We develop an econometric method to detect "abnormal trades" in option markets, i.e., trades which are not driven by liquidity motives. Abnormal trades are characterized by unusually large increments in open interest, trading volume, and option returns, and are not used for option hedging purposes. We use a multiple hypothesis testing technique to control for false discoveries in abnormal trades. We apply the method to 9.6 million of daily option prices
Purpose – Investment advisors play a significant role in financial markets, yet the determinants of their behavior have not been explored in detail. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of how actively advisors communicate about sustainable investing with their clients, and differences in the preferences of advisors compared to investors. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a survey with 296 retail and private banking investment advisors, this study employs an ordinary least squares regression model to explore the determinants of advisors activity in communicating about sustainable investing (SI) with their clients, differences in the aspects that matter to advisors and investors, and the role of the complexity of sustainability. Findings – Advisors activity in communicating about SI relates to their expectation of SI regarding financial return, real-world impact, and the fuzziness and trustworthiness of SI. Advisors appear not to be influenced by expected risk and their personal values, which runs against prior research findings and the interest of investors. Research limitations/implications – Future research should assess cultural differences and explore asymmetries between advisors and investors in regard to the role of volatility, values, impact measurement, and complexity. Practical implications – Investment advisors underweighting aspects related to risk and selftranscendent values relative to their clients might limit the suitability of clients' portfolios, skew capital allocation, and depress the role of SI in financial markets. Generalized to salespeople this behavior might depress the market success of products related to sustainability at large. Social implications – The findings and their generalization indicate that salespeople might systematically deviate from their clients’ interests in regard to social responsibility. Advisors and salespeople in their mediating role might be an important barrier to sustainable development. Originality/value – This is the first quantitative study that explores the decision-making by investment advisors in the context of SI, and as such answers to specific calls in literature to explore the micro-foundations of decision making in regard to SI and social responsibility, and on the relationship between private investors and investment advisors. This study is based on unique and original empirical data on advisors that work with retail and wealthy private investors.
Past trends in a broad range of fundamental variables predict currency returns. We document that a trading strategy that goes long currencies in countries with strong economic momentum and short currencies in countries with weak economic momen- tum exhibits an annualized Sharpe ratio of about one and yields a significant alpha when controlling for standard carry, momentum, and value strategies. The economic momentum strategy subsumes the alpha of carry trades, suggesting that cross-country di↵erences in carry are captured by di↵erences in past economic trends. Moreover, we study investors’ expectations of fundamental variables and find the expectations to be extrapolative but negatively related to the portfolio weights, which rank economic trends across countries.
Les marchés financiers et les grandes banques ont atteint une taille, une complexité et un degré d’opacité particulièrement inquiétants, qui leur permet d’accroître encore plus leur pouvoir. Au niveau international, les dirigeants élus, qu’ils soient de gauche ou de droite, n’appliquent le plus souvent qu’une seule et même politique économique, celle qui répond aux intérêts de l’aristocratie financière, et qui ne fait qu’accentuer la crise et assombrir les perspectives d’avenir : il est paradoxal qu’une petite minorité de la population mondiale soit en situation d’imposer sa volonté à l’ensemble de la société. Aujourd’hui, c’est au nom de la satisfaction de marchés financiers, qui par nature demeurent insatisfaits, que les générations actuelles souffrent. En 1914, au nom de la nation, la jeunesse européenne fut sacrifiée dans les charniers d’une longue et cruelle guerre. Hier comme aujourd’hui, la démocratie est mise en échec, puisque les politiques suivies ne correspondent ni aux intérêts ni aux aspirations du plus grand nombre. Résoudre cette crise, soigner ce cancer qui ronge la société requiert essentiellement le respect de principes de base, plutôt que l’utilisation de recettes au goût amer : d’une part, il faut réanimer la démocratie – la sortir de son coma –, d’autre part, il s’agit de remettre la sphère financière à sa place, c’est-à-dire au service de l’économie et de la société. C’est ce à quoi s’intéresse Marc Chesney dans cet essai implacable, dans lequel il montre comment les lobbies du secteur financier s’activent pour bloquer tout type d’avancées dans ce domaine.
We introduce a tractable class of non-ane price processes with multifrequency stochastic volatil- ity and jumps. The specications require few xed parameters and deliver fast option pricing. One key ingredient is a tight link between jumps and volatility regimes, as asset pricing theory suggests. Empirically, the model matches implied volatility surfaces and their dynamics with- out requiring parameter recalibration. A variety of metrics show improvements over traditional benchmarks in- and out-of-sample.
This paper describes three insolvency codes, those of the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, and the United States (US) and compares their efficiency against a number of benchmarks. These codes have been chosen because they cover a broad spectrum of debtor- and creditor-oriented insolvency procedures. The paper also compares the plans of distressed firms' reorganizations both within and outside the formal bankruptcy process, including the size of write downs and creditors' claims and the deviations from absolute priority which have accrued both to equityholders and different classes of creditors. Some evidence of the costs of bankruptcy is also provided for each country.
This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the primary and secondary market for Finnish treasury bonds. The paper focuses on three issues. First, we report basic descriptive statistics such as auction volumes and secondary market yields and volumes. Second, we estimate the revenues earned by primary dealers from the treasury bond market. Third, we analyse the development of the price of the auctioned bonds, relative to other benchmark bonds, around the time of the auction. We find evidence of a price decrease in the auctioned bond series before the auction and a price increase after the auction. This pattern is strongest for 1992-1994 when Treasury funding needs were heavy and secondary market trading volume of treasury bonds was modest.
