Return seasonality in the foreign exchange market

I examine return seasonality in the foreign exchange market using currency futures during the period 1973?2015. All the G10 currency futures yield negative returns in January and this effect happens more often in the countries that have a tax year ending in December. In contrast, returns offered in April are positive. To exploit these anomalies, I use a seasonality strategy that selects portfolios based on their historical same-calendar-month returns. I find that this strategy does not work in the currency market, although I find consistent results with Keloharju et al. in the stock portfolios.     

Seasonality patterns in tanker spot freight rate markets

The aim of this paper is to investigate the existence and nature of seasonality (deterministic or stochastic) in tanker freight markets and measure and compare it across sub-sectors and under different market conditions (expansionary and contractionary) for the period January 1978 to December 1996. The existence of stochastic seasonality is rejected for all freight series while results on deterministic seasonality indicate increases in rates in November and December and decreases in rates from January to April. Seasonality is found to be varying across markets depending on vessel size and market condition. Seasonality comparisons under different market conditions, an issue investigated for the first time in the econometrics literature using Markov Switching models, reveal that seasonal rate movements are more pronounced when the market is recovering compared to smaller changes when the market is falling. This is well in line with the low and high elasticity of supply expected in expansionary and contractionary periods of shipping markets. The results have implications for tactical shipping operations such as budget planning, timing of dry-docking, vessel speed adjustments and repositioning. As expected, the out-of-sample forecasting performance of these Markov Regime Switching models is lacking somewhat, a result which is thought to be a consequence of having to predict ‘states’ simultaneously with mean values.     

基于风险补偿的企业债券定价研究

在有效市场中,企业债券的超额收益是对其所面临的风险可能导致损失的补偿,企业债券的理论价格是表征资金时间价值的无风险收益率和风险溢价的函数。根据市场无风险收益率、违约风险溢价,以及流动性风险溢价所遵循的随机波动方程,并考虑债券的违约回收率,本文构建了基于风险补偿的企业债券理论价格模型,并对2006年第3季度至2010年第1季度中国债券市场中32只企业债券的实际价格和理论价格进行了实证检验。研究发现,绝大多数企业债券的实际价格与理论价格差异不大,但少数中长期债券的实际价格系统性地低于理论价格;公用事业类企业债券的价格对市场信息不够敏感;我国债券市场上存在较多的套利资金。最后从所做的研究中,得出了完善我国债券市场的一些启示。     

The January effect in the foreign exchange market: Evidence for seasonal equity carry trades

In this study, we investigate monthly seasonality in the foreign exchange market. Given the well-known recurrent higher returns in some month than in others in stock markets around the world, we consider it likely that a seasonal outperformance of a country’s stock market over another is associated with similar seasonal patterns in capital flows and exchange rates. A seasonal profit (carry trade) opportunity can be created by the simultaneous appreciation of a country’s currency and the outperformance of its stock market. By focusing on the world’s key currency pairs, the US dollar-Deutsche mark and the US dollar-euro, and by using a Markov-switching framework, we document persistent January and December effects in the foreign exchange market from 1971 to 2017. Analysis of the German-US stock returns differential and their bilateral capital flows reveal similar month effects in 65% of the whole sample.     

银行间和交易所债券市场信息溢出效应研究

本文采用VAR模型研究了我国交易所和银行间国债市场的信息溢出效应。笔者提出以往文献对两个国债市场信息溢出的结论过于简单化,实证验证了两个市场信息溢出时既具有差异性又具有同质性,哪种性质占主导取决于新信息的来源。笔者发现当新信息来源于国债市场内部,两个国债市场会表现出差异性,溢出效应为负向,即银行间国债市场的上升预示着交易所国债市场的下降。当信息来源于国债市场外部,两个国债市场之间则先表现出同质性,溢出效应为正向;随后差异性占主导,两个国债市场之间发生信息负向溢出或资本的流动。     

中国股票市场和债券市场收益率动态相关性分析

基于A股综合市场收益率和中信全债指数收益率数据来研究中国股票市场和债券市场收益率的动态相关性,并分析时变的股债相关性影响因素,以及在横截面上对股票收益率的定价影响进行考察后得知:股债相关性是时变的,股票市场的不确定性和预期通货膨胀率是影响股债相关性的主要因素;通过虚拟变量回归发现,股债相关性在横截面上对股票收益率的影响很小。这些结论对于投资者来说具有直接的现实意义。     

Intra-day seasonality in foreign exchange market transactions

This paper examines the intra-day seasonality of transacted limit and market orders in the DEM/USD foreign exchange market. Empirical analysis of completed transactions data based on the Dealing 2000-2 electronic inter-dealer broking system indicates significant evidence of intra-day seasonality in returns and return volatilities under usual market conditions. Moreover, analysis of realised tail outcomes supports seasonality for extraordinary market conditions across the trading day.     

