Minimum-variance portfolios, which ignore the mean and focus on the (co)variances of asset returns, outperform mean-variance approaches in out-of-sample tests. Despite these promising results, minimum-variance policies fail to deliver a superior performance compared with the simple 1/N rule. In...

This article proposes a novel approach to portfolio revision. The current literature on portfolio optimization uses a somewhat naive approach, where portfolio weights are always completely revised after a predefined fixed period. However, one shortcoming of this procedure is that it ignores...

We examine the use of credit default swaps (CDS) in the U.S. mutual fund industry. We find that among the largest 100 corporate bond funds the use of CDS has increased from 20% in 2004 to 60% in 2008. Among CDS users, the average size of CDS positions (measured by their notional values)...

Manipulation in the VIX settlement can cause significant losses to investors. Analysing high-frequency data, we present indications of VIX manipulation accelerating since 2017. Deviations have an upward direction and average at around 6%. Specific effects accompany settlement days. The put/call...