A friction model of daily Bundesbank and Federal Reserve intervention

This paper takes a novel approach to derive a central bank intervention reaction function. A GARCH model for exchange rates is amended to allow interventions to have an effect on both the mean and the variance of exchange rate returns. An intervention reaction function is obtained by combining the model with a loss function for the central bank. Estimation results for the implied friction model reproduce the familiar ‘leaning against the wind’ policy by the Bundesbank and the Federal Reserve. Furthermore, the central banks appear to have reacted to increases in the conditional variance of daily DM/$-returns.     

Central bank communication and exchange rate volatility: a GARCH analysis

We examine the effects of the Czech National Bank communication, macroeconomic news and interest rate differential on exchange rate volatility using generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model. Our results suggest that central bank communication has a calming effect on exchange rate volatility. The timing of central bank communication seems to matter, too, as financial markets respond more to the communication before the policy meetings than after them. Next, macroeconomic news releases are found to reduce exchange rate volatility, while interest rate differential seems to increase it.     

Central bank intervention and the volatility of foreign exchange rates: evidence from the options market

This paper tests the effects of central bank intervention on the ex ante volatility of $/DM and $/yen exchange rates between 1985 and 1991. In contrast to previous research which employed GARCH estimates of conditional volatility, we estimate ex ante volatility using the implied volatilities of currency option prices. We also control for the effects of other macroeconomic announcements. We find little support for the hypothesis that central bank intervention decreases expected exchange rate volatility. Instead, central bank intervention is generally associated with a positive change in ex ante exchange rate volatility, or with no change.     

Informed Traders,Intervention, and Price Leadership: A Deeper View of the Microstructure of the Foreign Exchange Market

This article identifies price leadership patterns in foreign exchange trading, with a focus on central bank intervention as an informational trigger for leadership positioning. Granger causality tests applied to DM/US$ spot rate quotes reveal Deutsche Bank as a price leader up to 60 minutes prior to Bundesbank interventionary reports. By the minus 25-minute mark, interbank quote adjustments become two-way Granger-causal. These results suggest that central bank activity is revealed in stages: first to the price leader, then to competitors, and lastly to the general public.     

Time-varying market,interest rate,and exchange rate risk premia in the US commercial bank stock returns

This paper examines the role of market, interest rate, and exchange rate risks in pricing a sample of the US Commercial Bank stocks by developing and estimating a multi-factor model under both unconditional and conditional frameworks. Three different econometric methodologies are used to conduct the estimations and testing. Estimations based on nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression (NLSUR) via GMM approach indicate that interest rate risk is the only priced factor in the unconditional three-factor model. However, based on ‘pricing kernel’ approach by Dumas and Solnik [(1995). J. Finance 50, 445–479], strong evidence of exchange rate risk is found in both large bank and regional bank stocks in the conditional three-factor model with time-varying risk prices. Finally, estimations based on the multivariate GARCH in mean (MGARCH-M) approach where both conditional first and second moments of bank portfolio returns and risk factors are estimated simultaneously show strong evidence of time-varying interest rate and exchange rate risk premia and weak evidence of time-varying world market risk premium for all three bank portfolios, namely those of Money Center bank, Large bank, and Regional bank.     

Do jumps mislead the FX market?

This paper investigates the link between jumps in the exchange rate process and rumours of central bank interventions. Using the case of Japan, we analyse specifically whether jumps trigger false reports of intervention (i.e. an intervention is reported when it did not occur). Intraday jumps are extracted using a non-parametric technique recently proposed by Lee and Mykland in 2008 and by Andersen et al. in 2007, and later modified by Boudt et al. in 2011. Rumours are identified by using a unique database of Reuters and Dow Jones newswires. Our results suggest that a significant number of jumps on the YEN/USD have been falsely interpreted by the market as being the result of a central bank intervention. The paper has policy implications in terms of central bank interventions. We show that in times where the central bank is known to intervene, some investors may attach a lot of weight to central bank interventions as a source of exchange rate movement, leading to a false ‘intervention explanation’ for observed jumps.     

Central bank intervention

This special issue of the Journal of International Finance, Institutions and Money contains 11 articles that consider aspects of central bank intervention. It is particularly timely to publish such a special issue since the topic of central bank intervention has been an important issue in international finance during the last decade. Monetary policy, trading rules, econometric evidence of the effects of intervention on exchange rates and future direction on research in this area constitute the sections in this special issue.     

