A factor analysis of bond risk premia

A factor analysis of bond risk premia
Author: Sydney C. Ludvigson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 28
Release: 2009
Genre: Bonds
ISBN:

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This paper uses the factor augmented regression framework to analyze the relation between bond excess returns and the macro economy. Using a panel of 131 monthly macroeconomic time series for the sample 1964:1-2007:12, we estimate 8 static factors by the method of asymptotic principal components. We also use Gibb sampling to estimate dynamic factors from the 131 series reorganized into 8 blocks. Regardless of how the factors are estimated, macroeconomic factors are found to have statistically significant predictive power for excess bond returns. We show how a bias correction to the parameter estimates of factor augmented regressions can be obtained. This bias is numerically trivial in our application. The predictive power of real activity for excess bond returns is robust even after accounting for finite sample inference problems. Forecasts of excess bond returns (or bond risk premia) are countercyclical. This implies that investors are compensated for risks associated with recessions.

Macro Factors in Bond Risk Premia

Macro Factors in Bond Risk Premia
Author: Sydney C. Ludvigson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 22
Release: 2005
Genre: Bonds
ISBN:

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Empirical evidence suggests that excess bond returns are forecastable by financial indicators such as forward spreads and yield spreads, a violation of the expectations hypothesis based on constant risk premia. But existing evidence does not tie the forecastable variation in excess bond returns to underlying macroeconomic fundamentals, as would be expected if the forecastability were attributable to time variation in risk premia. We use the methodology of dynamic factor analysis for large datasets to investigate possible empirical linkages between forecastable variation in excess bond returns and macroeconomic fundamentals. We find that several common factors estimated from a large dataset on U.S. economic activity have important forecasting power for future excess returns on U.S. government bonds. Following Cochrane and Piazzesi (2005), we also construct single predictor state variables by forming linear combinations of either five or six estimated common factors. The single state variables forecast excess bond returns at maturities from two to five years, and do so virtually as well as an unrestricted regression model that includes each common factor as a separate predictor variable. The linear combinations we form are driven by both "real" and "inflation" macro factors, in addition to financial factors, and contain important information about one year ahead excess bond returns that is not captured by forward spreads, yield spreads, or the principal components of the yield covariance matrix.

Analysis of Bond Risk Premia

Analysis of Bond Risk Premia
Author: Lukas Wäger
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012
Genre:
ISBN:

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The focus of this thesis is on bond return predictability and providing an empirical and economic understanding of bond risk premia. The thesis consists of an empirical analysis of time-varying bond risk premia along three major branches of the current term structure literature, namely yields-only, macro-finance and multi-currency term structure models. All these models belong to the well-known class of affine models introduced by Ang and Piazzesi (2003), whereas the latter two embed unspanned factors. Unspanned factors are state variables that have an effect on bond risk premia but do not span the cross-section of yields, as recently introduced by Duffee (2011), Joslin, Priebsch and Singleton (2011) and Boos (2011). The section concerning yields-only models contributes by providing evidence of three priced risk premia of bonds in the US market, extending the analysis of Cochrane and Piazzesi (2005) and Boos (2011). The section concerning macrofinance models adds to the new branch of models with unspanned macro factors and extends existing research by analyzing the effects of unspanned macro factors on risk premia beyond the level risk premium and extending into a broader and longer data set of macroeconomic variables. The section concerning multi-currency models firstly introduces unspanned factors into international models by taking mutually unspanned latent yield curve factors of domestic and foreign countries as state variables. The information in foreign yield curves is found to be partly unspanned by the domestic yield curve and improves bond return predictability beyond local models.

Modern Multi-Factor Analysis of Bond Portfolios

Modern Multi-Factor Analysis of Bond Portfolios
Author: Giovanni Barone-Adesi
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 137
Release: 2015-12-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1137564865

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Where institutions and individuals averagely invest the majority of their assets in money-market and fixed-income instruments, interest rate risk management could be seen as the single most important global financial issue. However, the majority of the key techniques used by most investors were developed several decades ago, and the advantages of multi-factor models are not fully recognised by many researchers and practitioners. This book provides clear and practical insight into bond portfolios and portfolio management through key empirical analysis. The authors use extensive sets of empirical data to describe the value potentially added by more recent techniques to manage interest rate risk relative to traditional techniques and to present empirical evidence of such an added value. Beginning with a description of the simplest models and moving on to the most complex, the authors offer key recommendations for the future of rate risk management.

Economic Forecasting

Economic Forecasting
Author: Graham Elliott
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 566
Release: 2016-04-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691140138

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A comprehensive and integrated approach to economic forecasting problems Economic forecasting involves choosing simple yet robust models to best approximate highly complex and evolving data-generating processes. This poses unique challenges for researchers in a host of practical forecasting situations, from forecasting budget deficits and assessing financial risk to predicting inflation and stock market returns. Economic Forecasting presents a comprehensive, unified approach to assessing the costs and benefits of different methods currently available to forecasters. This text approaches forecasting problems from the perspective of decision theory and estimation, and demonstrates the profound implications of this approach for how we understand variable selection, estimation, and combination methods for forecasting models, and how we evaluate the resulting forecasts. Both Bayesian and non-Bayesian methods are covered in depth, as are a range of cutting-edge techniques for producing point, interval, and density forecasts. The book features detailed presentations and empirical examples of a range of forecasting methods and shows how to generate forecasts in the presence of large-dimensional sets of predictor variables. The authors pay special attention to how estimation error, model uncertainty, and model instability affect forecasting performance. Presents a comprehensive and integrated approach to assessing the strengths and weaknesses of different forecasting methods Approaches forecasting from a decision theoretic and estimation perspective Covers Bayesian modeling, including methods for generating density forecasts Discusses model selection methods as well as forecast combinations Covers a large range of nonlinear prediction models, including regime switching models, threshold autoregressions, and models with time-varying volatility Features numerous empirical examples Examines the latest advances in forecast evaluation Essential for practitioners and students alike

