债券违约对流动性影响的传染效应研究

2014年以来我国信用债市场违约事件频发,信用风险的积聚可能引发债券市场流动性恶化。本文以2014―2019年交易所和银行间市场信用债为研究对象,实证考察违约事件对债券流动性影响的传染效应。研究发现:违约事件在同一发行主体的债券之间具有流动性传染效应,当公司的某期债券出现违约时,公司其他未到期债券的流动性水平显著下降;违约事件对同行业其他公司债券的流动性具有传染效应,当行业中出现债券违约事件时,行业内其他公司的债券流动性显著降低;违约事件爆发越密集或者违约事件越严重,对债券流动性的负面影响越大,而且民营企业债受到的影响要大于国有企业债,低信用等级债受到的影响要大于高信用等级债;在市场密集爆发违约事件或出现较为严重的违约事件时期,宏观流动性增加能够改善债券流动性。     

2013年中国债券市场发展报告

2013年中国债券市场收益率曲线平坦化上行,高评级信用利差收窄,信用债等级间利差拓宽。展望2014年,资金面仍将维持紧平衡,利率债供给压力将小幅增加,国债收益率曲线小幅陡峭化下移,下半年市场表现好于上半年;在信用债市场,随着下半年市场收益率水平下行和信用债供给的增加,高评级产品利差将会拓宽;中低评级债券受信用风险事件和交易所重启IPO影响,等级间利差也将拓宽。     

Credit Spread Changes and Equity Volatility: Evidence from Daily Data

We investigate the determinants of daily changes in credit spreads in the U.S. corporate bond market. Using a sample of liquid investment grade and high‐yield bonds, we show that both systematic bond and stock market factors as well as idiosyncratic equity market factors affect changes in the yield spread at the daily frequency. In particular, we find that increase in stock market volatility has a positive effect on changes in the spread of corporate bonds over the corresponding Treasuries beyond that captured by standard term structure variables. Our results show that there is an almost contemporaneous inverse relationship between changes in the bond yield spread and the stock return of the issuing firm.     

Historic Changes in the High Yield Bond Market

In a history that now stretches about four decades, the high yield (HY) market has experienced growth in issuance and out‐standings that is remarkable both for its level (about 13% per annum, with HY bonds now accounting for about 25% of the total corporate bond market) and its cyclicality and sensitivity to the broad economy. The HY market has also experienced a notable shift away from B‐rated bonds and toward both lower‐risk Ba‐rated bonds and, to a lesser extent, more risky Caa‐rated bonds. Consistent with this development, studies of the performance of HY bonds show Ba‐rated bonds experiencing not only lower risk, but also higher returns than Caa‐rated bonds, which have produced surprisingly low average returns along with exceptionally high volatility. At the same time, studies of the correlation of HY bond returns with returns on other major asset classes report that all classes of HY bonds (but particularly the riskier B‐ and Caa‐rated bonds) have consistently stronger relationships with common stocks (especially small‐cap stocks) than with Treasuries and investment‐grade bonds. Analysis of the volatility of HY bond returns over time shows that during periods of stability in the economy and financial markets, the volatility of HY bond returns has been very similar to that of investment‐grade bonds. But during periods of political or economic uncertainty, the volatility of HY bonds has become two or three times that of investment‐grade bonds, approaching the volatility of common stocks. The main driver of the significant increase in the risk of the aggregate HY bond market during periods of uncertainty has been Caa‐rated bonds, whose risk pattern has been remarkably similar to that of small‐cap common stocks. Analysis of the credit risk spread (or CRS) series for both the composite HY bond market and each of its rating categories shows markedly non‐normal distributions with significant positive “skewness”—that is, periods of exceptionally high spreads (that are not counterbalanced by periods of exceptionally low spreads). The authors also report a consistently strong relationship of the CRS series with default rates and the general state of the economy, with major peaks occurring during or shortly after economic recessions. Near the end of 2008, however, there was a clear break in this relationship when the CRS reached an historic peak of 2,000 basis points, or more than five standard deviations above its long‐term mean, while the default rate (at 4%) was below its long‐term average. The authors offer two explanations for this break in CRS‐default rate relationship: the jump in the CRS caused by the extreme flight to quality and drop in liquidity for all risky securities during the second half of 2008; and the use of covenant‐lite securities and other sources of financial flexibility that appear to have enabled many HY issuers to defer defaults (if not avoid them entirely).     

