A new look at the forward premium “puzzle”

We decompose the spot and forward rates into (permanent) nonlinear trend components and (transitory) stationary components. We examine the unbiasedness of the permanent (transitory) component of the forward rate in predicting the permanent (transitory) component of its corresponding future spot rate. The transitory component of the future spot rate under reacts to the transitory component of the forward rate. However, the permanent component of the forward rate is an unbiased predictor of the permanent component of the future spot rate. A robust nonlinear cotrending relation is also found between the forward and future spot rates and the hypothesis of the forward‐rate unbiasedness is sustained in the long run. These results suggest that the forward rate better explains the long‐term behavior of the future spot rate. Simulation analysis shows that if the transitory component of the forward rate fully predicts the transitory component of the future spot rate, the forward premium puzzle disappears. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 31:599–628, 2011     

New evidence on the forward unbiasedness hypothesis in the foreign‐exchange market

A large empirical literature has tested the unbiasedness hypothesis in the foreign‐exchange market with the use of forward exchange rates. This article amends the conventional testing framework to exploit the information in currency options, with a newly constructed data set for three major dollar exchange rates. The main results are that (a) tests based on stationary regressions suggest that options provide biased predictions of the future spot exchange rate, and (b) co‐integration–based tests that are robust to several statistical problems afflicting stationary regressions and allow for endogeneity issues arising from a potential omitted risk premium term are supportive of unbiasedness. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 26:627–656, 2006     

International asset pricing with time-varying risk premia

Recent empirical evidence that forward exchange rates are biased predictors of future spot rates can also be interpreted as evidence against the hypothesis of a constant risk premium. Consequently, reconciliation of this evidence with efficient international capital markets requires the existence of time-varying risk premia. This paper modifies Kouri's (1977) asset pricing model to allow time-varying exected returns on assets, eliminates the assumption of a risk-free real asset and derives the characteristics of the risk premia in the forward market as well as the equilibrium yield relationships among the equities and riskless nominal bonds of all countries.     

The out-of-sample success of term structure models as exchange rate predictors: a step beyond

A large literature suggests that standard exchange rate models cannot outperform a random walk forecast and that the forward rate is not an optimal predictor of the spot rate. However, there is evidence that the term structure of forward premia contains valuable information for forecasting future spot exchange rates and that exchange rate dynamics display nonlinearities. This paper proposes a term-structure forecasting model of exchange rates based on a regime-switching vector equilibrium correction model which is novel in this context. Our model significantly outperforms both a random walk and, to a lesser extent, a linear term-structure vector equilibrium correction model for four major dollar rates across a range of horizons.     

An examination of foreign exchange risk under fixed and floating rate regimes

This paper examines variability risk in foreign exchange markets during fixed and floating rate regimes. It is demonstrated that variance is an inadequate measure of variability, both theoretically and empirically. Although the normal model is commonly employed in foreign exchange research, the paper shows that spot and forward rate changes can be better described as if they were generated from nonnormal members of the Pareto-Levy class of probability distributions. Further, the paper discusses what statistical measures of variability are most appropriate. Several measures are developed to assess the characteristics of spot and forward rate changes during the period 1962–1975. It is found that floating rates are generally many times riskier, in the variability sense, than fixed rates.     

The forward-looking ability of the real exchange rate and its misalignment to forecast the economic performance and the stock market return

This paper aims to examine whether exchange rates can predict future changes in the stock market return and in the economic performance of a country. On the basis of a revision that incorporates relative stock price and rational expectation in Dornbusch's dynamic Mundell–Fleming model, I present a model that can be used for analysing the forward-looking ability of the real exchange rate. The model builds on the works of Campbell and Shiller (Journal of Political Economy, 95, 1987 and 1062), MacDonald and Taylor (IMF Staff Papers, 40, 1993 and 89) and Engel (American Economic Review, 106, 2016 and 436) which can also be converted into a forward-looking version of real exchange rate misalignment model to investigate whether the deviation of the real exchange rate from its fundamental value would contain an economically significant predictable component on forecasting the future stock price movement and the real output.     

Inflation,currency exchange rates,and the international securities markets

A time-state-preference model of an efficient and complete international financial market is employed to investigate the conditions under which the international Fisher Effect will hold, and the forward currency exchange rate will be an unbiased estimate of the future spot rate. The presence of stochastic inflation within countries in the fiat-currency prices of real goods will destroy both relationships, even in the absence of any institutional imperfections or trading barriers. Similarly, expected inflation rate differentials across countries will not coincide with spot-versus-forward currency exchange rate differentials.     