The Interactions between the Credit Default Swap and the Bond Markets in Financial Turmoil

We analyse the links between credit default swap (CDS) and bond spreads in order to determine which one is the leading market in the price discovery process. To do that, we construct a sample of CDS premia and bond spreads on a generic 5‐year bond for 17 financials and 18 sovereigns. First, we run panel vector error correction model estimations, showing that the CDS market has a lead over the bond market for financial institutions. This also holds for high‐yield sovereigns, whereas the reverse is found for low‐yield sovereigns in the core of the euro area. We interpret these results according to the relative liquidity of both markets for different types of entities. Second, we check for nonlinearities in the adjustment process. Results show that the CDS market's lead is amplified when default risk increases, during crisis periods, as well as continuously when CDS premia increase.     

Remittances and bond yield spreads in emerging market economies

This paper tests whether remittances reduce bond yield spreads in emerging market economies. Drawing upon instrumental variable techniques, our paper reveals that remittance inflows significantly reduce bond yield spreads. This result is robust to different specifications, alternative instrumentation techniques, additional control variables, and the use of credit default swap spreads in place of bond spreads. In addition, we find that the effect of remittances on spreads (i) is larger in (more) poorly developed financial systems, (ii) increases with the degree of trade openness, (iii) is larger in low fiscal space regimes, and (iv) is larger in nonremittance‐dependent countries. The paper concludes that policies that improve the measurement of remittance inflows and reduce their transfer costs or that enable countries to develop securitization of remittances and diaspora bonds could help emerging market economies to leverage remittances for international capital market access.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS ON RETAIL GASOLINE PRICE SEASONALITY

Stricter environmental standards on gasoline have had impacts on the prices of gasoline including the seasonality of gasoline prices. Using both national data and individual station data, the paper tests for a possible explanation for this increase. Three theories are tested: that gasoline seasonality increases due to higher costs, due to greater market power because of segmented markets, or due to greater asymmetry because of greater inattention on the part of customers. The results suggest that gasoline price seasonality has increased both due to higher costs and greater market power with mixed results on the inattention of consumers.(JEL Q41, Q53, Q58).     

债券市场与经济发展的相关性分析——以我国银行间债券市场为例

债券市场是资本市场的重要组成部分，但目前我国资本市场发展阶段的特征表现为债券市场发展缓慢，为了扩大我国直接融资规模并完善多层次资本市场体系，需要大力发展债券市场。本文以我国债券市场的主体---银行间债券市场为例，分析了我国银行间债券市场的现状以及对国民经济发展的作用，并以1993-2012年我国国民生产总值、银行间债券市场债券发行额和股市筹资额共20年时间的时间序列数据为样本建立相关性模型，通过回归模型进一步实证研究了银行间债券市场与经济发展的相关性，发现银行间债券市场债券发行额与国民生产总值呈显著的正相关关系，表明银行间债券市场是经济发展的重要推动力，该市场规模的扩大有助于推动经济增长，从而说明了我国银行间债券市场创新的必要性。     

Spectral analysis of secondary market mexican external debt prices

The secondary market for developing country debt currently is one of the fastest growing segments of the fixed income securities market. This paper examines the spectral properties of secondary market Mexican external debt price variations from January 1986–December 1992. The analysis presented in this paper suggests that the secondary market for Mexican external debt may be characterized by the "random-walk with drift" model. Moreover, large (small) spectral density estimates at high (low) periodicities suggest that secondary market price variations were positively autocorrelated and aperiodic in nature, although there is some evidence to suggest the possible presence of short-period harmonic resonances. Cross-spectral analysis of the relationship between the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond interest rate and secondary market Mexican external debt prices appears to verify the theoretical relationship between market determined interest rates for default-free, dollar denominated debt and secondary market debt prices. More importantly, estimated phase-lag relationships suggest that the secondary market for Mexican external debt probably was inefficient at the semi-strong level.     

CAPM anomalies and the pricing of equity: evidence from the Hong Kong market

Using a sample of equity stocks traded on the Hong Kong stock market, this study examines empirically the independent and joint roles of the more commonly hypothesized variables in explaining cross-sectional variation in average returns over the period from January 1980 to December 1994. Evidence indicates that beta, book leverage, earnings-price ratio and dividend yield are not priced, whereas significant book-to-market equity, market leverage (absorbed by book-to-market equity), size, and share price effects are observed. The findings should prove valuable in portfolio management and corporate financial decisions.     

Time-varying threshold cointegration and the law of one price

A theoretical model of the law of one price which allows for seasonality in transaction costs and supply and demand conditions between markets is developed. Bivariate three-regime threshold vector error correction models are applied to natural gas markets to examine seasonality in threshold levels. Results indicate that there are nonlinear adjustments to the law of one price in seven pair-wise markets (Chicago is used as the base market). In the natural gas sector, dynamic threshold effects relative to the Chicago market vary depending on season, geographical location and whether the market is an excess producing or consuming market.     