引入国债期货合约能否发挥现货市场稳定效应?——基于中国金融周期的研究视角

我国国债期货市场能否发挥稳定现货市场功能,金融周期风险是否会改变国债期货市场对现货市场波动的影响,是投资者实施风险管理和监管部门构建市场稳定机制的重要依据。本文通过信息传递机制和交易者行为两个维度探析国债期货市场发挥稳定功能的微观机理,分析金融周期风险对衍生工具稳定功能的影响,解析引入国债期货合约能否缓解金融周期波动对国债市场冲击,同时关注我国国债期货交易机制改进与现券波动关系。研究发现:(1)我国国债期货市场已实现抑制现货市场波动的功能,金融周期风险会引发现货价格波动,国债期货市场能够降低金融周期的波动冲击;(2)改善现货市场深度和套保交易是国债期货市场发挥稳定功能的微观路径,国债期货市场增进国债预期交易量流动性、减弱非预期交易量干扰,金融周期低波动区间套保交易稳定作用受到抑制;(3)国债期货投机交易和波动溢出效应助长现货市场波动,正负期现基差对国债波动影响具有非对称特征。     

Accounting data and the credit spread: An empirical investigation

Measures of credit risk based on Merton (1974) rely upon information available in the market prices of securities. Under the Efficient Market Hypothesis market prices should reflect all available information and, hence, make redundant all other information in the analysis of credit risk. This paper examines whether accounting data are fully reflected in the market-based measures of credit risk and therefore has no role in explaining variations in the credit spread on corporate bonds. We use a sample consisting of over 11,000 firm-quarter observations with matched equity, bond and accounting data. The results suggest that equity volatility and Merton's distance-to-default outperform accounting variables in explaining variations in the credit spread. However, accounting variables are incrementally informative in explaining variations in the credit spread when considered in conjunction with market-based measures. Within the set of accounting variables considered, we find that the profitability ratio is by far the most incrementally informative accounting variable.     

The effect of interest rate volatility and equity volatility on corporate bond yield spreads: A comparison of noncallables and callables

This research investigates the impact of interest rate volatility upon corporate bond yield spreads. We first consider the impact of interest rate volatility upon noncallable bond spreads. Because greater interest rate volatility likely increases the volatility of the firm's debt, we hypothesize that the relation will be positive. Given that we do find a positive relation, we thus investigate whether the positive effect of interest rate volatility on yield spreads is stronger or weaker for callable bonds. We find that the effect is weaker for callable bonds. This result indicates that there is a negative relation between default spreads and call spreads, which is consistent with the theory of Acharya and Carpenter (2002), but in contrast to the theory of King (2002). Furthermore, our results for the relationship between equity volatility and yield spread tend to support Acharya and Carpenter (2002) more than King (2002).     

Liquidity risk of corporate bond returns: conditional approach

We study the exposure of the US corporate bond returns to liquidity shocks of stocks and Treasury bonds over the period 1973–2007 in a regime-switching model. In one regime, liquidity shocks have mostly insignificant effects on bond prices, whereas in another regime, a rise in illiquidity produces significant but conflicting effects: Prices of investment-grade bonds rise while prices of speculative-grade (junk) bonds fall substantially (relative to the market). Relating the probability of these regimes to macroeconomic conditions we find that the second regime can be predicted by economic conditions that are characterized as “stress.” These effects, which are robust to controlling for other systematic risks (term and default), suggest the existence of time-varying liquidity risk of corporate bond returns conditional on episodes of flight to liquidity. Our model can predict the out-of-sample bond returns for the stress years 2008–2009. We find a similar pattern for stocks classified by high or low book-to-market ratio, where again, liquidity shocks play a special role in periods characterized by adverse economic conditions.     

A mean/variance approach to long-term fixed-income portfolio allocation

Abstract

Long-term investments in bonds offer known returns, but with risks corresponding to defaults of the underwriters. The excess return for a risky bond is measured by the spread between the expected yield and the risk-free rate. Similarly, the risk can be expressed in the form of a default spread, measuring the difference between the yield when no default occurs and the expected yield. For zero-coupon bonds and for actual market data, the default spread is proportional to the probability of default per year. The analysis of market data shows that the yield spread scales as the square root of the default spread. This relation expresses the risk premium over the risk-free rate that the bond market offers, similarly to the risk premium for equities. With these measures for risk and return, an optimal bond allocation scheme can be built following a mean/variance utility function. Straightforward computations allow us to obtain the optimal portfolio, depending on a pre-set risk-aversion level. As for equities, the optimal portfolio is a linear combination of one risk-free bond and a risky portfolio. Using the scaling law for the default spread allows us to obtain simple expressions for the value, yield and risk of the optimal portfolio.     

