in value over time as to get to the par value at maturity.

Since the stock is selling for $100 spot, its 3 month forward price for you would be $100*(1 + 6%*3/12) = $101.50. Since the forward is priced at $104, it is 'rich' compared to the spot and should be sold. A profitable trade would be to buy the spot and sell the forward.

Imagine you borrow $100 and buy the stock, and simultaneously sell the forward. At the end of 3 months, you will receive $104 in return from the forward, and be obliged to return the initial $100 borrowed together with interest of $1.50 for the three months. You would make a riskless profit of $2.50 per share in three months. Thus Choice 'c' is the correct answer.

Note that the treasury yield is irrelevant, what matters is the rate at which you can finance the trade which is 6% per annum.

Statement I is not correct because the 4% bond with the same modified duration as the zero coupon bond will have a maturity much later in the future than the zero coupon, and the final repayment coming much later will cause its convexity to be greater than the equivalent duration zero coupon bond.

Statement II is not correct as the convexity of a bond increases not in a linear fashion but in proportion to the square root of time as the maturity of the bond is increased.

Statement III is not correct as mortgage based bonds bring negative convexity even in the case of long positions,

Statement IV is not correct as the duration of a zero coupon bond maturing in 10 years has a modified duration greater than that of a coupon bearing bond of the same maturity, which means its convexity is higher and not lower (note this is different from statement I where the modified durations were identical. Here, the maturity is identical which has different implications.)

Therefore none of the statements is correct and Choice 'd' is the correct answer.