Financial markets

• Shift Contagion in Asset Markets

  Staff Working Paper 2003-5 Toni Gravelle, Maral Kichian, James Morley

  The authors develop a new methodology to investigate how crises cause the relationship between financial variables to change. Two possible sources of increased co-movement between markets during high-variance episodes are considered: larger common shocks operating through standard market linkages, and a structural change in the propagation of shocks between markets, called "shift contagion."

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, F, F4, F42, G, G1, G15

• Are Distorted Beliefs Too Good to be True?

  Staff Working Paper 2003-4 Miroslav Misina

  In a recent attempt to account for the equity-premium puzzle within a representative-agent model, Cecchetti, Lam, and Mark (2000) relax the assumption of rational expectations and in its place use the assumption of distorted beliefs. The author shows that the explanatory power of the distorted beliefs model is due to an inconsistency in the model and that an attempt to remove this inconsistency removes the model's explanatory power.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial markets JEL Code(s): D, D8, D84, G, G1, G12
• December 20, 2002

  Transparency and the Response of Interest Rates to the Publication of Macroeconomic Data

  Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2002-2003 Nicolas Parent

  The benefits of transparency—the outcome of the measures taken by the central bank to allow financial markets and economic agents to understand the factors it takes into account in formulating monetary policy—are now widely recognized. These benefits include smoother implementation of monetary policy and increased effectiveness as markets improve their ability to anticipate the Bank's policy decisions and account for them in their operations. How interest rates respond to the publication of macroeconomic data depends on the degree of transparency in monetary policy, as the rates will rise or fall as a reflection of the market's revised expectations. Before the Bank of Canada adopted initiatives to improve transparency, such as the inflation-control targets, the semi-annual publication of the Monetary Policy Report and Updates, and the fixed announcement dates, changes to the overnight rate created some volatility in interest rates, and publishing Canadian macroeconomic data did not appear to have a major impact on rates. This article shows how the Bank of Canada's steps towards greater transparency have increased the impact of Canadian data on short-term interest rates and have improved financial markets' understanding of how monetary policy decisions are taken.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial markets, Interest rates, Monetary policy and uncertainty

• The Impact of Common Currencies on Financial Markets: A Literature Review and Evidence from the Euro Area

  Staff Working Paper 2002-35 Liliane Karlinger

  This paper reviews both the theoretical and empirical literature on the impact of common currencies on financial markets and evaluates the first three years of experience with Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Exchange rate regimes, Financial markets JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, F, F2, F21, F3, F36, G, G1, G15

• How Do Canadian Banks That Deal in Foreign Exchange Hedge Their Exposure to Risk?

  Staff Working Paper 2002-34 Chris D'Souza

  This paper examines the daily hedging and risk-management practices of financial intermediaries in the Canadian foreign exchange (FX) market.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): F, F3, F31, G, G1, G14, G2, G21

• Alternative Trading Systems: Does One Shoe Fit All?

  Staff Working Paper 2002-33 Nicolas Audet, Toni Gravelle, Jing Yang

  This paper examines the factors that lead liquidity-motivated investors to choose the type of market structure they prefer.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G1, G10, G14, G18

• Exponentials, Polynomials, and Fourier Series: More Yield Curve Modelling at the Bank of Canada

  Staff Working Paper 2002-29 David Bolder, Scott Gusba

  This paper continues the work started by Bolder and Stréliski (1999) and considers two alternative classes of models for extracting zero-coupon and forward rates from a set of observed Government of Canada bond and treasury-bill prices.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Interest rates JEL Code(s): C, C0, C6, E, E4, G, G1

• Financial Structure and Economic Growth: A Non-Technical Survey

  Staff Working Paper 2002-24 Veronika Dolar, Césaire Meh

  There is a large body of literature that studies the relationship between financial structure (that is, the degree to which the financial system is either market- or intermediary-based) and long-run economic growth.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Development economics, Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial services JEL Code(s): F, F3, F36, G, G0, G00, G1, G14, G2, G21, K, K2, K22, O, O1, O16

• A Market Microstructure Analysis of Foreign Exchange Intervention in Canada

  Staff Working Paper 2002-16 Chris D'Souza

  This paper clarifies the role and the impact of foreign exchange dealers in the relationship between foreign exchange intervention and nominal exchange rates using a unique dataset that disaggregates trades by dealer and by type of trade.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Exchange rates, Financial institutions, Financial markets JEL Code(s): F, F3, F31, G, G1, G14, G2, G21

• Corporate Bond Spreads and the Business Cycle

  Staff Working Paper 2002-15 Zhiwei Zhang

  This paper examines the predictive power of credit spreads from the corporate bond market. The high-yield bond spread and investment-grade spread can explain 68 per cent and 42 per cent of output variations one year ahead, while the term spread based on government debts can explain only 12 per cent of them.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Monetary and financial indicators, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E3, E5, G, G1