Real Estate Risk Exposure of Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts

This study examines the linkage between equity real estate investment trust (REIT) returns and the private real estate factor. The results reveal a tighter connection between REIT and the private real estate market starting from 1993. In addition, large-cap REITs seem to behave more like real estate than do small-cap REITs. Overall, the results are consistent with three notions: (1) that institutional investors provide information-gathering services (Bradrinath et al., Rev. Financ. Stud., 8:401–430, 1995), (2) that a more sophisticated investor base improves information flow, and (3) that a high degree of participation from institutional investors strengthens the linkage between REIT returns and the underlying real estate factor (Ziering et al., The evolution of public and private market investing in the new real estate capital markets, Prudential Real Estate Investors, Parsippany, NJ, 1997).

Volatility contagion: A range-based volatility approach

This article proposes a new approach to evaluate volatility contagion in financial markets. A time-varying logarithmic conditional autoregressive range model with the lognormal distribution (TVLCARR) is proposed to capture the possible smooth transition in the range process. Additionally, a smooth transition copula function is employed to detect the volatility contagion between financial markets. The approach proposed is applied to the stock markets of the G7 countries to investigate the volatility contagion due to the subprime mortgage crisis. Empirical evidence shows that volatility is contagious from the US market to several markets examined.     

DURATION,IMMUNIZATION, AND HEDGING WITH INTEREST RATE FUTURES

The recent advent of the interest rate futures markets has greatly enriched the hedging opportunities of market participants faced with undesired interest rate risk. The variety of futures contracts presently spans a number of instruments with different risk, maturity, and coupon characteristics. This paper modifies the concept of duration and extends the duration hedging approach to cases where futures contracts are used as the hedging instrument. The derived hedge ratios take into account differences in coupon, maturity, and risk for three different regimes. Usage of these hedge ratios should lead to more efficient hedging of interest rate risk.     

EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS ON THE PREDICTORS OF FUTURE SPOT RATES

This paper examines the issue of the prediction of future spot rates by applying the seemingly unrelated regression technique to four major currencies using data from January 1974 to September 1982. The empirical evidence indicates that current spot rates provide a better prediction of future spot rates than do current forward rates. In further rolling subsample studies, the estimated coefficients for current forward rates (or spot rates) are found to be sensitive to the new information. An important implication of this paper is that since the estimated coefficients vary over time, the underlying pattern of the generated coefficients should be extrapolated and incorporated into the exchange rate predictions.