This paper studies recurring annual events potentially introducing seasonality into gold prices. We analyze gold returns for each month from 1980 to 2010 and find that September and November are the only months with positive and statistically significant gold price changes. This “autumn...

We analyse the extent to which prices in the sovereign credit default swap (CDS) and bond markets reflect the same information on credit risk in the context of the current crisis of the European Monetary Union (EMU). We first document that deviations between CDS and bond spreads are related to...

We build a dataset of the industrial composition of the stock market and the economy for 26 countries. This composition is far from representative of that of the economy, particularly in less-developed markets. Based on this, we build a measure of scarcity of investable securities and show that...

We propose a novel approach to cross-sectional equities sample selection, derived from best market practice in index construction and focused on investability. Using the U.K. market as a template, we first demonstrate how the popular Datastream dataset is plagued by data deficiencies that would...

The recent financial crisis renewed concerns about a possible destabilizing impact of derivatives trading. Despite a very active research, the question whether or not derivatives tend to destabilize financial markets has not yet been answered to satisfaction. This contribution aims to revise the...

In this paper we empirically test the dependence of the Russian stock market on the world stock market, world oil prices and Russian political and economic news during the period 2001-2010. We find that oil prices are not significant after 2006, the Japan stock index is significant over the...

Anonymous trading is the norm in today's financial markets but there are a few exceptions. We study one such case, the OMX Nordic Exchanges (Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Reykjavik) that have traditionally been more transparent than most other markets. On June 2, 2008 OMX Nordic switched...

This study addresses the impact of equity market liquidity on Canadian economic growth and investigates how consumer attitudes/sentiments affect the dynamic macro-liquidity relationship. Using various market liquidity proxies (e.g., illiquidity ratio and open interest of equity futures) while...

One of the great unknowns in international finance is the process by which new information influences exchange rate behavior. Until recently, data constraints have limited our ability to examine this issue. The Olsen and Associates high-frequency spot market data greatly expand the range of...

We analyze the mechanism of return and volatility spillover effects from the Chinese to the Japanese stock market. We construct a stock price index comprised of those companies that have substantial operations in China. This China-related index responds to changes in the Shanghai Composite Index...