We investigate investment managers' use of derivatives by comparing return distributions for equity mutual funds that use and do not use derivatives. In contrast to public perception, derivative users have risk exposure and return performance that are similar to nonusers. We also analyze changes...

The relation between default-free interest rates and expected economic growth is substantially stronger than suggested by extant literature. Futures-implied Treasury bill yield spreads are more highly correlated with future real consumption, investment, and GNP growth than spot spreads. This...

Nearly all futures contracts allow delivery of any of several qualities of the underlyi ng asset. Consequently, the price of the futures contract is associat ed more with the price of the expected cheapest deliverable variety t han with the price of the par-delivery variety. The delivery...