We find economically and statistically significant gains when using machine learning for portfolio allocation between the market index and risk-free asset. Optimal portfolio rules for time-varying expected returns and volatility are implemented with two Random Forest models. One model is...

This textbook emphasizes the applications of statistics and probability to finance. Students are assumed to have had a prior course in statistics, but no background in finance or economics. The basics of probability and statistics are reviewed and more advanced topics in statistics, such as...