Affine processes, arbitrage-Free Term structures of legendre polynomials,and option pricing

Multivariate Affine term structure models have been increasingly used for pricing derivatives in fixed income markets. In these models, uncertainty of the term structure is driven by a state vector, while the short rate is an affine function of this vector. The model is characterized by a specific form for the stochastic differential equation (SDE) for the evolution of the state vector. This SDE presents restrictions on its drift term which rule out arbitrages in the market. In this paper we solve the following inverse problem: Suppose the term structure of interest rates is modeled by a linear combination of Legendre polynomials with random coefficients. Is there any SDE for these coefficients which rules out arbitrages? This problem is of particular empirical interest because the Legendre model is an example of factor model with clear interpretation for each factor, in which regards movements of the term structure. Moreover, the Affine structure of the Legendre model implies knowledge of its conditional characteristic function. From the econometric perspective, we propose arbitrage-free Legendre models to describe the evolution of the term structure. From the pricing perspective, we follow Duffie et al. (2000) in exploring Legendre conditional characteristic functions to obtain a computational tractable method to price fixed income derivatives. Closing the article, the empirical section presents precise evidence on the reward of implementing arbitrage-free parametric term structure models: The ability of obtaining a good approximation for the state vector by simply using cross sectional data.

Robust statistical modeling of portfolios

Atypical points in the data may result in meaningless e±cient frontiers. This follows since portfolios constructed using classical estimates may re°ect neither the usual nor the unusual days patterns. On the other hand, portfolios constructed using robust approaches are able to capture just the dynamics of the usual days, which constitute the majority of the business days. In this paper we propose an statistical model and a robust estimation procedure to obtain an e±cient frontier which would take into account the behavior of both the usual and most of the atypical days. We show, using real data and simulations, that portfolios constructed in this way require less frequent rebalancing, and may yield higher expected returns for any risk level.

Duality with time-changed Lévy processes

In this paper we study the pricing problem of derivatives written in terms of a two dimensional time{changed L¶evy processes. Then, we examine an existing relation between prices of put and call options, of both the European and the American type. This relation is called put{call duality. It includes as a particular case, the relation known as put{call symmetry. Necessary and su±cient conditions for put{call symmetry to hold are shown, in terms of the triplet of local charac- teristic of the Time{changed L¶evy process. In this way we extend the results obtained in Fajardo and Mordecki (2004) to the case of time{changed Lévy processes.

Technical change and factor shares

The implications of technical change that directly alters factor shares are examined. Such change can lower the income of some factors of production even when it raises total output, thus offering a possible explanation for episodes of social conflict such as the Luddite uprisings in 19th century England and the recent divergence in the U. S. between wages for skilled and unskilled labor. An explanation also why underdeveloped countries do not adopt the latest technology but continue to use outmoded production methods. Total factor productivity is shown to be a misleading measure of technical progress. Share-altering technical change brings into question the plausibility of a wide class of endogenous growth models.

Predictable dividends and returns

The conventional wisdom is that the aggregate stock price is predictable by the lagged pricedividend ratio, and that aggregate dividends follow approximately a random-walk. Contrary to this belief, this paper finds that variation in the aggregate dividends and price-dividend ratio is related to changes in expected dividend growth. The inclusion of labor income in a cointegrated vector autoregression with prices and dividends allows the identification of predictable variation in dividends. Most of the variation in the price-dividend ratio is due to changes in expected returns, but this paper shows that part of variation is related to transitory dividend growth shocks. Moreover, most of the variation in dividend growth can be attributed to these temporary changes in dividends. I also show that the price-dividend ratio (or dividend yield) can be constructed as the sum of two distinct, but correlated, variables that separately predict dividend growth and returns. One of these components, which could be called the expected return state variable, predicts returns better than the price-dividend ratio does.

