Different theoretical and numerical methods for calculating the fair-value of a variance swap give rise to systematic biases that are most pronounced during volatile periods. For instance, differences of 10-20 percentage points would have been observed on fair-value index variance swap rates...

This article studies the link between the predictability of futures returns and the business cycle. Modelling the relationship between the variation through time in expected futures returns and economic activity should give us some insight as to whether the predictable movements in futures...

Using a rich dataset of high frequency historical information we study the determinants of European sovereign bond returns over calm and crisis periods. We find that the importance of the equity risk factor varies greatly over time and crucially depends on country risk. In low risk countries,...

This paper examines the ability of several different continuous-time one and two-factor jump-diffusion models to capture the dynamics of the VIX volatility index for the period between 1990 and 2010. For the one-factor models we study affine and non-affine specifications, possibly augmented with...

A comprehensive description of the trading and statistical characteristics of VIX futures and their exchange-traded notes motivates our study of their benefits to equity investors seeking to diversify their exposure. We analyze when diversification into VIX futures is ex-ante optimal for...

Recent research advocates volatility diversification for long equity investors. It can even be justified when short-term expected returns are highly negative, but only when its equilibrium return is ignored. Its advantages during stock market crises are clear but we show that the high...

This paper examines the ability of twelve different continuous-time two-factor models with mean-reverting stochastic volatility to capture the dynamics of the S&P 500 and three European equity indices. The stochastic volatility models are the square root variance, GARCH, and log volatility...

This paper investigates the role of credit and liquidity factors in explaining corporate CDS price changes during normal and crisis periods. We find that liquidity risk is more important than credit risk regardless of market conditions. Moreover, in the period prior to the recent ‘Great...

This paper presents an empirical study of hedging the four largest US index exchange traded funds (ETFs). When hedging each ETF position with its own index futures we find that it is difficult to improve on the naïve 1:1 futures hedge, that hedging is less effective around the time of dividend...

Convertible bonds are hybrid securities whose pricing relies on a set of complex inter-dependencies due to the sensitivity to interest rate risk, underlying (equity) risk, FX risk, and credit risk, and due to the convertible bond’s early exercise American feature. We present a two factor model...