On the Distributional Characterization of Daily Log-Returns of a World Stock Index

In this paper distributions are identified which suitably fit log-returns of the world stock index when these are expressed in units of different currencies. By searching for a best fit in the class of symmetric generalized hyperbolic distributions the maximum likelihood estimates appear to cluster in the neighbourhood of those of the Student t distribution. This is confirmed at a high significance level under the likelihood ratio test. Finally, the paper derives the minimal market model, which explains the empirical findings as a consequence of the optimal market dynamics.