Based on daily VDAX data this paper analyzes the factors governing the movements of implied volatilities of options on the German stock index DAX. Using Principal Components Analysis over the sample period from 1996 to 1997, we derive common factors representing "shift" and "curvature" of the...

We use ideas from estimating function theory to derive new, simply computed consistent covariance matrix estimates in nonparametric regression and in a class of semiparametric problems. Unlike other estimates in the literature, ours do not require auxiliary or additional nonparametric...

We introduce a general continuous-time model for an illiquid financial market where the trades of a single large investor can move market prices. The model is specified in terms of parameter dependent semimartingales, and its mathematical analysis relies on the non-linear integration theory of...

We consider models of time continuous financial markets with a regular trader and an insider who are able to invest into one risky asset. The insider's additional knowledge consists in his ability to stop a random time which is inaccessible to the regular trader, such as the last passage of a...

The Normal Inverse Gaussian (NIG) distribution recently introduced by Barndorff-Nielsen (1997) is a promising alternative for modelling financial data exhibiting skewness and fat tails. In this paper we explore the Bayesian estimation of NIG-parameters by Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods. --...