Mean-variance portfolios using Bayesian vector-autoregressive forcasts

Protfolio optimization is very sensitive to the forecats of returns and (co-)variances of the underlying assets. This paper applies a Bayesian vector-autoregression of the asset universe to predict the returns. Further, the co-variance matrix is forecasted by an Augmented GARCH estimation of the most volatile principle components of the return series. As an empirical illustration, the daily stock returns of the German stocks index DAX have been used to calculate some well-known mean-variance portfolios. Back-testing is used to evaluate the performance. The approach seems to be promising.     

中国短期利率跳跃行为的实证研究

内容提要：通过在Vasicek模型中引入跳跃强度与宏观经济变量相关的跳跃成分,本文建立了一个更具一般性的跳跃－扩散动态利率期限结构模型,并对该模型的五种不同形式进行了实证比较与分析。借助于新模型和比较结果,本文对中国短期利率的跳跃行为进行了实证研究。结果表明：（1）短期利率不仅存在均值回复和扩散行为,还存在显著的跳跃行为;（2）短期利率的跳跃强度存在显著的正向水平效应和宏观经济效应 ,但水平效应比宏观经济效应更显著;（3）跳跃行为、跳跃强度的水平效应以及宏观经济效应在刻画利率动态行为时都是必要的,现有的跳跃－扩散模型不足以描述中国短期利率的动态行为特征;（4）随着跳跃、跳跃强度的宏观经济效应和水平效应的逐步引入,模型的拟合优度和预测能力逐步显著提高。     

Analysis of a jump-diffusion option pricing model with serially correlated jump sizes

This paper extends the classical jump-diffusion option pricing model to incorporate serially correlated jump sizes which have been documented in recent empirical studies. We model the series of jump sizes by an autoregressive process and provide an analysis on the underlying stock return process. Based on this analysis, the European option price and the hedging parameters under the extended model are derived analytically. Through numerical examples, we investigate how the autocorrelation of jump sizes influences stock returns, option prices and hedging parameters, and demonstrate its effects on hedging portfolios and implied volatility smiles. A calibration example based on real market data is provided to show the advantage of incorporating the autocorrelation of jump sizes.     

Pricing power options with a generalized jump diffusion

In this article, the valuation of power option is investigated when the dynamic of the stock price is governed by a generalized jump-diffusion Markov-modulated model. The systematic risk is characterized by the diffusion part, and the non systematic risk is characterized by the pure jump process. The jumps are described by a generalized renewal process with generalized jump amplitude. By introducing NASDAQ Index Model, their risk premium is identified respectively. A risk-neutral measure is identified by employing Esscher transform with two families of parameters, which represent the two parts risk premium. In this article, the non systematic risk premium is considered, based on which the price of power option is studied under the generalized jump-diffusion Markov-modulated model. In the case of a special renewal process with log double exponential jump amplitude, the accurate expressions for the Esscher parameters and the pricing formula are provided. By numerical simulation, the influence of the non systematic risk’s price and the index of the power options on the price of the option is depicted.     

Return variances of selected German stocks

Models with autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity are used to describe the behavior of the variance of the rate of return on selected German stocks. The results show that these models are superior to the commonly used process with constant variance due to their increased flexibility in situations of changing volatility.     

Bayesian Inference for the Jump-Diffusion Model with M Jumps

In this article, we propose a new class of models—jump-diffusion models with M jumps (JD(M)J). These structures generalize the discretized arithmetic Brownian motion (for logarithmic rates of return) and the Bernoulli jump-diffusion model. The aim of this article is to present Bayesian tools for estimation and comparison of JD(M)J models. Presented methodology is illustrated with two empirical studies, employing both simulated and real-world data (the S&P100 Index).     

Examining heterogeneity in implied equity risk premium using penalized splines

Financial data exhibit complex structures and relations and it is therefore not always possible or expedient to find a suitable parametric functional form to adequately describe the data. To overcome this problem, nonparametric techniques can be used to extract the functional process directly from the data without any a priori specification of the functional shape. We take advantage of this flexibility and use a penalized spline approach to model, over time, the implied equity risk premiums of companies that belong to a local stock exchange index. In finance and macroeconomic research it is common practice to use simple averaging techniques to aggregate the single values, thus obtaining an overview of the stock market of a country or particular groups defined by stock-specific characteristics. The objective is to obtain common patterns or dependencies from individual characteristics. A precondition here is a substantial heterogeneity of the individual stocks, because otherwise one constituent can represent the whole index and the required diversification effect fails. Hence, in this paper we explore if and how this assumption is justified. The examined stock indices are the Dow Jones Industrial Index and the German DAX 30. It turns out that the constituents of both indices show very stock-specific behaviors of their equity risk premium over time. Thus the application of these indices in, e.g., macroeconomic research seems adequate.     

