The dynamic moderating function of the exchange rate market on the oil-stock nexus

Oil price movements have an important impact on the stock market, and this impact could be dynamically moderated by the exchange rate, which could not be effectively depicted by VAR or GARCH methods widely used in previous studies. This paper adopts a more flexible nonlinear model to investigates this dynamic moderating effect of the exchange rate market on the oil-stock nexus for 45 major countries from November 30, 2005 to November 22, 2019. We also compare the differences in this moderating effect between oil-importing and oil-exporting countries and confirm the presence of a wealth transfer effect. Specifically, the empirical results show that (1) In the stage where domestic currency depreciation or appreciation degree is not serious (the growth rate is less than 0.1), an increase in crude oil prices has a positive impact on stock market returns, and this positive impact is weakened when the growth rate of the exchange rate return approaches zero. (2) As the local currency continues to appreciate (the growth rate is greater than about 0.22), the increase in crude oil prices may negatively influence stock market returns to an increasingly greater extent among crude oil importers. (3) The increase in crude oil prices may have a short-term positive impact on stock market returns in oil-exporting countries due to the wealth transfer effect when the domestic currency appreciates at a faster rate. Finally, we discuss the policy implications of our findings to help investors avoid risks due to fluctuations in international oil prices.     

去伪存真:油价趋势与股票市场——来自“一带一路”35国的经验证据

油价波动深刻影响全球经济,严重时会造成全球股市动荡,甚至引发系统性金融风险。然而油价中的信息噪音严重阻碍国际油价对股票市场的预测效果。本文提出的移动平均法可有效减弱信息噪音,研究表明,本文基于移动平均法构建的油价趋势因子对“一带一路”沿线国家股票市场具有良好的样本内和样本外可预测性。进一步研究发现,国际油价波动对产油国和非产油国股票市场的影响存在非对称性。本文为国际油价冲击股票市场提供了新的有力证据,同时本文研究成果提示了油价风险,对维持我国股票市场稳定,保持金融稳定具有一定意义。     

Private information in currency markets

Using daily abnormal currency returns for the universe of countries with flexible exchange rates, we show local currency depreciations ahead of unscheduled, public sovereign debt downgrade announcements. Consistent with the private information hypothesis, the effect is stronger in lower institutional quality countries and holds after we control for concurrent public information and for publicly available rumors about the forthcoming downgrades. Our results persist when abnormal currency returns are adjusted for global carry and dollar risk factors, world equity and bond returns, as well as local stock market returns. Finally, the currency depreciations are permanent, providing evidence for a link between fundamentals and currency markets.     

Pricing currency risk in the stock market: Evidence from Finland and Sweden 1970-2009

We investigate the role of currency risk on stock markets in two interlinked Nordic countries exhibiting a gradual move from fixed to floating exchange rates. We apply the Ding and Engle (2001) covariance stationary specification in a multivariate GARCH-M setup to test a conditional international asset pricing model. Using a sample period from 1970 to 2009, we find that the currency risk is priced in both stock markets, and that the price and the risk premium are lower after the floatation of the currencies, especially for Finland. We also find the cross-country exchange rate shock from Finland to affect the price of currency risk in Sweden, but not vice versa. Finally, we discuss some of the potential issues in applying multivariate GARCH-M specifications in tests of asset pricing models.     

Oil and stock market activity when prices go up and down: the case of the oil and gas industry

We examine the asymmetric effects of daily oil price changes on equity returns, market betas, oil betas, return variances, and trading volumes for the US oil and gas industry. The responses of stock returns associated with negative changes in oil prices are higher than that associated with positive changes in oil prices. Stock risk measured by market beta is influenced more due to oil price decreases than due to oil price increases. On the other hand, oil risk exposures (oil betas) and return variances are more influenced by oil price increases than oil price decreases. The results of our study indicate that oil and gas firm returns, market betas, oil betas, return variances respond asymmetrically to oil price changes. We also find that relative changes in oil prices along with firm-specific factors such as firm size, ROA, leverage, market-to-book ratio (MBR) are important in determining the effects of oil price changes on oil and gas firms’ returns, risks, and trading volumes.     

Local risk factors in emerging markets: Are they separately priced?

We provide new evidence on the pricing of local risk factors in emerging stock markets. We investigate whether there is a significant local currency premium together with a domestic market risk premium in equity returns within a partial integration asset pricing model. Given previous evidence on currency risk, we conduct empirical tests in a conditional setting with time-varying prices of risk. Our main results support the hypothesis of a significant exchange risk premium related to the local currency risk. Exchange rate and domestic market risks are priced separately for our sample of seven emerging markets. The empirical evidence also suggests that although statistically significant, local currency risk is on average smaller than domestic market risk but it increases substantially during crises periods, when it can be almost as large as market risk. Disentangling these two factors is thus important in tests of international asset pricing for emerging markets.     