Reported and secret interventions in the foreign exchange markets

Using a new approach relying on news wire reports, we estimate the proportion of secret interventions (i.e., unreported official interventions) in the foreign exchange markets that have been conducted by the three major central banks since 1985. We therefore revisit the estimation of conditional probabilities of secret operations and compute them by both central bank and operation type. The proportion of secret interventions is found to be lower for concerted operations and to display a great deal of variability over time as well as across the three major central banks. Our analysis reveals that the Bank of Japan has recently adopted an intervention policy more based on secret operations.     

Central Bank Intervention in USD/INR Market: Estimating Its Reaction Function and Impact on Volatility

Econometric evidence on why central banks intervene in the foreign exchange market and the impact of such intervention has remained inconclusive. We contribute to the literature with evidence from India, a managed float regime that sees consistent monitoring and intervention by Reserve Bank of India, India’s central bank. Estimation of the central bank reaction function shows that increased volatility in the foreign exchange market and misalignment from targeted rates are important objectives behind intervention. The paper further uses the GARCH framework to study how intervention influences exchange rate volatility. We find that intervention in the spot market increases volatility while that in the forward market reduces volatility.     

Foreign reserve and money dynamics with asset portfolio adjustment: international evidence

In this paper we argue that more complete modeling of foreign exchange intervention and sterilization dynamics is necessary when there are adjustment costs to changing private portfolios and/or the central bank attempts to balance longer-run monetary control against short-term exchange rate objectives. We show that measured correlations between domestic credit and foreign asset changes, often interpreted as ‘sterilization coefficients’, may be misleading because they vary with the pattern of disturbances as well as private agent and central bank behavior. We assess the empirical significance of this issue by estimating vector error correction models of the domestic and foreign asset components of the monetary base for Japan and Germany. In both countries, we find that that the impact of foreign exchange intervention on domestic credit falls markedly after several months, implying that the degree of sterilization decreases over time. However, the monetary base remained largely insulated as foreign asset positions were subsequently ‘unwound.’     

Interventions in the Yen–dollar spot market: A story of price,volatility and volume

We test the effectiveness of Bank of Japan (BOJ)’s foreign exchange interventions on conditional first and second moments of exchange rate returns and traded volumes, using a bivariate EGARCH model of the Yen/USD market from 5-13-1991 to 3-16-2004. We also estimate a friction model of BOJ’s intervention reaction function based on reducing short-term market disorderliness and supplementing domestic monetary policy. Important finding of this study are that: (i) we find ineffectiveness of BOJ interventions in influencing exchange rate trends pre-1995, in general, but effectiveness post-1995; (ii) FED intervention amplified the effectiveness of the BOJ transactions; (iii) interventions amplified market volatility and volumes through a ‘learning by trading’ process; (iv) BOJ’s interventions were based on ‘leaning against the wind’ motivations on the exchange rate trend and volumes; and (v) BOJ interventions were vigorously used in support of domestic monetary policy objectives post-1995. Though some of our findings confirm recent studies, our analysis goes deeper to provide new findings with important implications for central banks and foreign exchange market participants.     

Deviations from daily uncovered interest rate parity and the role of intervention

This paper considers the relationship between daily deviations from uncovered interest rate parity and US and German central bank intervention. The study uses daily overnight Eurocurrency deposit rates with a maturity time of 1 day, which exactly matches the sampling interval of the data. The intervention data are the official net daily purchases and sales of dollars vis-à-vis the German mark by the Federal Reserve System and the Bundesbank. The model uses FIGARCH innovations to represent the degree of long-term dependence in the volatility process. Some support is found for the intervention variables affecting the risk premium as predicted by theory. The impact of intervention in the 2 years immediately following the meltdown of the equity markets in October 1987 and Louvre Accord is particularly strong.     

Evaluating foreign exchange market intervention: Self-selection,counterfactuals and average treatment effects

Estimating the effect of official foreign exchange market intervention is complicated by the fact that intervention at any point entails a “self-selection” choice made by the authorities and that no counterfactual is observed. To address these issues, we estimate the “counterfactual” exchange rate movement in the absence of intervention by introducing the method of propensity-score matching to estimate the “average treatment effect” (ATE) of intervention. To derive the propensity scores we estimate central bank intervention reaction functions. We estimate the ATE for daily official intervention in Japan over the January 1999–March 2004 period. This sample encompasses a remarkable variation in intervention frequencies as well as unprecedented frequent intervention towards the latter part of the period. We find that only sporadic and relatively infrequent intervention is effective.     