Impacto das classificações de rating no valor das empresas brasileiras

Este trabalho tem como objetivo estudar como os anúncios de alterações nos ratings de crédito afetam o valor de mercado das empresas brasileiras. Isso foi feito considerando as divulgações de rating pelo período de 3 anos para o universo de empresas que compõem o índice Bovespa de ações. A metodologia escolhida foi a de Estudo de Evento, utilizando o Market Model como forma de estimação dos retornos normais das ações para uma janela de estimação de 1 ano. Como resultado verificou-se que as divulgações dos ratings têm influência no preço das ações, sendo esse efeito mais acentuado no caso dos rebaixamentos de rating (downgrades): os investidores tendem a antecipar a divulgação do downgrade já que o preço das ações cai antes dessa data e volta a subir depois dela. Essa conclusão está em linha com a de estudos semelhantes feitos com ações europeias e americanas. Outra conclusão foi a de que separando a amostra de downgrades entre empresas investment grade e non-investment grade o efeito dos anúncios de rating é mais acentuado no segundo grupo.

Efeitos preço e volume associados a mudanças no IBOVESPA e IBrX-50

Segundo Fama (1970), um mercado será dito eficiente na forma semiforte quando não for possível obter retornos anormais para qualquer ativo do mercado utilizando-se de informações públicas e acerca de seus retornos passados, tais como: pagamento de dividendos, emissão de títulos de dívida e anúncios de inclusões/ exclusões de ações no índice de referência de mercado. Tal fato implicaria que técnicas de análise fundamentalista e gráfica seriam esforços desnecessários na busca de lucros extraordinários. Dessa forma, essa dissertação procurou investigar, a partir da análise do evento de inclusão de papéis no IBOVESPA e no IBrX-50, evidências que suportem a presença da eficiência em sua forma semiforte no mercado de ações brasileiro. Adicionalmente, através da análise da correlação entre o patrimônio dos fundos indexados com o desempenho das ações inseridas nos respectivos índices de mercado, verificou-se a existência da pressão de volume nesse mercado. É importante ressaltar que a inclusão de uma empresa no índice não é uma noticia que afete o seu valor fundamental e, portanto, não deveria ter efeito em seu preço. Dos resultados encontrados, identificamos um aumento economicamente significativo do excesso de retorno acumulado nos dias que precedem à inclusão no índice de referência. Tal fato seria provocado pela pressão de volume exercida pelos fundos indexados, o que corrobora para a rejeição da presença da eficiência em sua forma semiforte no mercado acionário brasileiro.

Estilo, comovimento e previsibilidade de retorno: uma análise do mercado brasileiro entre 2000-2011

Wahal e Yavuz (2009) divulgaram trabalho ampliando a literatura da teoria de finanças comportamentais, unindo os conceitos de momento, estilo e comovimento como ferramentas de previsibilidade de retorno em investimentos. Eles descobriram que ativos com maior comovimento apresentam retornos mais elevados que os de baixo comovimento. Buscamos replicar a sua metodologia ao mercado brasileiro de maneira aplicável a realidade de baixa liquidez e quantidade reduzida de ativos do nosso mercado de ações. Nossos resultados não apresentaram a mesma tendência do trabalho original, porém verificamos, ainda que de forma limitada, a possibilidade de explorar estratégias lucrativas usando este arcabouço.

Mitigating high ‘equity capital’ risk exposure to ‘small cap’ sector in India: analysing ‘key factors of success’ for ‘Institutional Investors’ whilst Investing in small cap sector in India

This paper deals with the subject of mitigating high ‘Equity Capital’ Risk Exposure to ‘Small Cap’ Sector in India. Institutional investors in India are prone to be risk averse when it comes to investing in the small cap sector in India as they find the companies risky and volatile. This paper will help analyse ‘Key Factors of success’ for ‘Institutional Investors’ whilst investing in Small Cap sector in India as some of these Indian small cap stocks offer handsome returns despite economic downturn. This paper has been harnessed carefully under the influence of expert investors, which includes Benjamin Graham (Security Analysis); Warren Buffet; Philip Fisher (Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits); and Aswath Damodaran.

Nonparametric tail risk, macroeconomics and stock returns: predictability and risk premia

This paper proposes a new novel to calculate tail risks incorporating risk-neutral information without dependence on options data. Proceeding via a non parametric approach we derive a stochastic discount factor that correctly price a chosen panel of stocks returns. With the assumption that states probabilities are homogeneous we back out the risk neutral distribution and calculate five primitive tail risk measures, all extracted from this risk neutral probability. The final measure is than set as the first principal component of the preliminary measures. Using six Fama-French size and book to market portfolios to calculate our tail risk, we find that it has significant predictive power when forecasting market returns one month ahead, aggregate U.S. consumption and GDP one quarter ahead and also macroeconomic activity indexes. Conditional Fama-Macbeth two-pass cross-sectional regressions reveal that our factor present a positive risk premium when controlling for traditional factors.

