The duration extraction effect
Under non-conventional monetary policy central banks influence financial markets through the “portfolio rebalancing channel”. The purchase of assets changes the structure of prices. A...
Tiered reserve systems
Negative monetary policy rates can undermine financial transmission, because they encourage cash hoarding and reduce the profitability of traditional banking. This danger increases with...
Signaling systemic risk
Systemic financial crises arise when vulnerable financial systems meet adverse shocks. A systemic risk indicator tracks the vulnerability rather than the shocks (which are...
How to estimate risk in extreme market situations
Estimating portfolio risk in extreme situations means answering two questions: First, has the market entered an extreme state? Second, how are returns likely to...
Understanding China’s “financial policy”
In most developed countries macroeconomic management is the domain of separate fiscal and monetary policies. In China, the focus is on “financial policy”, a...
ECB policy framework in six basic points
The European Central Bank is one of the most powerful institutions in the world and is running a particularly complex policy framework. For macro...
How systemic financial risk is measured
Public institutions have developed a wide range of methods to track systemic financial risk. What most of them have in common is reliance on...
How convenience yields have compressed real interest rates
Real interest rates on ‘safe’ assets such as high-quality government bonds had been stationary around 2% for more than a century until the 1980s....
How regulatory reform shapes the financial cycle
Ambitious regulatory reform has changed the dynamics of the global financial system. Capital ratios of banks have increased significantly, reining in bank credit. Counter-cyclical...
Predicting equity volatility with return dispersion
Equity return dispersion is measured as the standard deviation of returns across different stocks or portfolios. Unlike volatility it can be measured even for...
RECENT ARTICLES
Rebalancing and market price distortions
Price distortions are an important source of short-term trading profits, particularly in turbulent markets. Here price distortions mean apparent price-value gaps that arise from...
Equity return anomalies and their causes
The vast range of academically researched equity return anomalies can be condensed into five categories: return momentum, outperformance of high valuation, ...
Basic factor investment for bonds
Popular factors for government bond investment are “carry”, “momentum”, “value” and “defensive”. “Carry” depends on the steepness of the yield curve, which to some...