Answer: e. The firm is going from its slack season to its peak sales season, so its receivables and inventories will experience seasonal increases.
Step-by-step explanation:
A company increases it's holdings in short term marketable securities when it has money idle that isn't being put towards anything. It would therefore make sense to invest that money in short term securities to make some sort of profits by way of returns.
When a company is going from it's slack season to its peak season, they will have to use the cash that they have to I crease their inventory so as to better prepare for anticipated increased sales. They therefore cannot be using the cash they have to invest in short term securities making option e. the right answer.