International Business: The New Realities, 5th Edition
by S. Tamer Cavusgil, Gary Knight, John R. Riesenberger
Hedging Instruments
Having assessed its level of currency risk exposure, the firm attempts to balance exposed assets and exposed liabilities. The four most common hedging instruments are forward contracts, futures contracts, currency options, and currency swaps.
A forward contract is an agreement to exchange two currencies at a specified exchange rate on a set future date. No money changes hands until the delivery date of the contract. Banks quote forward prices in the same way as spot prices—with bid and ask prices at which they will buy or sell currencies. The bank’s bid–ask spread is a cost for its customers.
Forward contracts are especially appropriate for hedging transaction exposure. Suppose Dow Chemical (www.dow.com) sells merchandise ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access