Macroeconomic models of equity returns perform poorly. The proportion of daily index returns that these models explain is essentially zero. Instead of relying on macroeconomic determinants, our model includes a concept from microstructure order flow. Order flow is the proximate determinant of...

Our objective in this paper is to examine whether one can use option-implied information to improve mean-variance portfolio selection with a large number of stocks, and to document which aspects of option-implied information are most useful for improving the out-of-sample performance of...

This paper simplifies Merton’s (1973) fund separation theorem by showing that investors will hold hedge funds in their optimal portfolio only to hedge against changes in the slope or position of the instantaneous capital market line. This result allows for incomplete markets and does not...