Asset pricing and foreign exchange risk

According to the International Capital Asset Pricing Model (ICAPM), the covariance of assets with foreign exchange currency returns should be a risk factor that must be priced when the purchasing power parity is violated. The goal of this study is to re-examine the relationship between stock returns and foreign exchange risk. The novelties of this work are: (a) a data set that makes use of daily observations for the measurement of the foreign exchange exposure and volatility of the sample firms and (b) data from a Eurozone country.The methodology we make use in reference to the estimation of the sensitivity of each stock to exchange rate movements is that it allows regressing stock returns against factors controlling for market risk, size, value, momentum, foreign exchange exposure and foreign exchange volatility. Stocks are then classified according to their foreign exchange sensitivity portfolios and the return of a hedge (zero-investment) portfolio is calculated. Next, the abnormal returns of the hedge portfolio are regressed against the return of the factors. Finally, we construct a foreign exchange risk factor in such manner as to obtain a monotonic relation between foreign exchange risk and expected returns.The empirical findings show that the foreign exchange risk is priced in the cross section of the German stock returns over the period 2000-2008. Furthermore, they show that the relationship between returns and foreign exchange sensitivity is nonlinear, but it takes an inverse U-shape and that foreign exchange sensitivity is larger for small size firms and value stocks.     

Exchange Rate Exposure at the Firm and Industry Level

Previous work on the exposure of firms to exchange rate risk has primarily focused on U.S. firms and, surprisingly, found stock returns were not significantly affected by exchange‐rate fluctuations. The equity market premium for exposure to currency risk was also found to be insignificant. In this paper we examine the relation between Japanese stock returns and unanticipated exchange‐rate changes for 1,079 firms traded on the Tokyo stock exchange over the 1975–1995 period. Second, we investigate whether exchange‐rate risk is priced in the Japanese equity market using both unconditional and conditional multifactor asset pricing testing procedures. We find a significant relation between contemporaneous stock returns and unanticipated yen fluctuations. The exposure effect on multinationals and high‐exporting firms, however, is found to be greater in comparison to low‐exporting and domestic firms. Lagged‐exchange rate changes on firm value are found to be statistically insignificant implying that investors are able to assess the impact of exchange‐rate changes on firm value with no significant delay. The industry level analysis corroborates the cross‐sectional findings for Japanese firms in that they are sensitive to contemporaneous unexpected exchange‐rate fluctuations. The co‐movement between stock returns and changes in the foreign value of the yen is found to be positively associated with the degree of the firm's foreign economic involvement and inversely related to its size and debt to asset ratio. Asset pricing tests show that currency risk is priced. We find corroborating evidence in support of the view that currency exposure is time varying. Our results indicate that the foreign exchange‐rate risk premium is a significant component of Japanese stock returns. The combined evidence from the currency exposure and asset pricing analyses, suggests that currency risk is priced and, therefoe, has implications for corporate and portfolio managers.     

Exchange Rates and the Conversion of Currency‐Specific Risk Premia

How do the risk factors that drive asset prices influence exchange rates? Are the parameters of asset price processes relevant for specifying exchange rate processes? Most international asset pricing models focus on the analysis of asset returns given exchange rate processes. Little work has been done on the analysis of exchange rates dependent on asset returns. This paper uses an international stochastic discount factor (SDF) framework to analyse the interplay between asset prices and exchange rates. So far, this approach has only been implemented in international term structure models. We find that exchange rates serve to convert currency‐specific discount factors and currency‐specific prices of risk – a result linked to the international arbitrage pricing theory (IAPT). Our empirical investigation of exchange rates and stock markets of four countries presents evidence for the conversion of currency‐specific risk premia by exchange rates.     

Currency devaluation and stock market response: An empirical analysis

We study local stock market reaction to currency devaluation by a country's central bank. Devaluations appear to be anticipated by the local stock markets, and there are significant negative abnormal returns even one year prior to the announcement of the devaluation. A negative trend in stock returns persists for up to one quarter following the first announcement, and then becomes positive thereafter, suggesting a reversal. We explore whether changes in macroeconomic variables prior to currency devaluations are related to abnormal stock returns. We find that stock returns are significantly lower if the devaluation is larger and if the country is a developing nation. Furthermore, stock markets decline more around devaluations if reserves are lower, if the real exchange rate has depreciated over the prior years, if the capital account has declined, if the current account deficit has gone up, or if the country credit rating has deteriorated.     

