The relationship between agricultural commodity prices,crude oil prices and US dollar exchange rates: a panel VAR approach and causality analysis

This study examines the relationship between crude oil prices, US dollar exchange rates and 30 selected international agricultural prices and five international fertilizer prices in a panel framework. The study uses panel VAR methods and Granger causality tests on panel data sets of agricultural commodity prices (as well as specific agricultural commodity sub-groups) and fertilizer prices with monthly observations of the period from June 1983 to June 2013. The empirical results of the present study indicate that crude oil prices as well as US dollar exchange rates affect international agricultural commodity and fertilizer prices. Furthermore, contrary to the findings of several studies in the literature, the present study supports bidirectional panel causality effects between crude oil prices and international agricultural prices as well as between US exchange rates and international agricultural prices.     

A wavelet decomposition approach to crude oil price and exchange rate dependence

This paper studies the relationship between oil prices and US dollar exchange rates using wavelet multi-resolution analysis. We characterized the oil price–exchange rate relationship for different timescales in an attempt to disentangle the possible existence of contagion and interdependence during the global financial crisis and analyze possible lead and lag effects. For crude oil prices and a range of currencies, we show that oil prices and exchange rates were not dependent in the pre-crisis period; however, we did find evidence of contagion and negative dependence after the onset of the crisis. Additionally, we found that oil prices led exchange rates and vice versa in the crisis period but not in the pre-crisis period. These findings have important implications for risk management, monetary policies to control oil inflationary pressures and fiscal policy in oil-exporting countries.     

Energy portfolio risk management using time-varying extreme value copula methods

This work is concerned with the statistical modeling of the dependence structure between three energy commodity markets (WTI crude oil, natural gas and heating oil) using the concept of copulas and proposes a method for estimating the Value at risk (VaR) of energy portfolio based on the combination of time series models with models of the extreme value theory before fitting a copula. Each return series is modeled by AR-(FI) GARCH univariate model. Then, we fit the GPD distribution to the tails of the residuals to model marginal residuals distributions. The extreme value copula to the iid residuals is fitted and we simulate from it to construct N portfolios and estimate VaR. As a first step, the method is applied to a two-dimensional energy portfolio. In second step, we extend method in trivariate context to measure VaR of three-dimensional energy portfolio. Dependences between residuals are modeled using a trivariate nested Gumbel copulas. Methods proposed are compared with various univariate and multivariate conventional VaR methods. The reported results demonstrate that GARCH-t, conditional EVT and FIGARCH extreme value copula methods produce acceptable estimates of risk both for standard and more extreme VaR quantiles. Generally, copula methods are less accurate compared with their predictive performances in the case of portfolio composed of exchange market indices.     

Petroleum spreads and the term structure of futures prices

We employ the term structure of gasoline and heating oil prices, proxied by convenience yields, to explain the variation in the spread between the prices of gasoline and crude oil and the prices of heating oil and crude oil. We demonstrate that the marginal convenience yields in the gasoline and heating oil markets explained much of the variation in the spreads between 1986 and 1999. The evidence indicates the importance of a disaggregated treatment of the term structure of prices: the convenience yield is found to explain a substantially higher amount of the variation in the spread when it is decomposed by maturity, even after controls for seasonality and inventory levels are implemented. These findings support the notion that the futures term structure contains information beyond what can be garnered via obvious or easily available proxies of current supply and demand. The findings are also supported in an alternate specification that tests for the origins of information spillover (leadership) between the commodities: it is demonstrated that decomposed convenience yields explain a substantial portion of the volatility spillover from the gasoline and heating oil markets to the crude market.     

The dependence structure between the Canadian stock market and the USD/CAD exchange rate: a copula approach

Abstract This paper investigates the dependence structure between the real Canadian stock returns and the real USD/CAD exchange rate returns, using the Symmetrized Joe‐Clayton (SJC) copula function. We estimate the SJC copula with monthly data over the period 1995:1 to 2006:12. Our results show significant asymmetric static and dynamic tail dependence between the real stock returns and the real exchange rate returns, such that the two returns are more dependent in the left than in the right tail of their joint distribution. We explain this asymmetric dependence in terms of an asymmetric interest rate policy by Canadian monetary authorities in response to changes in the real exchange rate during sub‐periods of falling and rising commodity prices.     

The relative effects of crude oil price and exchange rate on petroleum product prices: Evidence from a set of Northern Mediterranean countries

This paper provides a set of empirical evidence from five Northern Mediterranean countries that are subject to similar refinery reference prices regarding the relative sensitivity of crude oil prices and exchange rate on (pre-tax) petroleum product prices. The empirical evidence reveals that a one percent increase in exchange rate (depreciation) increases petroleum product prices less than a one percent increase in crude oil prices does in the long run. In the short run, however, a one percent increase in exchange rate increases petroleum product prices more than a one percent increase in crude oil prices does.     

