An investor holds a concentrated portfolio consisting entirely of commercial paper issued by a regional electric utility company. The utility recently suffered significant physical infrastructure damage following a severe storm, leading credit rating agencies to downgrade the company's short-term debt rating from A-1 to A-3. Which of the following statements regarding the risks associated with this investment position are correct?
- The credit rating downgrade reflects an increase in non-systematic credit risk, as the issuer's capacity to fulfill short-term debt obligations has declined.Cevap
- The investor can significantly reduce this specific debt risk by reallocating funds across commercial paper from issuers in varied industries and geographic regions.Cevap
- CThe primary cause of the portfolio's value decline is systematic interest rate risk driven by broader Federal Reserve monetary policy shifts.
- DReallocating the portfolio into short-term commercial paper of another electric utility located in the same regional storm corridor will completely eliminate non-systematic risk.
Cevap
The statement identifying the credit rating downgrade as an increase in non-systematic credit risk and the statement noting that reallocating funds across varied industries and regions reduces specific debt risk are both correct.
The scenario describes a debt credit downgrade resulting from issuer-specific operational disruptions, which is a classic example of non-systematic credit risk. Non-systematic risk is unique to an issuer and can be effectively diluted and controlled through proper portfolio diversification across varied asset classes and economic sectors.
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Anahtar Kavram
Non-systematic credit risk is specific to an individual debt issuer and can be mitigated through asset diversification across un-correlated sectors.