Forecasting Emerging Market Exchange Rates from Foreign Equity Options

The use of derivatives to infer future exchange rates has long been a subject of interest in the international finance literature. With the recent currency crises in Mexico, Southeast Asia, and Brazil, work on exchange rate expectations in emerging markets is of particular interest. For some emerging markets, foreign equity options are the only liquid exchange‐traded derivatives with currency information embedded in their prices. Given that emerging markets sometimes undergo currency realignment with discrete jumps in their exchange rate, estimation of risk‐neutral probability density functions from foreign equity option data provides valuable evidence concerning market expectations. To illustrate the use of foreign equity options in estimating market beliefs, we consider Telmex options around the 1994 peso devaluation and find evidence that markets anticipated the change in the Mexican government's foreign exchange policy.     

Credit Risk Spreads in Local and Foreign Currencies

Governments, corporations, and even small firms raise and denominate capital in different currencies. We examine the micro‐level factors that should be considered by a borrower when structuring debt denominated in various currencies. This paper will show how the currency composition of debt affects the cost of debt through the interaction with the risk of company's assets. We look at the currency mismatch in the firm and analyze its credit spread within a Merton's type model with bankruptcy. We show that foreign currency borrowing is cheaper when the exchange rate is positively correlated with the return on the company's assets. The determining factor is not just whether a given company is an exporter or importer, but rather the statistical correlation between the rate of return on the firm's assets and changes in the exchange rate.     

SDR货币篮子中人民币的国际化定位——汇率市场波动传染与波动聚类的实时甄别

随着人民币国际化进程的逐步推进,SDR货币篮子中人民币的国际化定位引人瞩目。本文基于非线性MSBIARCH模型,实时甄别人民币市场与美元市场、英镑市场、日元市场、欧元市场之间的波动传染关系,以及波动传染作用下汇率市场的波动聚类态势,进而识别SDR货币篮子中人民币的国际化定位,旨在为及时防范并规避人民币市场的波动风险提供参考。研究发现,汇率市场经由“经济基本面”“市场情绪”以及“市场预期”对外发挥波动传染作用,人民币市场与美元市场之间存在双向波动传染关系,与英镑市场、欧元市场以及日元市场之间存在单向波动传染关系。不同汇率市场之间的波动传染关系表现出时间区制转移特征,汇率市场的波动聚类态势也呈现时变特征。汇率市场发挥波动传染作用的时间与汇率市场呈现波动聚类态势的时间相匹配,均集中在极端经济事件期、不规则事件期以及政策颁布事件期。国际汇率市场的波动传染作用导致了人民币市场的波动聚类态势,而人民币市场的波动传染作用仅强化了国际汇率市场的波动聚类态势,SDR货币篮子中人民币的国际化程度有待进一步提高。     

Central bank intervention and the intraday process of price formation in the currency markets

We propose a novel theory of the impact of sterilized spot interventions on the microstructure of currency markets that focuses on their liquidity. We analyze the effectiveness of intervention operations in a model of sequential trading in which i) a rational Central Bank faces a trade-off between policy motives and wealth maximization; ii) currency dealers' sole objective is to provide immediacy at a cost while maintaining a driftless expected foreign currency position; and iii) adverse selection, inventory, signaling, and portfolio balance considerations are absent by assumption. In this setting, and consistent with available empirical evidence, we find that i) the mere likelihood of a future intervention—even if expected, non-secret, and uninformative—is sufficient to generate endogenous effects on exchange rate levels, to increase exchange rate volatility, and to impact bid-ask spreads; and ii) these effects are exacerbated by the intensity of dealership competition, the extent of the Central Bank's policy trade-off, and the credibility of its threat of future actions.     

Foreign exchange risk pricing and equity market segmentation in Africa

This work is the first to investigate simultaneously the occurrence of unconditional currency risk pricing and equity market segmentation in Africa’s major stock markets. The multi-factor asset pricing theory provides the theoretical framework for our model. We find strong evidence suggesting that Africa’s equity markets are partially segmented. However, we find insufficient evidence to reject the hypothesis that foreign exchange risk is not unconditionally priced in Africa’s stock markets. This result is robust to alternative foreign exchange rate-adjusted return measures. These findings suggest that international investors can diversify into Africa’s equity markets without worrying about unconditional risks associated with foreign exchange rate fluctuations.     