The determinants of retail petrol prices in Greece

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between retail prices of petrol, international oil prices and tax rates in Greece. We examine not only the hypothesis that retail prices act asymmetrically to crude oil price changes and the pass-through rates of tax increases, but also use the cross-sectional dimension of the data to explore whether the existence or otherwise of market power affects retail prices. Our results provide little evidence for asymmetric behaviour. However, the degree to which prices overreact to tax changes and the significance of market power across the different regions suggests that the market for petrol/diesel is not very competitive.     

Dynamic responses and tail-dependence among commodities,the US real interest rate and the dollar

Theoretical models suggest monetary policy is transmitted to commodity prices. We quantify this channel using several empirical methods under daily data. In early 2009, the US real interest rate became negative, with sample mean varying from 1.75 % (in the mid-1997 to January 28, 2009, subsample) to \(-1.50\,\%\) (in January 29, 2009, to mid-September 2013 subsample). Gold displays higher risk-adjusted returns earlier, while copper and oil have higher risk-adjusted returns more recently. Shocks to the exchange rate and the real interest rate in VARs explain almost 30 % for oil and 32 % for copper more recently when impulse responses are more significant. The time-varying correlation of oil with the real interest rate in the more recent period is \(-0.462\), and its correlation with the exchange rate is \(-0.460\), compared to \(-0.089\) and \(-0.120\), respectively, in the earlier period. Vine copula methods identify a dependence pattern of C-vine copula with t-copula in almost every pair among commodity prices, the real value of the US dollar and the US real interest rate.     

人民币升值预期与国际油价关系的实证研究

文章在回顾国内外研究国际油价与汇率关系的基础上,运用溢出效应模型、协整检验、VEC模型对人民币汇率形成机制改革之后国际油价与人民币升值预期的关系进行了实证分析。结果发现:国际油价与人民币升值预期之间具有长期均衡关系,但仅仅存在国际油价对人民币升值预期的单向传导作用,溢出效应方面也只有国际油价对人民币无本金交割远期交易汇率的单向收益溢出效应与波动溢出效应。从短期看,国际油价上涨会削弱人民币升值预期,而从长期看则会增强人民币升值预期。     

Interaction between oil and US dollar exchange rate: nonlinear causality,time-varying influence and structural breaks in volatility

This article examines the nonlinear Granger causality and time-varying influence between crude oil prices and the US dollar (USD) exchange rate using the Hiemstra and Jones (HP) test, the Diks and Panchenko (DP) test and the time-varying parameter structural vector autoregression model. By applying the iterated cumulative sums of squares (ICSS) algorithm and the DCC-GARCH model, the effects of structural breaks in volatility of the two markets are also investigated. The empirical analysis indicates that, first, crude oil prices are the nonlinear Granger-cause of the USD exchange rate, but not vice versa. Second, the USD exchange rate exerts a stronger and more stable negative influence on crude oil prices in the short term, and the influence gradually weakens after 2012. Finally, ignoring structural breaks can increase the negative volatility correlation between the oil and USD exchange rate markets, which is particularly remarkable during the financial crisis.     

Identifying the dynamic relationship between tanker freight rates and oil prices: In the perspective of multiscale relevance

The tanker shipping market has been treated as the key extension of the world oil market and inevitably, its uncertainty is correlated to volatility of the oil market, besides supply and demand factors. Therefore, for improving operational management and budget planning decisions, it is essential to understand the inherent relevance between freight rates and crude oil prices. Taking time-dependent features into account, this paper focuses on the multiscale correlation between freight rates and oil prices. Given the complexity and mutability of tanker freight rate process, this paper first extracts the intrinsic mode functions from the original data using the Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition model and then reconstructs two separate composite functions: high-frequency and low-frequency components, plus the residual as the long-term trend. Secondly, correlations of the multiscale components of freight rates and oil prices are examined based on relevance structure. Empirical results show that tanker freight rates and oil prices exhibit different multiscale properties with true economic meaning and are significantly correlated in the medium and the long term when taking the relevance structure into account. These findings offer some useful information to better understand the correlations between these two markets and more importantly, propose a novel perspective to investigate the dynamic relationship between two markets.     

Can Sticky Price Models Generate Volatile and Persistent RealExchange Rates?

The central puzzle in international business cycles is that fluctuations in real exchange rates are volatile and persistent. We quantify the popular story for real exchange rate fluctuations: they are generated by monetary shocks interacting with sticky goods prices. If prices are held fixed for at least one year, risk aversion is high, and preferences are separable in leisure, then real exchange rates generated by the model are as volatile as in the data and quite persistent, but less so than in the data. The main discrepancy between the model and the data, the consumption–real exchange rate anomaly , is that the model generates a high correlation between real exchange rates and the ratio of consumption across countries, while the data show no clear pattern between these variables.     