Automatic model selection for forecasting brazilian stock returns

This study aims to contribute on the forecasting literature in stock return for emerging markets. We use Autometrics to select relevant predictors among macroeconomic, microeconomic and technical variables. We develop predictive models for the Brazilian market premium, measured as the excess return over Selic interest rate, Itaú SA, Itaú-Unibanco and Bradesco stock returns. We nd that for the market premium, an ADL with error correction is able to outperform the benchmarks in terms of economic performance. For individual stock returns, there is a trade o between statistical properties and out-of-sample performance of the model.

A systematic component of the jump-risk premium in an AJD model

We develop an affine jump diffusion (AJD) model with the jump-risk premium being determined by both idiosyncratic and systematic sources of risk. While we maintain the classical affine setting of the model, we add a finite set of new state variables that affect the paths of the primitive, under both the actual and the risk-neutral measure, by being related to the primitive's jump process. Those new variables are assumed to be commom to all the primitives. We present simulations to ensure that the model generates the volatility smile and compute the "discounted conditional characteristic function'' transform that permits the pricing of a wide range of derivatives.

Industry analysis of the high frequency trading industry : an assessment of the industry boundaries, environment and strategic options

O Mercado Acionário Americano evoluiu rapidamente na última década. Este tornou-se uma arquitetura aberta em que participantes com tecnologia inovadora podem competir de forma eficaz. Várias mudanças regulatórias e inovações tecnológicas permitiram mudanças profundas na estrutura do mercado. Essas mudanças, junto com o desenvolvimento tecnológico de redes de alta velocidade, agiu como um catalisador, dando origem a uma nova forma de negociação, denominada Negociação em Alta Frequência (HFT). As empresas de HFT surgiram e se apropriaram em larga escala do negócio de formação de mercado, no fornecimento de liquidez. Embora HFT tem crescido massivamente, ao longo dos últimos quatro anos, HFT perdeu rentabilidade significativamente, uma vez que mais empresas aderiram ao setor reduzindo as margens. Portanto, diante deste contexto, esta tese buscou apresentar uma breve revisão sobre a atividade de HFT, seguida de uma análise dos limites deste setor, bem como, das características do macroambiente do HFT. Para tanto, a tese realizou uma extensa revisão do histórico literário, documentos públicos qualitativos, tais como, jornais, atas de reunião e relatórios oficiais. A tese empregou um ferramental de análise, Barreiras de Entrada e Mobilidade (Porter, 1980); Modelos de Evolução Setorial (McGahan, 2004); Estrutura do Setor de Informação Intensiva (Sampler, 1998), para analisar os limites do setor de HFT. Adicionalmente, empregou as ferramentas de análise, Modelos de Evolução Setorial (McGahan, 2004) e PESTEL (JOHNSON, SCHOLES, and WHITTINGTON, 2011), para analisar o setor e o contexto que envolve o negócio de HFT. A análise concluiu que as empresas que empregam HFT para atuar e competir no mercado acionário, compoem um setor independente.

Consumption-wealth ratio and expected stock returns: evidence from panel data

This paper investigates the role of consumption-wealth ratio on predicting future stock returns through a panel approach. We follow the theoretical framework proposed by Lettau and Ludvigson (2001), in which a model derived from a nonlinear consumer’s budget constraint is used to settle the link between consumption-wealth ratio and stock returns. Using G7’s quarterly aggregate and financial data ranging from the first quarter of 1981 to the first quarter of 2014, we set an unbalanced panel that we use for both estimating the parameters of the cointegrating residual from the shared trend among consumption, asset wealth and labor income, cay, and performing in and out-of-sample forecasting regressions. Due to the panel structure, we propose different methodologies of estimating cay and making forecasts from the one applied by Lettau and Ludvigson (2001). The results indicate that cay is in fact a strong and robust predictor of future stock return at intermediate and long horizons, but presents a poor performance on predicting one or two-quarter-ahead stock returns.