Download PDF Abstract While the literature investigating risk premia driving the cross section of stock returns is extensive, fewer studies analyze corporate bond returns. We set out to understand which factors and firm characteristics command a premium in terms of expected returns on corporate bonds, both in the investment grade Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Credit Default Swaps (CDSs) have had an interesting trajectory to say the least, starting out as a niche derivative, they rose to prominence after the Russian financial crisis of 1998, ballooning into a market worth an enormous $62.2 trillion in 2007. In 2008, this market promptly collapsed, Read more…
Greece has returned in the spotlight again. Since the hard left government of Alexis Tsipras took office in January, tough negotiations on structural reforms, between the new government and Greece’s international creditors, began and they are still ongoing. Fresh worries are now driven by the risk of a partial default Read more…
US US equities climbed to new heights as the week drew to a close with the Nasdaq Composite surpassing its previous peak of 5048.62 points from the year 2000 that marked the height of the dot-com era. The tech-heavy index advanced 3.2% over the last 5 days to close Friday’s Read more…
This week the market division wrote about US, UK and EU, with a particular focus on what is happening in Greece. US The market mover this week in US was the inflation figure – consumer prices fell 0.1% in March with respect to last year, but the core measure of Read more…
US Big news has struck the US economy this week and in particular the ones oil-related has had a strong effect on the market. The US economy has been once again the main driver of the fall in oil prices this week as the country’s stockpiles of crude last week Read more…
US After turmoil in the recent weeks US equities are back to all-time highs. Very solid data on consumer confidence and a Q3 GDP growth rate print of 3.5%, above a lower forecast of 3%, propelled the S&P 500 to 2018.05. Not even the completion of tapering on Wednesday stopped Read more…
US Last week’s losses were followed by some more, as the S&P 500 lost 0.75% to close at 1967.9 and the NASDAQ Composite and DJIA went down 0.81% and 0.6% respectively from their values at the end of last week. Stocks took a beating on Tuesday and Wednesday especially as Read more…
US Equity markets in the US lost ground this week, ending short of the fresh highs touched in the previous one. Macroeconomic data came in mixed, as a solid manufacturing PMI and positive data on new home sales on Tuesday and Wednesday were confounded by disappointing durable goods orders and Read more…
US US equities enjoyed significant gains in the week just past us after trading sideways for most of the summer. The S&P 500 was 1.25% above its closing value last Friday, closing now firmly above the 2,000 level at 2,010. The index clocked in its largest gains mid-week, on the Read more…
[edmc id=1778][/edmc] US Equities closed at record highs in the week just past us; the S&P 500 in particular closed above 1,900 for the first time, gaining 1.29 percentage points from the week’s open. Such good performance, which was also echoed by the Nasdaq Composite (which retraced some of its Read more…
The Emerging Markets sell-off of late January highlighted the importance of the Chinese economy in the global markets and the instability of its financial sector. China has pulled global growth in the last decade, attracting investments, exporting goods all over the world and financing businesses and governments, especially the US. Read more…
[edmc id=1641][/edmc] US This week has been full of economic data. The most relevant are the following: – Final GDP growth for 4th 2013 quarter q/q is 2,6%, still mainly driven by inventories. – Flash manufacturing PMI is at 55.5, a bit lower than expectations. However, this suggests a manufacturing Read more…
[edmc id=1589] [/edmc] US Another volatile week for the markets and for the U.S. ended on Friday amid concerns over Russia. As was expected, Crimea voted for annexation to Russia on Sunday 16th and this led to further sanctions to a group of Russian wealthy individuals that rattled Russia’s economy Read more…
[edmc id=1554][/edmc] U.S. At the end of a week dominated primarily by uncertainty, markets mostly closed in negative territory. Signs of the week that’s past can be clearly seen in the VIX index which has been on a constant hike path since the beginning of 2014. The VIX is seen Read more…