Chapter II: This survey looks at historical volatility of Fedex prices. The risks associated with long and short term positions can be evaluated according to projected shapes of the Volatility Curve. |
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Volatility is defined as the price range for a period, divided by the average price for the period: For instance, on 7/1/2009 the average price was 56.47 with a range of 1.43, indicating a Daily Volatility of 2.5%. The Daily Volatility is obtained by dividing the daily range by the daily average. A longer Volatility period such as Weekly Volatility is obtained by dividing the weekly price range by the weekly mean price. This is a different concept from the weekly average of daily volatility. The red plot shows the actual price. The remaining marks on the plot correspond to the Volatility measured across several time intervals. Investors often make a distinction between the concept of Volatility, and the concept of Risk. Academics define them to be exactly equivalent, but as can be seen here, there is good reason to distinguish between the levels of volatility or risk experienced across different time frames. During 29 years, the Average Quarterly Volatility of FDX stock price has been 35% while the Average Daily Volatility has been 3%. |
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You may be familiar with the "yield curve" which shows how interest bearing yields vary according to term. These Volatility Curves each apply to a discrete time interval. From left to right, each position plots the Volatility associated with increasing intervals of time. The relationship between the length of time, and the expected change in price, is not linear, as is demonstrated by this chart. |
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This histogram is a frequency distribution of Daily Volatility, corresponding to the green points on the first chart on this page. |
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Similarly, the purple points on the top chart, the Quarterly Volatility Values, are subjected to frequency distribution here. |
Refined Volatility Risk Analysis for FDX : |
| In the news, Wednesday, July 01, 2009: An unfavorable condition has developed with Lexmark International, Inc., ticker symbol LXK. Also, there are breaking events concerning Lennar Corporation (LEN) and The Travelers Companies, Inc. (TRV) |