Optimal investment and life insurance strategies in a mixed jump-diffusion framework

Abstract

This article investigates an optimal investment and life insurance strategies in a mixed jump-diffusion framework. The individual life insurance policyholder who has CRRA preferences. The market consists of riskless asset, a zero-coupon bond, a stock and life insurance. The instantaneous interest rate is modeled as the O-U model, while a zero-coupon bond with credit risk follows a BSDE and a risky asset be driven by MJD-fBm model. The problem is solved by the mixed jump diffusion fractional HJB SDE which satisfied the admissible strategy, then the closed form solution and optimal strategies are derived and the simulation of the various parameters are also given.     

Is a pure jump process fitting the high frequency data better than a jump-diffusion process?

Two families of processes: pure jump processes and jump-diffusion processes are widely used in literatures. Recently, empirical findings demonstrate that the underlying processes of high frequency data sets are pure-jump processes of infinite variation in many situations. Statistical tests are also proposed to make the empirical findings theoretically grounded. In this paper, we extend the work of Jing et al. (2012) in two aspects: (1) the jump process in the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis could be different; (2) the null hypothesis covers more flexible processes which are more relevant in finance when considering models for asset prices or nominal interest rates. Theoretically, the test is proven to be very powerful and can control the type I error probabilities well under the nominal level.     

The pricing of defaultable bonds under a regime-switching jump-diffusion model with stochastic default barrier

In this paper, we investigate the price for the zero-coupon defaultable bond under a structural form credit risk with regime switching. We model the value of a firm and the default threshold by two dependent regime-switching jump-diffusion processes, in which the Markov chain represents the states of an economy. The price is associated with the Laplace transform of the first passage time and the expected discounted ratio of the firm value to the default threshold at default. Closed-form results used for calculating the price are derived when the jump sizes follow a regime-switching double exponential distribution. We present some numerical results for the price of the zero-coupon defaultable bond via Gaver-Stehfest algorithm.     

Pricing and hedging equity-indexed annuities via local risk-minimization

Lin et al. (2009) employed the Esscher transform method to price equity-indexed annuities (EIAs) when the dynamic of the market value of a reference asset was driven by a generalized geometric Brownian motion model with regime-switching. Some rare events (release of an unexpected economic figure, major political changes or even a natural disaster in a major economy) can lead to brusque variations in asset prices, and hence we sometimes need to consider jump models. This paper extends the model and analysis in Lin et al. (2009). Specifically, we assume that the financial market has a regime-switching jump-diffusion model, under which we price the point-to-point, the Asian-end, the high water mark and the annual reset EIAs by exploiting the local risk-minimization approach. The effects of the model parameters on the EIAs pricing are illustrated through numerical experiments. Meanwhile, we present the locally risk-minimizing hedging strategies for EIAs.     

中国证券投资基金对股市影响研究

 以1998年3月底金泰、开元两只具有真正意义上的证券投资基金的设立为标志,我国基金业进入了规范发展时期,政府在给予其积极政策扶持的同时,也对其稳定股市的功能寄予了厚望。但在实践中,证券投资基金对股市的影响却引来了不同的争议。本文试从基金所持货币资产比例、基金股票持有期限及基金股票差价收益与股息收益的比例三个方面来分析证券投资基金对股市的实际影响,并在挖掘造成这种结果的深层次内部和外部原因基础上提出对策建议。     

连续贝塔、非连续贝塔与股票风险溢酬

本文利用高频数据将传统的CAPM贝塔分解为连续贝塔和非连续贝塔（跳跃贝塔和隔夜贝塔），并在此基础上进一步考虑正向市场和负向市场的非对称性，将跳跃贝塔又细分为正向跳跃贝塔和负向跳跃贝塔，以探讨不同类型系统性风险的特征差异及其所对应的风险溢酬。实证结果表明，个股对市场发生的非连续变动比连续变动更加敏感，投资者对市场发生的负向跳跃比正向跳跃反应更加强烈；中国股票市场上的系统性非连续风险溢酬（跳跃风险溢酬和隔夜风险溢酬）显著为正，但系统性连续风险并没有得到定价；其中，跳跃风险溢酬则主要来源于对系统性负向跳跃风险的补偿，而正向跳跃风险对股票横截面收益率没有显著的影响。     

Box–Cox realized asymmetric stochastic volatility models with generalized Student's t-error distributions

This study proposes a class of non-linear realized stochastic volatility (SV) model by applying the Box–Cox (BC) transformation, instead of the logarithmic transformation, to the realized estimator. The non-Gaussian distributions such as Student's t, non-central Student's t, and generalized hyperbolic skew Student's t-distributions are applied to accommodate heavy-tailedness and skewness in returns. The proposed models are fitted to daily returns and realized kernel of six stocks: SP500, FTSE100, Nikkei225, Nasdaq100, DAX, and DJIA using an Markov chain Monte Carlo Bayesian method, in which the Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) algorithm updates BC parameter and the Riemann manifold HMC algorithm updates latent variables and other parameters that are unable to be sampled directly. Empirical studies provide evidence against both the logarithmic transformation and raw versions of realized SV model.     

