THE FORWARD PDE FOR EUROPEAN OPTIONS ON STOCKS WITH FIXED FRACTIONAL JUMPS

We derive a partial integro differential equation (PIDE) which relates the price of a calendar spread to the prices of butterfly spreads and the functions describing the evolution of the process. These evolution functions are the forward local variance rate and a new concept called the forward local default arrival rate. We then specialize to the case where the only jump which can occur reduces the underlying stock price by a fixed fraction of its pre-jump value. This is a standard assumption when valuing an option written on a stock which can default. We discuss novel strategies for calibrating to a term and strike structure of European options prices. In particular using a few calendar dates, we derive closed form expressions for both the local variance and the local default arrival rate.