A typical decision problem faced by investors is whether or not to include additional asset classes or return drivers into their portfolios. In the context of classical portfolio theory and in the presence of a riskless asset, the relevant criterion is a significant increase in the maximum...

Between September 6, 2011, and January 15, 2015, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) enforced a lower bound of 1.20 on the CHF/EUR exchange rate. In this paper, we view the SNB's commitment to this lower bound as a put option and use a latent likelihood estimation approach to infer (a) where the...

Ledermann et al. (2011) propose random orthogonal matrix (ROM) simulation for generating multivariate samples matching means and covariances exactly. Its computational efficiency compared to standard Monte Carlo methods makes it an interesting alternative. In this paper we enhance this method's...

We derive no-arbitrage bounds for expected excess returns to generate scenarios used in financial optimization. The bounds allow to distinguish three regions: one where arbitrage opportunities will never exist, a second where arbitrage may be present, and a third, where arbitrage opportunities...

We compare two popular scenario tree generation methods in the context of financial optimization: Moment matching and scenario reduction. Using a simple problem with a known analytic solution, we find that moment matching, when accompanied by a check to ensure the absence of arbitrage...

Since its announcement made on Sept. 6, 2011, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) has been pursuing the goal of a minimum EUR/CHF exchange rate of 1.20, promising to intervene on currency markets to prevent the exchange rate from falling below this level. We use a compound option pricing approach to...

Order flow imbalance refers to the difference between market buy and sell orders during a given period. This paper analyzes effects of order flow imbalance on returns of stocks traded on the German Xetra trading system on a daily basis. It is the first study examining this relation for the...

We use data from betting markets to analyze the sensitivity of stock returns to potential outcomes of political events such as elections. By classifying stocks into expected conditional winners and losers prior to such an event, we form portfolios that generate large positive returns after the...

For most events, risk-neutral outcome probabilities are identical across numeraire currencies. Some events, however, such as elections or referendums, may have an impact on exchange rates. This implies numeraire dependence in risk-neutral outcome probabilities, which leads to different state...

Betting quotes provide valuable information on market-implied probabilities for outcomes of events like elections or referendums, which may have an impact on exchange rates. We generate exchange rate forecasts around such events based on a model that combines risk-neutral event probabilities...