Downside risk and the size of credit spreads

We investigate why spreads on corporate bonds are so much larger than expected losses from default. Systematic factors make very little contribution to spreads, even if higher moments or downside effects are taken into account. Instead we find that sizes of spreads are strongly related to idiosyncratic-risk factors: not only to idiosyncratic equity volatility, but even more to idiosyncratic bond volatility and idiosyncratic bond value-at-risk. Idiosyncratic bond volatility helps to explain spreads because it reflects not just the distribution of firm value but is also a proxy for liquidity risk. Idiosyncratic bond value-at-risk adds to this by capturing the left-skewness of the firm-value distribution. We confirm our results both for the initial 1997-2004 sample period and also out of sample for 2005-2009, which includes the sub-prime crisis. Overall, credit spreads are large because they incorporate a large risk premium related to investors’ fears of extreme losses.     

How Long Do Junk Bonds Spend in Default?

This paper analyzes junk bond defaults during 1980 to 1991 to determine which factors affect the length of time spent in default. Bondholder holdouts are not a significant problem, as firms with proportionately more bonds have shorter default spells. In contrast, bank debt is associated with slower restructurings. Bargaining problems arising from contingent liabilities, lawsuits, and size delay the process, although multiple bond classes do not. Neither information problems nor firm value appear to matter. HLTs do not resolve their defaults at a significantly faster pace. Defaults tend to take less time in the 1990s, despite Drexel's disappearance from the market.     

THE CHALLENGE OF MANAGING CREDIT SPREADS: NEW TOOLS ON THE HORIZON

Broadly speaking, "credit spread" is the excess of a bond's yield over the appropriate Treasury rate that is necessary to compensate lenders for the perceived risk of default. In the primary market, credit spreads can significantly increase a corporation's borrowing cost. In the secondary market, the effect of fluctuating spreads is of material concern to investors and traders.
Credit spreads have exhibited considerable volatility in recent years, particularly during the fall of 1998. Although the absolute levels of spreads have ranged widely in recent years, from a few basis points to several hundred depending on rating category, their volatilities have been remarkably similar—about 25 to 39% on an annual basis. In spite of this high volatility, there are currently no cost-effective means of hedging credit spreads.
The recently announced S&P Credit Indices presage a leap forward in credit derivatives. Computed from the prices of selected liquid bonds, these indices can serve as a basis for exchange-traded futures contracts and options—tools that are in great demand for managing credit spread exposure.     

Treasury Bond Volatility and Uncertainty about Monetary Policy

We show that dispersion‐based uncertainty about the future course of monetary policy is the single most important determinant of Treasury bond volatility across all maturities. The link between Treasury bond volatility and uncertainty about macroeconomic variables is much stronger than for the more traditional time series measures of macroeconomic volatility and adds beyond the information contained in lagged bond market volatility. Uncertainty about monetary policy subsumes the uncertainty about future inflation (consumer price index and the deflator) and economic activity (unemployment, real and nominal gross domestic product and industrial production). In addition, causality clearly runs one way: from monetary policy uncertainty to Treasury bond volatility.     

Leverage, options liabilities, and corporate bond pricing

The two major problems with typical structural models are the failure to attain a positive credit spread in the very short term, and overestimation of the overall level of the credit spread. We recognize the presence of option liabilities in a firm’s capital structure and the effect they have on the firm’s credit spread. Including option liabilities and employing a regime switching interest rate process to capture the business cycle resolves the above-mentioned drawbacks in explaining credit spreads. We find that the credit spread overestimation problem in one of the structural models, Collin-Dufresne and Goldstein (J Finan 56:1929–1957, 2001), can be resolved by combining option liabilities and the regime-switching interest rate process when dealing with an investment grade bond, whereas with junk bonds, only the regime-switching interest rate process is needed. We also examine vulnerable option values, debt values, and zero-coupon bond values with different model settings and leverage ratios.      

