Macro Factors in the Term Structure of Credit Spreads

Macro Factors in the Term Structure of Credit Spreads PDF Author: Jeffery D. Amato
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Corporate bonds
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
We estimate arbitrage-free term structure models of US Treasury yields and spreads on BBB and B rated corporate bonds in a doubly-stochastic intensity-based framework. A novel feature of our analysis is the inclusion of macroeconomic variables -- indicators of real activity, inflation and financial conditions -- as well as latent factors, as drivers of term structure dynamics. Our results point to three key roles played by macro factors in the term structure of spreads: they have a significant impact on the level, and particularly the slope, of the curves; they are largely responsible for variation in the prices of systematic risk; and speculative grade spreads exhibit greater sensitivity to macro shocks than high grade spreads. In addition to estimating risk-neutral default intensities, we provide estimates of physical default intensities using data on Moody's KMV EDFs as a forward--looking proxy for default risk. We find that the real and financial activity indicators, along with filtered estimates of the latent factors from our term structure model, explain a large portion of the variation in EDFs across time. Furthermore, measures of the price of default event risk implied by estimates of physical and risk-neutral intensities indicate that compensation for default event risk is countercyclical, varies widely across the cycle, and is higher on average and more variable for higher-rated bonds.

Macro Factors in the Term Structure of Credit Spreads

Macro Factors in the Term Structure of Credit Spreads PDF Author: Jeffery D. Amato
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Corporate bonds
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
We estimate arbitrage-free term structure models of US Treasury yields and spreads on BBB and B rated corporate bonds in a doubly-stochastic intensity-based framework. A novel feature of our analysis is the inclusion of macroeconomic variables -- indicators of real activity, inflation and financial conditions -- as well as latent factors, as drivers of term structure dynamics. Our results point to three key roles played by macro factors in the term structure of spreads: they have a significant impact on the level, and particularly the slope, of the curves; they are largely responsible for variation in the prices of systematic risk; and speculative grade spreads exhibit greater sensitivity to macro shocks than high grade spreads. In addition to estimating risk-neutral default intensities, we provide estimates of physical default intensities using data on Moody's KMV EDFs as a forward--looking proxy for default risk. We find that the real and financial activity indicators, along with filtered estimates of the latent factors from our term structure model, explain a large portion of the variation in EDFs across time. Furthermore, measures of the price of default event risk implied by estimates of physical and risk-neutral intensities indicate that compensation for default event risk is countercyclical, varies widely across the cycle, and is higher on average and more variable for higher-rated bonds.

The Term Structure of Credit Spreads and the Economic Activity

The Term Structure of Credit Spreads and the Economic Activity PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
We estimate arbitrage-free term structure models of US Treasury yields and spreads on BBB and B-rated corporate bonds in a doubly- stochastic intensity-based framework. A novel feature of our analysis is the inclusion of macroeconomic variables - indicators of real activity, inflation and financial conditions - as well as latent factors, as drivers of term structure dynamics. Our results point to three key roles played by macro factors in the term structure of spreads: they have a significant impact on the level, and particularly the slope, of the curves; they are largely responsible for variation in the prices of systematic risk; and speculative grade spreads exhibit greater sensitivity to macro shocks than high grade spreads. In addition to estimating risk-neutral default intensities, we provide estimates of physical default intensities using data on Moody's KMV EDFs"!as a forward-looking proxy for default risk. We find that the real and financial activity indicators, along with filtered estimates of the latent factors from our term structure model, explain a large portion of the variation in EDFs"!across time. Furthermore, measures of the price of default event risk implied by estimates of physical and risk-neutral intensities indicate that compensation for default event risk is countercyclical, varies widely across the cycle, and is higher on average and more variable for higher- rated bonds.

Exploring Common Factors in the Term Structure of Credit Spreads

Exploring Common Factors in the Term Structure of Credit Spreads PDF Author: Seung C. Ahn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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Book Description
This paper provides a new approach to model the common variation in the term structure of credit spreads. The novelty is that common factors are extracted using canonical relations between credit spreads and observable economic variables. We show how these factors can be used to test if a given set of macroeconomic and financial variables is sufficient to capture all the systematic variation in response variables, such as credit spreads. We find that credit spread innovations are subject to three common factors, two strong factors and one weak factor, and they account for 49% of the total variation. The first strong factor is related to the contemporaneous state of the economy, the second represents expectations about future economic conditions, and the weak factor is mainly related to the error correction processes in short-term spreads.