中国汇率、利率、物价等相关关系研究

在经济运行过程中汇率、利率和物价三者关系紧密、相互影响,对经济的运行具有重大的意义。汇率的低估会引发物价上升,而实际汇率又由物价所决定。利率的变化对即期和远期的汇率也会产生重大的影响。我国的通货膨胀不仅应当通过抬高利率来抑制,更重要的应该通过对人民币正确估值,合理变动人民币汇率来解决。     

Less of a puzzle: a new look at the forward forex market

The two-country monetary model is extended to include a consumption externality with habit persistence. The model is simulated using the artificial economy methodology. The ‘puzzles’ in the forward market are re-examined. The model is able to account for: (a) the low volatility of the forward discount; (b) the higher volatility of expected forward speculative profit; (c) the even higher volatility of the spot return; (d) the persistence in the forward discount; (e) the martingale behavior of spot exchange rates; and (f) the negative covariance between the expected spot return and expected forward speculative profit. It is unable to account for the forward market bias because the volatility of the expected spot return is too large relative to the volatility of the expected forward speculative profit.     

Exchange Rate Volatility and Economic Activities of Africa's Sub-Groups

Exchange rates have been highly volatile in Africa, especially since the move to a floating exchange rate system beginning in the 1980s. Generally, the pattern of exchange rate changes differs between Africa's two main sub-groups (CFA and non-CFA groups) due to the different monetary/exchange rate systems they adopted. This article therefore examines the effect of exchange rate volatility on the economic activities in Africa and its sub-groups during the period 1986–2011 using a panel data approach.

Rational expectation theory informs the division of exchange rate into anticipated and unanticipated. Both the demand and supply channels are explored to trace the impact of the exchange rate volatility on price as well as aggregate demand and its components. Empirical results reveal differences in the impact of exchange rate volatility on economic activities between Africa's two sub-groups. Exchange rate volatility produced more significant effects in the non-CFA group than in the CFA group.     

Floats,glides and indicators : A comparison of methods for changing exchange rates

A model of the spot market for foreign exchange is used to study the behavior of exchange rates, official reserves, and speculators' profits when exchange rates are flexible, pegged, and regulated by gliding-parity rules based on averages of spot rates, levels and changes in reserves, and the basic balance. The behavior of the spot rate and efficacy of various gliding-parity rules is shown to depend on the way that speculators form expectations. Some rules, however, are more efficient in minimizing fluctuations of exchange rates and trade volume, especially rules based on changes in reserves and averages of past market rates. Rules based on levels of reserves prove to be least efficient.     

Risk premia in forward exchange rates: systematic or unsystematic?

International traders frequently use forward exchange transactions to hedge their cash flows in foreign currencies. A key issue is whether the forward rates are efficiently priced. There is evidence of time-varying risk premia in forward exchange rates. Are these risk premia systematic or unsystematic? This article uses a market model to explain risk, implying that the risk premium in the forward rate varies pari passu with the beta of the return to speculative forward positions. Assuming the unobserved risk premium is proportional to the forward premium allows testing the predicted relations; the data reject the joint hypotheses of the model and systematic risk. In terms of a simple factor model explaining the covariation of the forward premium, the risk premium, and the expected percentage rate of change of the spot exchange rate, the assumption that the forward premium and the risk premium are proportional can be relaxed without changing the empirical results.     

ON FINITE DIMENSIONAL REALIZATIONS OF TWO-COUNTRY INTEREST RATE MODELS

This paper explores how consistent two-dimensional families of forward rate curves can be constructed on an international market. Applying the approach in Björk and Christenssen (1999) and Björk and Svensson (2001) , we study when a system of inherently infinite dimensional domestic and foreign forward rate processes in a two-country economy with spot (forward) exchange rate possesses finite dimensional realizations. In the system with the forward exchange rate, the forward interest rate equations are supplemented by a third infinite dimensional stochastic differential equation representing the forward exchange rate dynamics. We construct and fit consistent families to observed Euro and USD yields as well as the forward (spot) EUR/USD exchange rate.     

Real Exchange Rates and ASEAN Trade

This paper systematically analyses the longer-term effects on the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) trade of changes in competitiveness brought about by changing real exchange rates. We introduce a model to explain exports from four ASEAN countries which highlights the role of real exchange rates. Specifically, we provide evidence on the price responsiveness of export demand. The results indicate that (i) there have been large changes in real exchange rates; and (ii) the pattern of ASEAN trade responds to relative prices (real exchange rates). Suprisingly, however, the impact of observed changes in real exchange rates on ASEAN trade is only relatively minor.     