国际原油价格波动对我国工业品出厂价格的影响——基于行业层面的实证分析

随着我国石油消费量和进口量的不断增长,国际原油价格的波动对我国经济的影响越来越大。基于38个行业的月度数据,本文详细分析了2003年1月-2009年2月国际原油价格波动对我国PPI指数的影响,研究发现:尽管为了降低国际油价对国内经济的冲击,政府仍对成品油定价体制实行部分调控,但国际原油价格的波动对我国PPI指数仍具有重要影响,尤其是生产资料价格以及石化行业等高耗能行业,而这主要与各行业的能源消费总量和能源利用效率有关。为此,我国应加快国内成品油定价体制改革,实施有效的产业政策,以促使各行业提高其能源利用效率,并最终有效地降低国际油价波动给我国经济带来的价格效应。     

Commodity currencies and commodity prices: modelling static and time-varying dependence

This article employs the copula approach to study the relationship between exchange rates and commodity prices for large commodity exporters. Using data for the nominal exchange rates of four commodity currencies (Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollars, and Norwegian krone) against the US dollar and the relevant country-specific commodity price indices, constructed on a daily basis, we find (1) a positive dependence between the values of commodity currencies and commodity indices, i.e. a commodity index increases when a respective currency appreciates and provides several explanations for this finding; (2) no major asymmetries in the tail dependence for most pairs of exchange rates and commodity indices and (3) a pronounced increase in the time-varying tail dependence following the global financial crisis.     

A Test of Long-run Purchasing Power Parity Allowing for Structural Breaks*

If exchange rates and prices are integrated processes, standard econometric tests of the purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis may be biased towards rejection. This paper avoids this problem by using the Engle and Granger (1987) theory of cointegrated processes. If the absolute version of purchasing power parity is true, and nominal exchange rates and prices are integrated processes, inter-commodity arbitrage should ensure that the real exchange rate is stationary. The stationarity hypothesis is tested using Australian real exchange rate data for the 1890–1984 period We find that the effective real exchange rate cannot be modelled as a stationary process and therefore reject the absolute version of PPP. We also employ a test for structural breaks due to, for instance, the oil price shock and find mixed results. Another interpretation of our results is that the real exchange rate was affected by a series of permanent, real shocks during the sample period     

On the relationship between oil price and exchange rates: A wavelet analysis

We may find numerous works in the existing literature regarding the cohesion between oil prices and exchange rates, yet an exact shape of the relationship remains undefined. By restoring to wavelet analysis and using a rich database from Japan, this study contributes to the literature by investigating the said relationship within the time–frequency space. Over the time horizon, it is being established that the strength of the relationship between oil price and exchange rate keeps changing. If the Bank of Japan needs to control the exchange rate, it should give proper importance to shocks on oil prices, while formulating exchange rate policy.     

Optimization agricultural production under financial risk of water constraint in the Jordan Valley

Using high-frequency data the co-movements among crude oil prices are analysed in order to address the question of regionalization of the world crude oil market. Time-series econometrics in the form of error-correction modelling is applied for daily crude oil price data covering the time period 1988 to 2004 and in this framework topics like weak and strong exogeneity among three major oil prices – represented by Brent, OPEC and Texas (WTI) – are addressed. The empirical results are that causality is most likely bi-directional among these crude oil prices – and hence rejecting a regionalization hypothesis of the global oil market – and also an influence from the OPEC oil price towards Bent and WTI, which are usually claimed to have a benchmark role.     

A Bayesian Nonparametric Investigation of the Predictive Effect of Exchange Rates on Commodity Prices

This study proposes a full Bayesian nonparametric procedure to investigate the predictive power of exchange rates in relation to commodity prices for three commodity-exporting countries: Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. We propose a new time-dependent infinite mixture of a normal linear regression model of the conditional distribution of the commodity price index. The mixing weights follow a set of Probit stick-breaking priors that are time-varying. We find that exchange rates have a positive predictive effect in general, but accounting for time variation does not improve forecasting performance. By contrast, the intercept in the regression and the lagged dependent variable show signs of parameter change over time in most cases, which is important in forecasting both the mean and the density of commodity prices one period ahead. The results also suggest that the variance is a large source of the time variation in the conditional distribution of commodity prices.     

The relationship between crude oil and gasoline prices

This study investigates the dynamic relationship between crude oil and retail gasoline prices during the last 21 years and determines that, in February 1986, the relationship had drastically changed. Since that date, the results show that gasoline prices include higher profit margins, respond substantially less to changes in crude oil prices(but still within one month), and are more volatile. Also discussed are the developments in crude oil and gasoline markets that have led to the above changes.     

Time‐Varying Spot and Futures Oil Price Dynamics

In this paper, we investigate the role of crude oil spot and futures prices in the process of price discovery by using daily data over the period from January 1992 to September 2012. We provide evidence that futures markets play a more important role than spot markets, but their relative contributions turn out to be highly unstable, especially for the most deferred contracts. Furthermore, considering the time‐varying dynamics provides evidence of a smaller role for futures markets and a greater role for fundamental factors in driving oil prices during the global financial turmoil of 2007–2008. The implications of the main results for hedging and forecasting crude oil spot prices are also discussed.