Financial markets

• December 24, 2004

  Government of Canada Yield-Curve Dynamics, 1986-2003

  Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2004-2005 Grahame Johnson

  A database of historical Government of Canada zero-coupon yield curves developed at the Bank of Canada is introduced in this article, which also includes an initial statistical analysis of the behaviour and evolution of the zero-coupon interest (spot) rates over the full period and two distinct subperiods. Specific areas of interest include the evolution of the levels of key interest rates and yield-curve measures over the sample as well as daily changes in the key interest rates and the yield-curve measures; the identification of a relatively small number of factors that drove the evolution of the yield curve; and the total returns that would have been realized by holding bonds of different maturities for a given holding period.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Debt management, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets

• Trade Credit and Credit Rationing in Canadian Firms

  Staff Working Paper 2004-49 Rose Cunningham

  Burkart and Ellingsen's (2004) model of trade credit and bank credit rationing predicts that trade credit will be used by medium-wealth and low-wealth firms to help ease bank credit rationing.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G1, G14, G2, G21, G3, G32

• An Empirical Analysis of the Canadian Term Structure of Zero-Coupon Interest Rates

  Staff Working Paper 2004-48 David Bolder, Adam Metzler, Grahame Johnson

  Zero-coupon interest rates are the fundamental building block of fixed-income mathematics, and as such have an extensive number of applications in both finance and economics.

  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

• The Monetary Origins of Asymmetric Information in International Equity Markets

  Staff Working Paper 2004-47 Gregory Bauer, Clara Vega

  Existing studies using low-frequency data show that macroeconomic shocks contribute little to international stock market covariation.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): F, F3, F30, G, G1, G12, G14, G15

• Modelling the Evolution of Credit Spreads in the United States

  Staff Working Paper 2004-45 Stuart Turnbull, Jun Yang

  The authors use Jarrow and Turnbull's (1995) reduced-form methodology to model the evolution of the term structure of interest rates in the United States for different credit classes and different industries.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12, G13
• November 22, 2004

  The Evolving Financial System and Public Policy: Conference Highlights and Lessons

  Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2004 Pierre St-Amant, Carolyn A. Wilkins

  At the 12th annual Bank of Canada economic conference, held in Ottawa on 4 and 5 December 2003, representatives from various public and private organizations and Bank of Canada staff discussed papers presented on three key issues affecting the financial system: financial contagion, the implications of bank diversification, and financial sector regulation. Papers on financial contagion studied the effect of globalization on Canadian foreign-asset exposures, developed a general-equilibrium model of a competitive interfirm lending market in which firms can borrow or lend, and used market-based indicators to determine the probability that contagion can be generated by interbank exposures. The papers on bank diversification focused on the links between the changing behaviour of financial institutions and risk-return trade-offs. Issues of financial sector regulation included the relationship between governance and financial sector soundness, the theoretical basis of bank regulations for capital requirements, and the implications of bank capital requirements for the transmission of monetary policy. A panel discussion provided extended discussion of the conference papers.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial services

• International Equity Flows and Returns: A Quantitative Equilibrium Approach

  Staff Working Paper 2004-42 Rui Albuquerque, Martin Schneider, Gregory Bauer

  The authors model trading by foreign and domestic investors in developed-country equity markets.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): F, F3, F30, G, G1, G12, G14, G15
• August 24, 2004

  The Efficiency of Canadian Capital Markets: Some Bank of Canada Research

  Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2004 Scott Hendry, Michael R. King

  Capital markets and their related financial instruments make an important contribution to the welfare of Canadians. The Bank of Canada is interested in the efficient functioning of capital markets through each of its responsibilities for monetary policy, the financial system, and funds management. Hendry and King highlight the key findings of Bank research published over the past year that addresses capital market efficiency and summarize lessons that have been learned. The research conducted thus far suggests that Canadian capital markets are efficient for a capital market of Canada's size but are less diverse than the U.S. capital markets, indicating that there is room for improvement in certain areas.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial markets, Financial services, Interest rates, Market structure and pricing
• August 23, 2004

  The Evolution of Liquidity in the Market for Government of Canada Bonds

  Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2004 Stacey Anderson, Stéphane Lavoie

  Using turnover ratios, Anderson and Lavoie describe the recent evolution of liquidity in various secondary government bond markets, focusing specifically on the market for Government of Canada securities. They attribute much of the recent variation in liquidity to such cyclical factors as changes in the interest rate environment and investors' appetite for risk, as well as developments in equity markets in the late 1990s. They also examine longer-term structural and policy-related trends, including the rate of adoption of financial and technological innovations and the level of government borrowing and debt-management initiatives.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Debt management, Financial markets, Recent economic and financial developments

• Uninsurable Investment Risks

  Staff Working Paper 2004-29 Césaire Meh, Vincenzo Quadrini

  The authors study a general-equilibrium economy in which agents have the ability to invest in a risky technology.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial markets JEL Code(s): D, D3, D31, E, E2, E21, G, G0