We explore the cost of implicit leverage associated with an S&P 500 Index futures contract and derive an implied financing rate. While this implicit financing rate has often been attractive relative to market rates on explicit financing, the relationship between the implicit and explicit...

We explore the cost of implicit leverage associated with an S&P 500 Index futures contract and derive an implied financing rate (the Futures-Implied Rate or FIR), based on a simple model of stock and futures, without any explicit arbitrage or other relationship to market interest rates. We...