The Price Discovery Puzzle in Offshore Yuan Trading: Different Contributions for Different Contracts

The People's Bank of China (PBC) lifted yuan trading restrictions in July of 2010 that led to offshore yuan spot trading in Hong Kong. Based on causality analyses, we find that price discovery is absent between the onshore and offshore spot markets. However, we document the presence of price discovery between onshore spot and offshore nondeliverable forward (NDF) rates. These seemingly inconsistent results present a puzzle wherein one offshore market appears to be more informationally integrated with the onshore market than another. We conclude that price discovery differences in the offshore markets stem from the offshore spot and forward contracts tracking different aspects of yuan rates (e.g., the offshore nondeliverable rate tracks onshore spot rates whereas the offshore spot rate tracks onshore interest rates). Moreover, the introduction of offshore spot trading in Hong Kong has led to an increase in cross‐market price discovery between onshore spot and offshore NDF rates. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 34:103–123, 2014     

Misalignment of the Baht and its Trade Balance Consequences for Thailand in the 1980s and 1990s

This paper examines Thailand's pre‐crisis exchange rate policy, focusing on the degree of the country's real exchange rate misalignment pre‐crisis and its consequent effects on Thailand's trade balance with its two large trading partners, the US and Japan, in the 1980s and 1990s. Defining misalignment as the difference between actual and ‘equilibrium’ exchange rates, we estimate three key ‘equilibrium’ exchange rates of the Thai baht: (a) the real effective equilibrium exchange rate of the Thai baht against its twenty‐two major trading partners; (b) the bilateral real equilibrium exchange rates of the baht against the US dollar; and (c) the bilateral real equilibrium exchange rate of the baht against the Japanese yen.     

Interpreting real exchange rate movements in transition countries

Real exchange rate movements in the transition economies during the initial transition period were unusually large by the standards of other economies and periods. Using cross-sectional evidence, this paper documents how real exchange rates were generally misaligned at the onset of the transition and how most of this misalignment was eliminated over a relatively short period. Turning to the time series dimension, the paper shows that estimates from a consensus-type single-equation model of the real exchange rate are well-behaved and provide a good fit for exchange rate movements in the early transition period. The results highlight the role of productivity-driven real exchange rate movements that can be interpreted as reflecting both the impact of the structural transformation process on productivity in the tradables sector per se and the effects of changes in tradables versus non-tradables productivity. Furthermore, the results show that the relationship between productivity and real exchange rates holds both when productivity is increasing and when it is falling.     

Speculation and hedging in the currency futures markets: Are they informative to the spot exchange rates

This study presents an empirical analysis investigating the relationship between the futures trading activities of speculators and hedgers and the potential movements of major spot exchange rates. A set of trader position measures are employed as regression predictors, including the level and change of net positions, an investor sentiment index, extremely bullish/bearish sentiments, and the peak/trough indicators. We find that the peaks and troughs of net positions are generally useful predictors to the evolution of spot exchange rates, but other trader position measures are less correlated with future market movements. In addition, speculative position measures usually forecast price‐continuations in spot rates while hedging position measures forecast price‐reversals in these markets. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark     

Does Euro or Dollar Pegging Impact the Real Exchange Rate? The Case of Oil and Commodity Currencies

The aim of this paper is to investigate the equilibrium exchange rates for commodity and oil currencies as well as the discrepancies of their observed exchange rates to these equilibriums. To this end, first, we estimate a long‐term relationship between the real effective exchange rate and economic fundamentals, including the commodity terms of trade. The estimation relies on panel cointegration techniques and covers annual data from 1980 to 2007. Our results show that real exchange rates co‐move with commodity prices in the long run and respond to oil price somewhat less than to commodity prices. Second, we assess the degree of misalignment of these currencies, as the gap between their observed exchange rate and the estimated equilibrium exchange rate. We show that these misalignments are not significantly related to the exchange rate regimes adopted by the countries, either pegged or floating. However, for pegged currencies, the size of misalignments significantly depends on the anchor currency, either the euro or the dollar. A comparison of misalignments of pegged commodity and oil currencies across different periods confirms these results: during periods of dollar (euro) overvaluation, currencies pegged to the dollar (euro) tend to be overvalued; the reverse being true when the dollar (euro) is undervalued. Consequently, pegged currencies are often driven away from their equilibria by wild fluctuations in the key currencies, on which they are anchored.     

Order flows and the exchange rate disconnect puzzle

The aim of this paper is to establish the link between the high frequency dynamics of spot exchange rates and developments in the macroeconomy. To do so, I first present a theoretical model of exchange-rate determination that bridges the gap between existing microstructure and traditional models. The model examines how dispersed microeconomic information known to individual agents outside the foreign exchange market is aggregated and transmitted to dealers via transaction flows (i.e., order flow); and how the information is then embedded in the spot exchange rate. I then report empirical evidence that strongly supports the presence of the link between the macroeconomy, order flow, and high frequency exchange rate returns implied by the model. In fact, my empirical results indicate that between 20 and 30% of the variance in excess currency returns over one- and two-month horizons can be linked back to developments in the macroeconomy. This level of explanatory power is an order of magnitude higher than that found in traditional models — even the newly developed monetary models incorporating central banks reaction functions. Moreover, it provides a straightforward solution to the exchange-rate disconnect puzzle. Namely, the high frequency behavior of spot exchange rates reflects the flow of new information reaching dealers concerning the slowly evolving state of the macroeconomy, rather than the effects of shocks that drive rapidly changing macroeconomic conditions.