A structural threshold model of the exchange rate under optimal intervention

By considering a social trade-off between targeting the exchange rate and minimizing intervention costs, nonlinear exchange rate dynamics can be captured by a structural threshold model. This article provides a theory-based empirical exchange rate model and shows how to put the model into an empirical investigation. To estimate the structural threshold model, we propose a two-step procedure which separately estimates the permanent and temporary fundamentals of the foreign exchange market. A demonstration of our approach is applied to 1981Q3-2008Q3 Taiwan’s foreign exchange market, with a brief review of its monetary policies and central bank given prior. Estimation results are consistent with theoretical predictions and many intervention operations of Taiwan’s central bank are successfully identified.     

Central bank interventions and implied exchange rate correlations

This paper examines the effects of the foreign exchange market interventions by the Bank of Japan on the ex ante correlations between the JPY/USD, EUR/USD, and GBP/USD exchange rates. The correlation estimates used in the analysis are derived from the market prices of OTC currency options. The results show that central bank interventions significantly affect the market expectations about future exchange rate co-movements. In particular, we find that interventions tend to temporarily increase the ex ante correlations among the major exchange rates. However, our results also suggest that intervention episodes are associated with lower-than-average levels of exchange rate correlations.     

On the determinants of “small” and “large” foreign exchange market interventions: The case of the Japanese interventions in the 1990s

During the past 30 years, central banks have often intervened in foreign exchange markets, and the magnitude of their foreign exchange market interventions has varied widely. We develop a quantitative reaction function model that renders it possible to examine the determinants of “small” and “large” interventions. We apply the model to analyzing the intervention policy of the Japanese monetary authorities (JMA) in the yen/U.S. dollar market during the period from 1991 through 2001. To this end, we use recently released official data on the foreign exchange market interventions of the JMA. We find that the JMA tended to conduct large interventions when the yen/U.S. dollar exchange rate drifted away from an “implicit target exchange rate.”     

Information arrivals and intraday exchange rate volatility

This paper investigates the link between information arrivals and intraday DEM/$ volatility. Information arrivals are measured by the numbers of news items that appeared in the Reuters News Service. We separate news stories into different categories and find that total headline news counts, US and German macroeconomic news and German Bundesbank monetary policy news all have a significant impact on intraday DEM/$ volatility. The larger quantitative effects of the German Bundesbank monetary policy news and US macroeconomic news at 15-min intervals are consistent with the findings of a two-stage adjustment process of public information arrivals [Fleming and Remolona, J. Finance (1999) 1901]. Our results suggest that the persistent of intraday exchange rate volatility set off by public information is extended by traders’ private information about 15 min later. The conclusions are obtained from ARCH models that incorporate intraday seasonal volatility terms.     

人民币外汇市场压力与央行外汇干预的经验估计

本文采用Weymark指数法估计了1994年来我国面临的外汇市场压力和央行外汇干预指数,实证结果显示1994年来人民币一直面临着升值压力,样本期间中央银行平均干预指数为0.97,说明我国央行实行的是强势干预政策以保持人民币汇率的稳定。利用人民币外汇市场压力指数对我国潜在货币危机的研究表明,2005年人民币汇率改革之后,人民币面临的外汇市场压力过度了,存在货币危机的可能性。     

Determination of Renminbi Equilibrium Exchange Rate,Misalignment, and Official Intervention

We use an equilibrium real exchange rates (ERER) model to estimate the equilibrium exchange rate (EER) and hence the misalignment between the EER and actual renminbi (RMB) exchange rate with quarterly data from 1994 to 2012. The effect of various policy changes on this misalignment with a focus on official intervention is then examined. We find that the RMB EER rose 45 percent from 1994 to 2012, mainly due to trade policy and relative technological progress. The central bank’s (the People’s Bank of China) official intervention had quick effect on the misalignment, especially after 2005.     

高利率能否捍卫汇率稳定：基于马尔科夫变换的世代交叠模型的分析

按照传统观点,在本国货币遭受投机攻击时,中央银行的典型做法是提高短期利率来捍卫货币和汇率制度。但批评者认为,提高利率会增加经济发展的成本,容易引发信用恐慌和产出减少。通过建立一个基于马尔科夫变换的世代交叠模型可以发现,利率被提的越高,汇率波动率也会随之相应增加。当高利率的货币政策使经济增长放缓甚至衰退,维持汇率稳定的可信度下降时,投机者就会发动对本币的投机攻击。最后在外汇储备耗尽的情况下,中央银行权衡得失后不得不实行浮动汇率制。