Factor Investing

Factor Investing
Author: Emmanuel Jurczenko
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2017-10-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0081019645

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This new edited volume consists of a collection of original articles written by leading industry experts in the area of factor investing.The chapters introduce readers to some of the latest research developments in the area of equity and alternative investment strategies.Each chapter deals with new methods for constructing and harvesting traditional and alternative risk premia, building strategic and tactical multifactor portfolios, and assessing related systematic investment performances. This volume will be of help to portfolio managers, asset owners and consultants, as well as academics and students who want to improve their knowledge and understanding of systematic risk factor investing. A practical scope An extensive coverage and up-to-date researcch contributions Covers the topic of factor investing strategies which are increasingly popular amongst practitioners

Bond Risk Premia

Bond Risk Premia
Author: John Howland Cochrane
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2002
Genre: Bonds
ISBN:

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This paper studies time variation in expected excess bond returns. We run regressions of annual excess returns on forward rates. We find that a single factor predicts 1-year excess returns on 1-5 year maturity bonds with an R2 up to 43%. The single factor is a tent-shaped linear function of forward rates. The return forecasting factor has a clear business cycle correlation: Expected returns are high in bad times, and low in good times, and the return-forecasting factor forecasts long-run output growth. The return-forecasting factor also forecasts stock returns, suggesting a common time-varying premium for real interest rate risk. The return forecasting factor is poorly related to level, slope, and curvature movements in bond yields. Therefore, it represents a source of yield curve movement not captured by most term structure models. Though the return-forecasting factor accounts for more than 99% of the time-variation in expected excess bond returns, we find additional, very small factors that forecast equally small differences between long term bond returns, and hence statistically reject a one-factor model for expected returns

Bond Risk Premia

Bond Risk Premia
Author: Harald Tolleshaug
Publisher:
Total Pages: 109
Release: 2009
Genre:
ISBN:

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Forecasting the expected returns on bonds with increasing certainty is wanted from all rational investors in the fixed income markets. The potential for higher returns increase with the ability to forecast expected returns, through better trading payoffs and improved hedging and risk management. The expectations hypothesis was long prevailing in the academical litterature. It stated that the rational investor was expected to require zero or at least a constant excess return on bonds with long maturity over short maturity. This is equal to no time varying risk premiums. It is however reasonable for the rational investor to have time varying risk preferences based on the economic situation and outlook for the future, as described by Cochrane (1999). Thus, bonds with different maturity may be priced with different risk in an efficient market, and accordingly have time varying risk premiums. The expectations hypothesis has thus been rejected. This has been manifested through the classical studies of Fama and Bliss (1987) as well as Campbell and Shiller (1991). These studies modelled predictions of bond returns on specific maturities, with a R2 up to 18%. In a new and original approach, Cochrane and Piazzesi (2005) models a single-factor that predicts bond returns of any maturity, with a R2 up to 44%, more than doubled from the studies mentioned above. This is done on the same dataset as Fama and Bliss (1987) used and would be a big discovery within the field, if the model can be accepted across time and datasets. I test the model of Cochrane and Piazzesi (2005) based on the framework that these used originally, as well as new tests they have provided as response to critique of the model. So far, no other paper has rejected this model on all these dimensions. I use very well accepted data, and reject the model in every dimension tested. This paper is thus the rejection of the Cochrane and Piazzesi (2005) single-factor bond forecasting model.

The Price and Quantity of Interest Rate Risk

The Price and Quantity of Interest Rate Risk
Author: Jennifer N. Carpenter
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

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Studies of the dynamics of bond risk premia that do not account for the corresponding dynamics of bond risk are hard to interpret. We propose a new approach to modeling bond risk and risk premia. For each of the US and China, we reduce the government bond market to its first two principal-component bond-factor portfolios. For each bond-factor portfolio, we estimate the joint dynamics of its volatility and Sharpe ratio as functions of yield curve variables, and of VIX in the US. We have three main findings. (1) There is an important second factor in bond risk premia. (2) Time variation in bond return volatility is as important as time variation in bond Sharpe ratios. (3) Bond risk premia are solely compensation for bond risk, as no-arbitrage theory predicts. Our approach also allows us to document interesting cyclical and secular time-variation in the term structure of bond risk premia in both the US and China.

Corporate Bond Risk Premia

Corporate Bond Risk Premia
Author: Christian Speck
Publisher:
Total Pages: 63
Release: 2013
Genre:
ISBN:

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This paper investigates the holding period risk premia of U.S. corporate and Treasury bonds. Using excess return regressions, two priced risk factors are derived from yield and macroeconomic data: a priced term risk factor and a priced credit risk factor explain half of the variation in one-year corporate and Treasury excess returns. The information of the term risk factor is not represented by major yield characteristics but is a hidden risk factor whereas the credit risk factor is not hidden. The term risk premium is earned primarily for exposure to inflation and the yield level and the credit risk premium is earned for an exposure to real growth and the credit spread level. The regression results are usefull for the specification of the market prices of risk in affine credit term structure models: The two-factor representation of the risk premium suggests a rank restriction on the market prices of risk and an additional pricing factor to capture the hidden property of term risk.