Dynamic reliability models with conditional proportional hazards

A dynamic approach to the stochastic modelling of reliability systems is further explored. This modelling approach is particularly appropriate for load-sharing, software reliability, and multivariate failure-time models, where component failure characteristics are affected by their degree of use, amount of load, or extent of stresses experienced. This approach incorporates the intuitive notion that when a set of components in a coherent system fail at a certain time, there is a jump from one structure function to another which governs the residual lifetimes of the remaining functioning components, and since the component lifetimes are intrinsically affected by the structure function which they constitute, then at such a failure time there should also be a jump in the stochastic structure of the lifetimes of the remaining components. For such dynamically-modelled systems, the stochastic characteristics of their jump times are studied. These properties of the jump times allow us to obtain the properties of the lifetime of the system. In particular, for a Markov dynamic model, specific expressions for the exact distribution functions of the jump times are obtained for a general coherent system, a parallel system, and a series-parallel system. We derive a new family of distribution functions which describes the distributions of the jump times for a dynamically-modelled system.     

The Variance Risk Premium: Components,Term Structures,and Stock Return Predictability

This article examines the properties of the variance risk premium (VRP). We propose a flexible asset pricing model that captures co-jumps in prices and volatility, and self-exciting jump clustering. We estimate the model on equity returns and variance swap rates at different horizons. The total VRP is negative and has a downward-sloping term structure, while its jump component displays an upward-sloping term structure. The abrupt and persistent response of the short-term jump VRP to extreme events makes this specific premium a proxy for investors’ fear of a market crash. Furthermore, the use of the VRP level and slope, and of its components, helps improve the short-run predictability of equity excess returns.     

Dynamic semiparametric factor models in risk neutral density estimation

Dynamic semiparametric factor models (DSFM) simultaneously smooth in space and are parametric in time, approximating complex dynamic structures by time invariant basis functions and low dimensional time series. In contrast to traditional dimension reduction techniques, DSFM allows the access of the dynamics embedded in high dimensional data through the lower dimensional time series. In this paper, we study the time behavior of risk assessments from investors facing random financial payoffs. We use DSFM to estimate risk neutral densities from a dataset of option prices on the German stock index DAX. The dynamics and term structure of risk neutral densities are investigated by Vector Autoregressive (VAR) methods applied on the estimated lower dimensional time series.     

An optimal investment and risk control policy for a bank under exponential utility

Motivated by the Basel Capital Accord Requirement (CAR), we analyze a risk control portfolio selection problem under exponential utility when a banker faces both Brownian and jump risks. The banker's risk process and the dynamics of the risky asset process are modeled as jump-diffusion processes. Assuming that the constraint set of all trading strategies is in a closed set, we study the terminal utility optimization problem via the backward stochastic differential equation (BSDE) under risk regulation paradigm. We construct the BSDE by means of the martingale optimality principle, giving conditions for the corresponding generator to be well defined in order to derive the bounds on the candidate optimal strategy. We then construct an internal model for the bank under Basel III CAR, which is formulated from the total risk-weighted assets (TRWA's) and bank capital. The results obtained from this model can be adopted within the banking sector when setting up asset investment strategies and advanced risk management models, as advocated by the Basel III Accord.     

Testing for autocorrelation among common stock returns

We consider the null distribution of autocorrelation coefficients for stock returns when the variance of the returns is infinite. We show that the empirical autocorrelations then tend to zero faster than in the standard case and that they tend, after suitable normalisation, in distribution to a rather complicated nonnormal law. An empirical application to the 14 most busy German stocks reveals that the significance of observed correlations is thereby in general reduced.     

ARFIMAX and ARFIMAX-TARCH realized volatility modeling

ARFIMAX models are applied in estimating the intra-day realized volatility of the CAC40 and DAX30 indices. Volatility clustering and asymmetry characterize the logarithmic realized volatility of both the indices. The ARFIMAX model with time-varying conditional heteroskedasticity is the best performing specification and, at least in the case of DAX30, provides statistically superior next trading day's realized volatility forecasts.