Monetary Policy, Stock Returns, and the Role of Credit in the Transmission of Monetary Policy

We use a multi-factor asset pricing model to investigate whether fluctuations in industry stock returns are due to industry stock returns are due to industry-specific shocks or to monetary and other macroeconomic factors. We find that common factors explain a substantial portion of the variation in stock returns, indicating that economic fluctuations are not due to industry-specific factors alone. We also find that disinflationary policy benefits large but not small firms. These results have mixed implications for the view that credit market frictions propagate monetary shocks.