This paper uses a panel data estimation of a simple univariate model of sovereign spreads on ratings to analyze statistically significant deviations from the estimated relationship. We find evidence of an asymmetric adjustment of spreads and ratings when such deviations are significant. In...

Crises on external sovereign debt are typically defined as defaults. Such a definition accurately captures debt-servicing difficulties in the 1980s, a period of numerous defaults on bank loans. However, defining defaults as debt crises is problematic for the 1990s, when sovereign bond markets...

We examine the response of U.S. (VIX) and German (VDAX) implied volatility indices to the announcement of interest rate policy decisions by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and the European Central Bank (ECB). We confirm prior findings that VIX declines on FOMC meetings days. We present...

In this paper, we develop a financial stress index for France that can be used as a real-time composite indicator for the state of financial stability in France. We take 17 financial variables from different market segments and extract a common stress component using a dynamic approximate factor...

The globalization of banking in the United States is influencing the monetary transmission mechanism both domestically and in foreign markets. Using quarterly information from all U.S. banks filing call reports between 1980 and 2005, we find evidence for the lending channel for monetary policy...

In aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, emerging-market governments have increasingly restricted foreign capital inflows. The data show a statistically significant drop in cumulative abnormal returns for Brazilian firms following capital control announcements. Large firms and...

Estimates of U.S. returns differentials have ranged from exorbitant to quite small, in part because of their volatility coupled with the relatively short time series available. We shed light on underlying drivers of returns differentials by presenting a number of decompositions: a by-asset-class...

In this paper we study the relationship between the oil price and stock market index of various countries between 1982 and 2007. We exclude oil and gas stock companies from the stock indices to remove the obvious direct linkage. Oil price series are converted into local currency to account for...

The present contribution is a review article of the book of Alberto Quadrio Curzio and Valeria Miceli "Sovereign Wealth Funds. A complete guide to state-owned investment funds" Harriman House, Petersfield (UK), 2010. This article aims at analyzing the content of the volume in which the authors...

This paper examines the benefits of regionally and globally diversified portfolios from the perspective of investors holding domestic-only portfolios from different Asia-Pacific countries. Three groups of regional portfolio are constructed, with sorting based on relative strength ranking...