Macro Factors in Corporate Bond Credit and Liquidity Spreads

Macro Factors in Corporate Bond Credit and Liquidity Spreads PDF Author: Biao Guo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 53

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Book Description
This paper studies the macroeconomic determinants of the term structures of Treasury yields, corporate bond credit spreads, and corporate bond liquidity spreads in a unified no-arbitrage framework. Four economic factors, monetary conditions, inflation, real output, and financial market volatility, are extracted from a set of macroeconomic and financial data series. During the pre-crisis period, volatility shocks decrease Treasury yields and widen both credit spreads and liquidity spreads for all rating classes, and credit spreads widen as monetary conditions tighten, but the effects of inflation and real output are insignificant. In times of stress, financial market volatility has a similar impact and the impacts of inflation and real output become significant as well. Ignoring the liquidity component of corporate yield spreads is shown to lead to inaccurate estimation of the impacts of economic factors on corporate credit spreads. The paper also provides evidence of ”flight-to-liquidity” behavior which strengthens in bad times and sheds light on the negative correlation between the risk-free rate and corporate yield spreads as well as on the positive correlation between credit spreads and liquidity spreads.

A Gaussian Affine Term Structure Model of Interest Rates and Credit Spreads

A Gaussian Affine Term Structure Model of Interest Rates and Credit Spreads PDF Author: Zhiping Zhou
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
We estimate a no-arbitrage term structure model of U.S. Treasury yields and corporate bond spreads with both economic factors and latent factors as drivers of term structure dynamics. We consider two sets of economic factors: macro factors consisting of inflation and real activity, and financial market factors consisting of funding liquidity and market volatility. We show that financial market factors have limited effects on the Treasury yield curve but substantial impacts on the credit spread term structure. In particular, negative liquidity shocks widen credit spreads, and this effect is more pronounced for short-term corporate bonds. We also find that out-of-sample forecasts for credit spreads improve when financial market factors are incorporated and when no-arbitrage restrictions are imposed. We also propose a minimum-chi-square method for estimating the term structure models of interest rate and credit spreads, which is more efficient and accurate than the widespread maximum-likelihood estimation.

A No-arbitrage Analysis of Economic Determinants of the Credit Spread Term Structure

A No-arbitrage Analysis of Economic Determinants of the Credit Spread Term Structure PDF Author: Liuren Wu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Interest rates
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Credit Spreads and Real Activity

Credit Spreads and Real Activity PDF Author: Philippe Mueller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
This paper explores the transmission of credit conditions into the real economy. Specifically, I examine the forecasting power of the term structure of credit spreads for future GDP growth. I find that the whole term structure of credit spreads has predictive power, while the term structure of Treasury yields has none. Using a parsimonious macro-finance term structure model that captures the joint dynamics of GDP, inflation, Treasury yields and credit spreads, I decompose the spreads and identify the drivers of this transmission effect. I show that there is a pure credit component orthogonal to macroeconomic information that accounts for a large part of the forecasting power of credit spreads. The macro factors themselves also contribute to the predictive power, especially for long maturity spreads. Additional factors affecting Treasury yields and credit spreads are irrelevant for predicting future economic activity. The credit factor is highly correlated with the index of tighter loan standards, thus lending support to the existence of a transmission channel from borrowing conditions to the economy. Using data from 2006-2008, I capture the ongoing crisis, during which credit conditions have heavily tightened and I show that the model provides reasonably accurate out-of-sample predictions for this period. As of year-end 2008, the model predicts a contraction of -2% in real GDP growth for 2009, which is lower than comparable survey forecasts.

The Shape of the Term Structure of Credit Spreads

The Shape of the Term Structure of Credit Spreads PDF Author: Mascia Bedendo
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
In this empirical paper we investigate the role of interest rate, market and idiosyncratic equity variables in explaining the entire shape of the term structure of credit spreads. Recent empirical literature has highlighted the importance of these components as determinants of the credit spread levels. By analyzing portfolios of straight bonds for both the industrial and financial sectors across investment grade credit ratings, we find that these factors impact credit spread levels at various maturities in a significantly different way. Therefore we conclude that these variables represent important determinants not only of the level, but also of the slope and curvature of credit spread term structures. A closer inspection of the credit spread slope also reveals that it contains important information about future credit spreads, and provides useful insights into the theoretical predictions of the Merton (1974) model.

On Forecasting the Term Structure of Credit Spreads

On Forecasting the Term Structure of Credit Spreads PDF Author: C. N. V. Krishnan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description
"Predictions of firm-by-firm term structures of credit spreads based on current spot and forward values can be improved upon by exploiting information contained in the shape of the credit-spread curve. However, the current credit-spread curve is not a sufficient statistic for predicting future credit spreads; the explanatory power can be increased further by exploiting information contained in the shape of the riskless-yield curve. In the presence of credit-spread and riskless factors, other macroeconomic, marketwide, and firm-specific risk variables do not significantly improve predictions of credit spreads. Current credit-spread and riskless-yield curves impound essentially all marketwide and firm-specific information necessary for predicting future credit spreads"--Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland web site.

The Term Structure of Credit Spreads in Project Finance

The Term Structure of Credit Spreads in Project Finance PDF Author: Marco Sorge
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Credit
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description