SDR货币篮子中人民币的国际化定位——汇率市场波动传染与波动聚类的实时甄别

随着人民币国际化进程的逐步推进,SDR货币篮子中人民币的国际化定位引人瞩目。本文基于非线性MSBIARCH模型,实时甄别人民币市场与美元市场、英镑市场、日元市场、欧元市场之间的波动传染关系,以及波动传染作用下汇率市场的波动聚类态势,进而识别SDR货币篮子中人民币的国际化定位,旨在为及时防范并规避人民币市场的波动风险提供参考。研究发现,汇率市场经由“经济基本面”“市场情绪”以及“市场预期”对外发挥波动传染作用,人民币市场与美元市场之间存在双向波动传染关系,与英镑市场、欧元市场以及日元市场之间存在单向波动传染关系。不同汇率市场之间的波动传染关系表现出时间区制转移特征,汇率市场的波动聚类态势也呈现时变特征。汇率市场发挥波动传染作用的时间与汇率市场呈现波动聚类态势的时间相匹配,均集中在极端经济事件期、不规则事件期以及政策颁布事件期。国际汇率市场的波动传染作用导致了人民币市场的波动聚类态势,而人民币市场的波动传染作用仅强化了国际汇率市场的波动聚类态势,SDR货币篮子中人民币的国际化程度有待进一步提高。     

The unsung impact of currency risk on the performance of international real property investment

The paper revisits the currency risk debate to ascertain the statistical significance of currency risk on the return of international real property investment, especially in a period of increased exchange rate volatility. After statistical analyses of the returns of a portfolio of office investments in seven Asia Pacific cities over the 1986 to 2007 period, it was found that currency risk had a statistically significant positive impact on the performance of the portfolio of office investments. This is confirmed by the results of stochastic dominance test. If the results of this study are verified by subsequent studies, and the past reliably presages the future, they would imply that investors holding portfolios of real property investments in the sample markets might not need to be unduly concerned with currency risk.     

Systematic risk, and oil price and exchange rate sensitivities in Asia-Pacific stock markets

This paper examines the relationship between beta risk and realized stock index return in the presence of oil and exchange rate sensitivities for 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region using the international factor model. Thirteen of the 15 countries have the expected beta signs and show significant sensitivity to domestic risk when the world stock market is in both up and down modes. In terms of oil sensitivity, only the Philippines and South Korea are oil-sensitive to changes in the oil price in the short run, when the price is expressed in local currency only. Basically no country shows sensitivity to oil price measured in US dollar regardless whether the oil market is up or down. Nine countries are affected by changes in the exchange rate. In terms of relative factor sensitivity distribution, one is willing to conclude that these stock markets are more conditionally sensitive to local currency oil price changes than to beta risk wherever the relationships are significant.     

Foreign direct investment and forward hedging

This paper examines the behavior of a risk-averse multinational firm (MNF) making investment in a foreign country under exchange rate uncertainty. To hedge the exchange rate risk, the MNF has access to an unbiased currency forward market. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is irreversible and sequential in that the MNF can acquire additional capital after the exchange rate uncertainty is completely resolved. The MNF as such possesses a real (call) option that is rationally exercised whenever the foreign currency has been substantially appreciated relative to the domestic currency. We show that the MNF's optimal initial level of sequential FDI is always lower than that of lumpy FDI, while the expected optimal aggregate level of sequential FDI can be higher or lower than that of lumpy FDI. We further show that the presence of the currency forward market improves the MNF's incentives to make FDI, both ex-ante and ex-post.     

