Last Wednesday saw a huge increase, in percentage terms, of the volatility indices. The 1M spot VIX increased by 46%, while the underlying SPX index decreased by only -1.8%. As discussed in our previous post entitled Is Volatility of Volatility Increasing?, such a big percentage change in the VIX associated with a “normal” down day…
Read More What Caused the Increase in Volatility of Volatility?In a previous post, we examined the relationship between the Credit Default Swap (CDS) and equity volatility, and argued that there is a strong correlation between them. But like any relationship in financial markets, this one can break down and divergence can happen. For instance, last month we noticed that CDS in Asia and Australia…
Read More Divergence Between Credit Default Swap and Equity VolatilityIn a previous post we discussed how IFRS 9 will affect commodity firms through hedge accounting programs. Generally speaking, as pointed out by Thack Brown in this post, IFRS 9 will affect financial and non-financial corporates through: 1-New classification and measurement principles for financial assets, 2- New impairment models that will accelerate recognition of credit…
Read More How Will IFRS 9 Affect Financial Institutions?Equity markets were relatively calm after the US election. The recent weeks, however, have seen some increase in volatility. Is this just a blip or the start of a volatile period? Nobody knows the exact answer. But Gregory Meyer et al of FT.com reported that there are firms, notably DRW, based in Chicago, that already…
Read More Hedging in the Mortgage Backed Securities Market Can Increase VolatilitiesAbout a year ago, the financial world witnessed another “Lehman moment”. It was the “near collapse” of Deutsche Bank (DB). The financial press quickly pointed out the main reason for DB’s plunging stock price. John Glover wrote Yield-starved investors bought $102 billion of the contingent convertible bonds, securities created to help troubled banks hang onto…
Read More What Is a Contingent Convertible Bond and How to Price It ?As a firm with emphasis on risk management, we always advise our clients to hedge their portfolios in order to reduce the PnL volatilities. However, recently Metlife, the largest insurer in the US, was hit by a $3.2 billion loss in derivatives that were used to hedge the rising interest rates, causing a $2.1 billion…
Read More Do Derivative Accounting Rules Make Sense?A convertible bond (or preferred share) is a hybrid security, part debt and part equity. Its valuation is derived from both the level of interest rates and the price of the underlying equity. Several convertible bond pricing approaches are available to value these complex hybrid securities such as Binomial Tree, Partial Differential Equation and Monte…
Read More Convertible Bond Pricing-Derivative Valuation ExampleLess than a year from now, the banks will have to introduce the IFRS 9 Impairment, and it will have a substantial financial impact on them. However, it is not just banks that will be affected by this new accounting standard, non-financial corporations, for example commodity firms, will be impacted as well. The Treasurers Wiki…
Read More Will IFRS 9 Help Commodity Firms Better Manage Risks?