Dynamic linkages among equity markets in the Middle East and North African countries

The relaxation of security laws and regulations in emerging markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) provides abundant opportunities for foreign investors. These markets exhibit high-expected returns and substantial volatility. In this paper, we investigate the lead/lag relationship between the MENA countries and regions. We find no market causality or spillover from one country to another in the North Africa region. Our results for the Levant region reveal that there are linkages between stock markets in this region. The results for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region show that there is more interaction and linkage in the GCC region than in the North Africa and Levant regions. An unexpected result is that UAE's stock market leads all the markets in this region. Finally, we investigate linkages among the three regions. We find that GCC influences the other two regions.     

Pricing Perpetual Put Options by the Black–Scholes Equation with a Nonlinear Volatility Function

We investigate qualitative and quantitative behavior of a solution of the mathematical model for pricing American style of perpetual put options. We assume the option price is a solution to the stationary generalized Black–Scholes equation in which the volatility function may depend on the second derivative of the option price itself. We prove existence and uniqueness of a solution to the free boundary problem. We derive a single implicit equation for the free boundary position and the closed form formula for the option price. It is a generalization of the well-known explicit closed form solution derived by Merton for the case of a constant volatility. We also present results of numerical computations of the free boundary position, option price and their dependence on model parameters.     

The importance of sample selection: An instructional resource using U.S. presidential elections

The purpose of this instructional resource is to use a non-auditing situation, predicting the election of the President of the United States, to help students understand the importance of sample selection in drawing inferences about a population. Of particular focus are the importance of understanding the characteristics of the population, using the appropriate sampling unit, the risks of drawing incorrect inferences about a population, and the power and limitations of sampling. These sampling-selection concepts are also applied to a routine auditing task: the confirmation of accounts receivable.     

Market timing in precious metals is detrimental to value creation

Few number of days accounts for most of the returns delivered by precious metals (gold, silver, platinum and palladium). A passive buy and hold investment strategy in precious metals outperforms market timers who miss the best 5, 10 and 50 days by 51%, 71% and 98%, respectively. Likewise, long-term performance of precious metals is largely determined by the return of few outliers (black swans). Thus, investors should reconsider trying to predict when to be in and out of the precious metals markets and support investing in precious metals ETFs.