Exchange risk and universal returns: A test of international arbitrage pricing theory

According to the international arbitrage pricing theory (IAPT) posited by Solnik (1983), currency movements affect assets' factor loadings and associated risk premiums. Based on a novel universal return decomposition, we propose an empirical model to test this proposition and perform tests using U.S. stock returns in the period 1975–2008. Our results confirm that currency movements significantly affect the market betas of a large proportion of stocks. Further cross-sectional tests indicate that currency movements affecting the market factor are significantly priced in stock returns. Based on these and other findings, we conclude that Solnik's IAPT is supported. An important implication of our findings is that exchange rate risk can broadly affect stock returns through both factor loading and residual factor channels.     

Exchange risk and universal returns: A test of international arbitrage pricing theory

According to the international arbitrage pricing theory (IAPT) posited by Solnik (1983), currency movements affect assets' factor loadings and associated risk premiums. Based on a novel universal return decomposition, we propose an empirical model to test this proposition and perform tests using U.S. stock returns in the period 1975–2008. Our results confirm that currency movements significantly affect the market betas of a large proportion of stocks. Further cross-sectional tests indicate that currency movements affecting the market factor are significantly priced in stock returns. Based on these and other findings, we conclude that Solnik's IAPT is supported. An important implication of our findings is that exchange rate risk can broadly affect stock returns through both factor loading and residual factor channels.     

Does Risk Management Add Value? A Survey of the Evidence

The fact that 92% of the world's 500 largest companies recently reported using derivatives suggests that corporate managers believe financial risk management can increase shareholder value. Surveys of finance academics indicate that they too believe that corporate risk management is, on the whole, a valueadding activity. This article provides an overview of almost 30 years of broadbased, stock‐market‐oriented academic studies that address one or more of the following questions:

• ? Are interest rate, exchange rate, and commodity price risks reflected in stock price movements?
• ? Is volatility in corporate earnings and cash flows related in a systematic way to corporate market values?
• ? Is the corporate use of derivatives associated with reduced risk and higher market values?

The answer to the first question, at least in the case of financial institutions and interest rate risk, is a definite yes; all studies with this focus find that the stock returns of financial firms are clearly sensitive to interest rate changes. The stock returns of industrial companies exhibit no pronounced interest rate exposure (at least as a group), but industrial firms with significant cross‐border revenues and costs show considerable sensitivity to exchange rates (although such sensitivity actually appears to be reduced by the size and geographical diversity of the largest multinationals). What's more, the corporate use of derivatives to hedge interest rate and currency exposures appears to be associated with lower sensitivity of stock returns to interest rate and FX changes. But does the resulting reduction in price sensitivity affect value—and, if so, how? Consistent with a widely cited theory that risk management increases value by limiting the corporate “underinvestment problem,” a number of studies show a correlation between lower cash flow volatility and higher corporate investment and market values. The article also cites a small but growing group of studies that show a strong positive association between derivatives use and stock price performance (typically measured using price‐to‐book ratios). But perhaps the nearest the research comes to establishing causality are two studies—one of companies that hedge FX exposures and another of airlines' hedging of fuel costs—that show that, in industries where hedging with derivatives is common, companies that hedge outperform companies that don't.     

Exchange Rates, Equity Prices, and Capital Flows

We develop an equilibrium model in which exchange rates, stockprices, and capital flows are jointly determined under incompleteforeign exchange (forex) risk trading. Incomplete hedging offorex risk, documented for U.S. global mutual funds, inducesthe following price and capital flow dynamics: Higher returnsin the home equity market relative to the foreign equity marketare associated with a home currency depreciation. Net equityflows into the foreign market are positively correlated witha foreign currency appreciation. The model predictions are stronglysupported at daily, monthly, and quarterly frequencies for 17OECD countries vis-à-vis the United States. Correlationsare strongest after 1990 and for countries with higher equitymarket capitalization relative to GDP, suggesting that the observedexchange rate dynamics is indeed related to equity market development.     

