A sales engineer has the following alternatives to consider in touring his sales territory. A. Buy a 2-year old used car for $14,500. Salvage value is expected to be about $5000 after 3 more years. Maintenance and insurance cost is $1000 in the first year and increases at the rate of $500/year in subsequent years. Daily operating expenses are $50/day. B. Rent a similar car for $80/day. Based on a 12% after-tax rate of return, how many days per year must he use the car to justify its purchase

The treasurer for pittsburgh iron works wishes to use financial futures to hedge her interest rate exposure. she will sell five treasury futures contracts at $139,000 per contract. it is july and the contracts must be closed out in december of this year. long-term interest rates are currently 7.30 percent. if they increase to 9.50 percent, assume the value of the contracts will go down by 20 percent. also if interest rates do increase by 2.2 percent, assume the firm will have additional interest expense on its business loans and other commitments of $149,000. this expense, of course, will be separate from the futures contracts. a. what will be the profit or loss on the futures contract if interest rates increase to 9.50 percent by december when the contract is closed out