Lemmings in the bond market? An empirical analysis of the term structure of credit spreads

The paper examines the credit spread between government and corporate bonds at different maturities. Theoretical models assume that credit risk premiums for high quality firms monotonously increase with maturity. We find evidence suggesting that bonds issued at maturities attracting the highest issuance volumes tend to have credit risk premiums that are on average 10 to 15 basis points higher than issues at nonconventional maturities. These results point out a shortcoming of existing theoretical models and show that the credit yield curve is not smooth, but affected by the local supply of issues at various parts of the yield curve. In addition, the empirical evidence presented in this paper indicates that firms utilizing the bond markets for funding could lower their funding costs by shifting the term of their debt away from the most commonly targeted maturities.

巨灾债券运行效应问题研究

在巨灾风险证券化产品中,巨灾债券交易最为活跃,也最具代表性,越来越多的保险公司、再保险公司及大型企业倾向于发行巨灾债券来转移、分散巨灾风险。作为功能上与再保险基本相似的新型风险管理工具,巨灾债券具有传统再保险不可比拟的优势。它不仅能使保险市场实现帕累托改进,对证券市场、国家财政也会产生深远的影响。最后,本文分析了巨灾债券在我国的发展前景。     

从美日经验看地方政府债券制度

地方政府债务风险已经成为威胁我国经济安全与社会稳定的巨大隐患。地方政府是制度变迁的主体,造成地方财政困境的根本原因在于地方政府事权、财权不对称,没有规范的制度化融资渠道。而只要存在中央与地方分权的财政联邦主义,就具备发行地方政府债券的前提。     

日本国债：安全资产还是风险潜在

金融危机后全球安全资产减少,使日本国债地位相对改善,成为世界金融市场的避险工具之一.但由于日本长期政府债务净额占GDP之比居高不下,国债信用已经受到损毁,主权信用评级被下调.从日本国内资金循环特征看,日本企业转变为储蓄大户的原因不是企业的盈利增加,而是由于资产负债表的调整压力使投资意愿降低,因此,日本政府只有不断增发国债来弥补筹资主体的缺位;日本国债期限结构的短期化和日益增长的利息负担使其面临的市场利率风险加大;同时,日本中央银行购买国债规模膨胀,不断冲击财政纪律的约束,财政赤字货币化风险隐藏其中.长期来看,日本泡沫经济崩溃后,资产去泡沫化的过程也正是国债泡沫化的过程.在日本财政改革前景未见定论,企业的投资需求尚未恢复的前提下,日本国债的可持续性存在巨大风险.     

Quantitative easing and asset bubbles

Expansionary monetary policy is necessary to respond to financial crises. However, if Central Bank asset purchase initiatives are too large or last too long, they can lead to explosive increases in asset prices which add to the risk of a future crisis. This article employs two models including the Campbell–Shiller and Generalized Supremum Augmented Dickey Fuller techniques to search for bubbles in the US equity, housing and bond markets over the past eight years. Although, we find that prices in equities and housing have risen following Federal Reserve intervention, there is little indication of asset price bubbles. There is evidence of explosive bond price increases from September of 2011 to February of 2013.     

转股价修正条款价值与可转债定价研究

在研究可转债定价问题时考虑转股价修正条款是十分必要的。尤其是在2008年的熊市中,各可转债纷纷调低转股价,转股价修正条款给予了投资者保护作用不容忽视。基于AFV模型,本文建立了包含转股价修正条款的定价模型,并利用有限差分法进行数值求解。     

可转换债券发行的长期股票市场价格绩效研究

应用长期事件研究法,对2000-2004年间发行可转换债券的上市公司的长期市场绩效表现进行了实证研究。研究结果表明,可转债发行前后,可转债标的公司的长期股票价格绩效在绝大多数区间上显著优于行业、规模与权益市值对面值比率的对照组,也显著优于等权加权和总市值加权的综合市场收益率;选择兼有债权和股票期权双重属性的可转债,在一定程度上可以维持标的公司股票价格长期绩效的优良表现。     

Bond Market Response to the Collapse of Prominent Investment Banks

We find that the Bear Stearns rescue in March 2008 elicited a neutral or moderately favorable impact on bond prices. Conversely, we find that the Lehman Brothers failure (combined with news about Merrill Lynch and American International Group) in September 2008 elicited a pronounced negative impact. Bond prices of financial firms suffered more than bonds of nonfinancial firms following the Lehman failure. Our multivariate analysis shows that bonds issued by financial institutions that were previously presumed to be protected (based on bond rating and firm size) suffered more pronounced losses in response to the Lehman failure.     

On the Value of Municipal Bond Insurance: An Empirical Analysis

Using a large sample of municipal bond data from 2001 to 2010 in the U.S., this paper documents the time variation of the value of municipal bond insurance, estimated from the insured and uninsured bonds yield at issue differentials. We find that insured municipal bonds carry significant lower yields at issue compared to those of the equivalent uninsured bonds before 2008. However, this cost saving disappeared with the aftermath of the subprime credit crisis. We find that the supply of bonds and the level of market interest rates to have significant positive impacts on the time‐varying value of bond insurance. We also detect asymmetric response of these yield differentials to rises and declines of market interest rates. Economic intuition suggests that the value of municipal bond insurance is a function of business cycles but our tests support the contrary, which may be explained by the habitat preference of municipal bonds issues.     

The effect of bonds on loyalty towards auditors: the mediating role of commitment

The study examines the impact of knowledge and social bonds on commitment and behavioural loyalty in auditor–client relationships. A model is proposed and tested using data collected from stock exchange company executives in the UK. The results show the significant effects of the knowledge and social bonds on commitment. Commitment is shown to be a mediating variable, which influences word-of-mouth and continuance but not the purchase of non-audit services. In the light of these findings, suggestions are provided to auditors in developing relationship bonds and managing the relationship at the firm level.