Postal Express has outlets throughout the world. It also keeps funds for transactions purposes in many foreign countries. Assume in 2010 it held 240,000 reals in Brazil worth 170,000 dollars. It drew 12 percent interest, but the Brazilian real declined 24 percent against the dollar.
a) What is the value of its holdings, based on U.S. dollars, at year-end? (Hint multiply $170,000 times 1.12 and then multiply the resulting value by 76 percent.)
b) What is the value of its holdings, based on U.S. dollars, at year-end if instead it drew 9 percent interest and the real went up by 13 percent against the dollar?