Joint dynamics of foreign exchange and stock markets in emerging Europe

This paper proposes an ideal specification for studying joint dynamics of emerging stock and foreign exchange markets, and applies it on European emerging markets where this interaction is of particular significance due to large external deficits. Results show that global developed and emerging stock market returns account for a large proportion of the (permanent) comovement between the stock index and currency value. The residual interaction after controlling for global indexes is small. The sign of the currency-stock market relationship is driven by dependence on foreign capital (predominantly positive for countries which are net receivers of foreign portfolio capital) and depth of the local stock market. Bank of Russia's intensive involvement in the currency market delays Ruble's response to global information. Emerging European currencies predict reversals in global equity indexes several months ahead.     

Regime-Dependent Effect of Crude Oil Price on BRICS Stock Markets

In this study, the dynamic relation between global crude oil prices and stock prices is investigated in terms of crude oil-exporting and -importing countries. The relationship between crude oil prices and stock prices is examined for BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) for the periods of January 1995 to December 2016 by means of the Markov Switching Vector Autoregression (MS-VAR) model. The impulse-response analysis results suggest that the responses of the stock market to an oil price shock vary over the regimes for all countries. Specifically, we find that the responses of the stock market to an unexpected oil price shock are positive and statistically significant in the high-volatility regime in all countries except for China, and these results suggest that the increase in oil prices may be evaluated by demand-side shock in these countries.     

The risk–return relations in the Singapore stock market

This paper examines the risk–return relations in the Singapore stock market for the period April 1986 to December 1998. Though beta is significantly related to realized returns, the explanatory power is low. Adding other stock characteristics such as skewness and kurtosis provides limited incremental benefits. However, when a conditional framework based on up and down markets is introduced, the explanatory power increases more than 100 times and there is a significant positive (negative) relation between beta and returns when the market excess returns are positive (negative). The same relation applies when unsystematic risk, total risk and kurtosis are added separately to the beta–return relation during up and down markets with increased explanatory power. Our results indicate that other stock characteristics in addition to beta are also important in pricing risky assets and investors do not hold diversified portfolios. Our results are also checked and compared with another conditional model with time-varying betas conditional on a set of economic variables.     

The effectiveness of currency-hedging techniques over multiple return horizons for foreign-denominated debt issuers

In this study we use a unique dataset to examine the effectiveness of hedging techniques in reducing currency risk across different time horizons. Our primary results indicate that issuers of foreign-denominated debt (FDD) effectively use foreign exchange derivatives (FXD) and geographic sales-to-asset alignment to reduce currency exposure. We measure currency exposure, over multiple return horizons, as the sensitivity of firm’s stock returns to changes in the exchange rate while controlling for market’s return. In particular, we find that the use of foreign exchange derivatives is effective in the short-term horizon and the geographic sales-to-asset alignment is effective in the intermediate and longer-term horizons. When we control for foreign sales and for firm size, the primary results are robust. Our study contributes to the literature by providing evidence of the time period when the use foreign exchange derivatives and the geographic sales-to-asset alignment is most effective for issuers of foreign-denominated debt.     

Why do closed-end country funds trade at enormous premiums during currency crises?

We investigate the response of US traded country fund premiums to currency crises in related foreign (local) markets. Our analysis includes 25 currency crises over the past decade involving 18 funds investing in 12 emerging markets, and 7 funds investing in 6 developed markets. We find that fund premiums and the volatility of the premiums increase dramatically in response to a currency crisis, both for emerging and developed markets funds, and that these effects dissipate slowly over time. Our results show that country fund shares and net asset values (NAVs) have differential risk exposures and that these differences are exacerbated during a crisis. While the NAV returns show sensitivity to changes in the local market index, share returns are sensitive to changes in both local and world market indices. Therefore, in response to a currency crisis, when local stock markets decrease in value, fund NAVs react more strongly than their share prices which have a strong global component. We also show that the high premiums observed during currency crises are not due to the reluctance of investors to trade and realize losses.     

Exchange rate risk in the US stock market

Kolari et al. (2008) show that exchange rate risk measured by contemporaneous exchange rate changes is priced in the US stock market. However, by construction, their exchange rate risk factor has a strong correlation with the size factor, and their exchange rate sensitivity portfolios have a strong factor structure. To test whether their results are spurious, we carry out two sets of tests. The first set is motivated by Lewellen et al. (2010), where the second set is motivated by the voluminous literature which suggests that stock returns are heavy-tailed (e.g. Rachev and Mitnik, 2000). Different from Kolari et al. (2008), we find that exchange rate risk measured by contemporaneous exchange rate changes is not priced in the US stock market if we use industry portfolios which do not have a strong factor structure as the testing assets or if we use more robust methods to estimate firm-specific exchange rate sensitivity. Our findings therefore suggest that researchers take a new perspective on exchange rate risk.