CREDIT SPREADS AND THE ZERO‐COUPON TREASURY SPOT CURVE

We examine the relation between credit spreads on industrial bonds and the underlying Treasury term structure. We use zero‐coupon spot rates to eliminate the coupon bias and to allow for a consistent study both within and across the different credit ratings. Our results indicate that the level and slope of the Treasury term structure are negatively correlated with changes in the credit spread on investment‐grade corporate bonds. We also find that the relation between credit spreads and the Treasury term structure is relatively stable through time. This is good news for value‐at‐risk calculations, as this suggests that the correlations among assets of different credit classes are stable; therefore use of historic correlations to model spread relations can be valid.     

The Informational Role of Bond Analysts

This study uses a large sample of sell-side bond analysts' reports to examine the properties of recommendations provided by bond analysts and the impact of these recommendations on bond securities. First, we document that the distribution of bond analysts' buy, hold, and sell recommendations is skewed positively, but less so than the distribution of equity analysts' recommendations. The positive skewness in bond analysts' recommendations is greater for low than for high credit quality bonds. Second, we find that bond analysts' reports generate bond trading and return reactions that are both economically significant and greater for low credit quality bonds. The bond market reaction is greater for bond analysts' reports than for equity analysts' reports. Finally, while both bond and equity analysts lead rating agency announcements, we find no evidence of a difference in timeliness between bond and equity analysts' reports. Overall, our results are consistent with bond analysts issuing more negative reports than equity analysts and providing more information about low credit quality bonds as a result of the asymmetric demand for negative information by bond investors.     

中债估值识别了债券信用风险吗？——基于跳跃视角的实证分析

本文以2011—2018年中国A股上市公司发行的一般公司债为样本,探究了中债估值跳跃对债券信用利差的影响及作用机制,以此说明中债估值对债券信用风险的识别作用。研究发现:中债估值跳跃能够显著提高债券信用利差,其中,中债估值上跳降低了信用利差,下跳提高了信用利差,且相对于上跳,下跳对信用利差的作用更大。异质性分析发现:中债估值跳跃对信用利差的作用在机构投资者中较大,同时在信息不对称性较严重、流动性较差及违约风险较高的债券中也较大。进一步研究发现:中债估值跳跃不仅包含了公共信息,还含有私有信息,并能改善股票分析师预测表现。本研究说明中债估值能够识别债券信用风险,具有信息含量,对于债券市场信息环境建设和系统性金融风险防范具有重要意义。     

Bond durations: Corporates vs. Treasuries

We compare the durations (the percentage price sensitivity with respect to the default-free short rate) of corporate and Treasury bonds in the reduced-form, intensity-based credit risk modeling framework. In a frequently used intensity-based model for corporate bond valuation we provide an example showing that, given the parameter estimates found in empirical studies, the duration of a corporate coupon bond may very well be larger than the duration of a similar Treasury bond. This finding contrasts with conclusions of previous studies. In a general, intensity-based recovery of market value framework we provide a simple sufficient condition for when the duration of a corporate bond will be smaller than that of a similar Treasury bond. We also provide an upper bound on the duration of the corporate coupon bond.     

Idiosyncratic volatility vs. liquidity? Evidence from the US corporate bond market

Our objective in this paper is to determine empirically the extent to which fixed-income investors are concerned about the relative effects of equity volatility and bond liquidity in the cross-section of corporate bond spreads. Our tests reveal that while both volatility and liquidity effects are significant, volatility, representing ex-ante credit shock, has the first-order impact, and liquidity represented by bond characteristics and price impact measure has the secondary impact on bond spreads. Conditional analysis further reveals that distressed bonds and distress regimes are both associated with significantly higher impact of volatility and liquidity shocks. However, the relative impact of these effects varies conditional on the underlying bond attributes and overall market conditions.     

Price discovery of subordinated credit spreads for Japanese mega-banks: Evidence from bond and credit default swap markets

This paper investigates the determinants and dynamics of subordinated credit spreads for Japanese mega-banks using the bond and credit default swap (CDS) spreads. The main findings are as follows. Subordinated bond and CDS spreads are cointegrated in most cases, and the CDS spread plays a more dominant role in price discovery than the bond spread. In addition, there are significant volatility spillovers from the CDS to bond spread. This information leadership for the CDS spread can largely be explained by stronger reactions of the CDS spread to some financial market variables and bank-specific accounting variables than the bond spread.