An analysis of risk-based asset allocation and portfolio insurance strategies

This paper compares traditional portfolio insurance strategies with modern risk-based dynamic asset allocation strategies within a currency portfolio context for reserve management. Given the objective of preserving reserve value, the evaluation of the hedging performances of various strategies focuses on four perspectives regarding, in particular, the return distribution of the hedged portfolio. In terms of the Sharpe Ratio, the constant proportional portfolio insurance is the best performer due to having the lowest volatility, while the Value at Risk strategy based upon the normal distribution is the worst due to its having the smallest return. From the perspective that the return distribution of the hedged portfolio is shifted to the right, the synthetic put performs the best, with the expected shortfall strategy the second best. In terms of the cumulative portfolio return across years, the expected shortfall strategy using the historical distribution ranks first, as a result of its participation in upward markets. Furthermore, the expected shortfall-based strategy results in a lower turnover within the investment horizon, thereby saving transaction costs.     

Crossing the lines: The conditional relation between exchange rate exposure and stock returns in emerging and developed markets

This paper examines the importance of exchange rate exposure in the return generating process for a large sample of non-financial firms from 37 countries. We argue that the effect of exchange rate exposure on stock returns is conditional and show evidence of a significant return impact to firm-level currency exposures when conditioning on the exchange rate change. We further show that the realized return to exposure is directly related to the size and sign of the exchange rate change, suggesting fluctuations in exchange rates as a source of time-variation in currency return premia. For the entire sample the return impact ranges from 1.2 to 3.3% per unit of currency exposure, and it is larger for firms in emerging markets compared to developed markets. Overall, the results indicate that foreign exchange rate exposure estimates are economically meaningful, despite the fact that individual time-series results are noisy and many exposures are not statistically significant, and that exchange rate exposure plays an important role in generating cross-sectional return variation. Moreover, we show that the relation between exchange rate exposure and stock returns is more consistent with a cash flow effect than a discount rate effect.     

美联储政策变化、国际资本流动与宏观经济波动

本文构建包含国际投资者、外资企业和银行流动性冲击的DSGE模型来探究美联储货币政策变动和政策不确定性对我国宏观经济的影响和作用机制。研究发现:(1) 美联储加息会导致我国产出、投资和通货膨胀的下降、汇率贬值、国际资本外流和银行系统流动性紧张。随着金融摩擦程度的增加和银行杠杆率的上升,美联储加息对我国产出、投资和资产价格的负面影响会进一步增强。(2) 美联储货币政策不确定性的增加会直接导致外资企业的投资、劳动需求和产出的下降,并对我国总产出、总投资和资产价格产生明显的负向外溢效应,进一步加剧我国宏观经济的波动。(3)为应对美联储的利率变动,适当限制国际资本流动能有效稳定我国经济波动和改善社会福利,而实施固定汇率和央行盯住美国利率的政策会加大宏观经济的波动,并导致社会福利下降。     

EFFECTS OF THE EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION ON INSURANCE BUSINESS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract: The European Monetary Union is intended to bring about a number of positive consequences, such as more effectiveness and lower cost in foreign trade, economic growth and – not least – an internationally competitive currency. In the short run, two of these effects are of particular interest, namely reduction of exchange rate risk and transaction cost. The paper first describes the scope of these problems, analyzing bid-ask spreads for EU-currencies and selected transaction costs. The particular prospects of insurance companies in EMU-countries depend mainly on their activities in foreign markets. We will therefore look into present foreign business in insurance and the relevance of the single currency for acquisition of production factors and capital investment decisions.     

International portfolio diversification: Currency,industry and country effects revisited

We examine the relative importance of country, industry, world market and currency risk factors for international stock returns. Our approach focuses on testing the mean-variance efficiency of the various factor portfolios. An unconditional analysis does not show significant differences between country, industry and world portfolios, nor any role for currency risk factors. However, when we allow expected returns, volatilities and correlations to vary over time, we find that equity returns are mainly driven by global industry and currency risk factors. We propose a novel test to evaluate the relative benefits of alternative investment strategies and find that including currencies is critical to take full advantage of the diversification benefits afforded by international markets.     

International Portfolio Investment: Theory, Evidence, and Institutional Framework

At first sight, the idea of investing internationally seems exciting and full of promise because of the many benefits of international portfolio investment. By investing in foreign securities, investors can participate in the growth of other countries, hedge their consumption basket against exchange rate risk, realize diversification effects and take advantage of market segmentation on a global scale. Even though these advantages might appear attractive, the risks of and constraints for international portfolio investment must not be overlooked. In an international context, financial investments are not only subject to currency risk and political risk, but there are many institutional constraints and barriers, significant among them a host of tax issues. These constraints, while being reduced by technology and policy, support the case for internationally segmented securities markets, with concomitant benefits for those who manage to overcome the barriers in an effective manner.     