Bond market seasonality and business cycles

The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of business cycles on the monthly seasonality of fixed income securities. In general, the results suggest that the average monthly returns of fixed income securities during economic contractions are higher than during economic expansions. For the government and high-grade corporate bonds, average returns in November are significantly higher in the periods of economic contractions. In addition, no monthly seasonality is found during economic expansions. For the low-grade corporate bond returns, January effect is found in both economic expansions and contractions periods.     

中国债券市场的可预测性和分割性研究

本文研究了中国债券市场综合收益、长短期债券收益差异、银行间市场和交易所市场收益差异的样本内和样本外可预测性。本文选取宏观、中观（市场）、微观3个层面27个变量以及利用主成分分析法生成6个主成分变量作为预测变量,发现中国债券市场综合收益率在剥离了特殊品种债券之后具有一定的样本内和样本外可预测性。基于主成分提取的预测变量的预测能力更强,部分宏观经济指标和市场层面指标都可以预测债市风险溢价。基于27个指标提取的第一主成分对期限溢价、场所溢价在样本内均有较强的预测能力,而样本外可预测性较差。本文结论表明,我国债券市场容易受到宏观经济影响,银行间市场和交易所市场在市场功能上并没有很大的差异,两个市场的分割随着债券市场的波动而加剧。     

Sovereign Default Risk and Recovery Rates: What Government Bond Markets Expect for Greece

Bond market data on sovereign bond yields is used to estimate sovereign default risk and the amount of the expected “hair‐cut” for Greece between 2008 and 2011. Using a structural pricing model that relies on compound option theory short‐term and long‐term default probabilities and their dependencies can be inferred. Thereby bond yield spreads for different maturities are integrated. In addition, a reduced form model is applied to infer the recovery rate expected by bond market participants. The paper shows that sovereign default risk and recovery rate dynamics reflect events that are important for Greece's repayment capacity.     

The relation between municipal and government bond yields in an era of unconventional monetary policy

In this paper, we investigate how the 5‐year Swedish municipal bond yield has been related to the corresponding yield on government bonds during the period that the Riksbank has conducted unconventional monetary policy in terms of bond purchases. Using daily Swedish data on bond yields from February 2015 to January 2018, we first conduct an event study to assess the short‐run effects of the Riksbank's bond‐purchase announcements. We then estimate bivariate vector autoregressive models to study the dynamic relationship between the yields. Results from the event study suggest that the accumulated short‐run effect of the Riksbank's announcements was to lower the government bond yield by approximately 40 to 50 basis points and municipal bond yields by 30 to 35 basis points. Our vector autoregressive analysis indicates—in line with the event study—that an unexpected decrease in the government bond yield initially increases the municipal bond‐yield spread. However, after approximately 4 weeks, the effect has been reversed and the municipal bond‐yield spread is lower than it was initially. By conducting this analysis, we contribute to the understanding of the transmission of unconventional monetary policy.     

ARE UK SHARE PRICES TOO HIGH? FUNDAMENTAL VALUE OR NEW ERA

Since the mid-1990s the dividend yield reached and largely remained at a historically low level, even accounting for the stock market correction in the early 2000s. This appears to suggest that prices are overvalued. However, alternative valuation models based upon comparing bond and equity yields suggest that, if anything, prices are undervalued. This paper seeks to provide answers to this seeming paradox. Preliminary results suggest non-stationarity of the dividend yield and bond yield–equity yield differential, although the yield ratio is possibly stationary, casting doubt on mean reversion. Evidence from structural breakpoint testing suggests that all measures have been subjected to several mean level shifts throughout the sample period, and notably within the last decade, such that each series now fluctuates around a mean level lower than that experienced previously. Thus, the lower dividend yield and lower bond–equity ratio do not necessarily imply equity mispricing but that concepts of pre-existing normal levels no longer apply. In explaining why higher equity prices are supported, we note that the last decade has seen a period of historically low and stable inflation and interest rates. Further, there is a strong positive relationship between inflation and the dividend yield. This more stable economic environment has led to more accurate valuation of stocks and lower required rates of return, thus supporting higher prices.     

The impact of Chinese monetary policy on co-movements between money and capital markets

From 2010 to 2017, with interest rate liberalization and capital market development in China, the impact of monetary policies on China’s financial markets underwent continuous evolution. Using the DCC-GARCH model, this study investigates the transmission process of monetary policies from the money market to capital markets (stock and bond markets). The results show that in the early stage the instability of the money and stock markets and the downturn in the bond market are primarily caused by the block of monetary policy transmission and the paucity of fund sources in the capital markets. Subsequently, the outbreak of the 2013 money shortage and the 2015 stock market crash are also closely related to monetary policies. In the later periods, the money and stock markets maintain a low degree of correlation for a long time, reducing the impact of destabilizing factors on the stock market. By contrast, with the advancement of interest rate reform and the optimization of bond market structure, the bond market is highly relevant to the money market. The central bank regulates the bond market more effectively using both traditional and innovative monetary policy tools.