This paper examines the role of asset performance, volatility, illiquidity, and monetary policy on flight-to-quality episodes. We consider flights from stocks into long and short-term Treasuries, and Moody's AAA corporate bonds. Flights are shown to be associated with stock market volatility....

This paper establishes a strong link between the profitability of the momentum strategy and market instability, as gauged by flight-to-quality episodes. Momentum gains are shown to be roughly ten times larger during flight episodes. Further, flights are significantly associated with larger...