Firm-level effects of asymmetric intervention in foreign exchange markets: Evidence from the Swiss currency floor

In January 2015, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) abandoned the Swiss franc's exchange rate floor against the Euro. This paper is the first to study the firm-level effects of this asymmetric type of central bank intervention in foreign exchange markets. Using weekly stock returns for a sample of Swiss non-financial firms, I find significant reductions in total stock return volatility as well as market risk following the introduction of the currency floor. Accounting for the asymmetric nature of the intervention, I show that the enforcement of this policy solely manifests in a significant reduction of incremental EUR/CHF exchange rate risk exposures of exporting firms, while importing firms experience reductions in proportion to the market portfolio only. Thus, the asymmetric policy design is reflected in asymmetric responses of firm-level currency exposures. All effects, however, do not depend on the extent of business activity in the Eurozone. The overall results suggest that the currency floor was successful in supporting the performance of the Swiss economy by effectively reducing stock return sensitivities to market fluctuations and EUR/CHF exchange rate volatility.     

FOREIGN EXCHANGE AND CROSS-BORDER VALUATION

Should a corporate financial manager analyze a cross-border investment proposal from the perspective of the foreign currency or the home currency? The conventional wisdom among economists is that it doesn't matter–the valuation of an asset should be the same in one currency as in another, given the spot FX rate. This assertion implies that it is irrelevant whether we analyze an overseas investment's NPV in the home currency or the foreign currency, as long as we use consistent cross-border conversions.
But what happens if managers' foreign exchange forecasts differ from the efficient markets forecast that is implicit in interest rates? In that case, as this article demonstrates through a series of examples, managers' FX forecasts can affect their investment, hedging, and financing decisions.     

Rate of return parity and currency crises in experimental asset markets

This paper explores the impact of exchange rate uncertainty on the predictive power of rate of return parity in a laboratory environment, extending the work of Fisher and Kelly [Fisher, E.O., Kelly, F.S., 2000. Experimental foreign exchange markets. Pacific Economic Review 5, 365–388] and Childs and Mestelman [Childs, J., Mestelman, S., 2006. Rate of return parity in experimental asset markets. Review of International Economics 14, 331–347]. While these works use unchanging exchange rates, this paper allows for a change in the exchange rate between laboratory currencies. The data indicate rate of return parity is weakened by the potential for a currency crisis. The results also indicate that currency crises can be caused by self-fulfilling prophecies and that the level of reserves with which a fixed exchange rate is defended impacts the timing of a crisis but does not significantly change the likelihood of a currency crisis.     

An Intertemporal International Asset Pricing Model: Theory and Empirical Evidence

We extend Campbell's (1993) model to develop an intertemporal international asset pricing model (IAPM). We show that the expected international asset return is determined by a weighted average of market risk, market hedging risk, exchange rate risk and exchange rate hedging risk. These weights sum up to one. Our model explicitly separates hedging against changes in the investment opportunity set from hedging against exchange rate changes as well as exchange rate risk from intertemporal hedging risk. A test of the conditional version of our intertemporal IAPM using a multivariate GARCH process supports the asset pricing model. We find that the exchange rate risk is important for pricing international equity returns and it is much more important than intertemporal hedging risk.     

Exchange rate regimes, banking and the non-tradable sector

This paper presents a small-open-economy, two-good version of the Diamond and Dybvig model with cash constraints to analyze the implications on banking of different exchange rate regimes and monetary policies. I show that fixed exchange rates with a Central Bank providing liquidity in local currency imply Pareto efficiency, with conditions for a run equilibrium stronger than in the literature. In a flexible exchange rate regime, multiple equilibria may not be eliminated. In particular, for very a expansive monetary policy there exists an equilibrium where a fraction of patient consumers purchases dollars in the interim period, which constitutes a partial currency run. A dollarized banking system without international short-run credit may also implement the efficient allocation under certain conditions.