This study explores whether the credit risk anomaly exhibits option-like behavior similar to the momentum anomaly. Employing a market-timing regression model as in Daniel and Moskowitz (2013), it finds that the inverted credit risk spread indeed displays option-like behavior in bear market...

Models of “contagion” rely on market imperfections to explain why adverse shocks in one asset market might be associated with asset sales in many unrelated markets. This paper demonstrates that contagion can be explained with basic portfolio theory without recourse to market imperfections....