Information Variables (information + variable)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The dynamics of the relationship between spot and futures markets under high and low variance regimes

APPLIED STOCHASTIC MODELS IN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY, Issue 6 2009
Ming-Yuan Leon Li
Abstract This investigation is one of the first studies to examine the dynamics of the relationship between spot and futures markets using the Markov-switching vector error correction model. Three mature stock markets including the U.S. S&P500, the U.K. FTSE100 and the German DAX 30, and two emerging markets including the Brazil Bovespa and the Hungary BSI, are used to test the model, and the differences between the two sets of markets are examined. The empirical findings of this study are consistent with the following notions. First, after filtering out the high variance regime, the futures price is shown to lead the spot price in the price discovery process, as demonstrated by prior studies; conversely, the spot market is more informationally efficient than the futures market under the high variance condition. Second, the price adjustment process triggered by arbitrage trading between spot and futures markets during a high variance state is greater in scale than that based on a low variance state, and the degree of the co-movement between spot and futures markets is significantly reduced during the high variance state. Third, a crisis condition involved in the high variance state is defined for the two emerging markets, whereas an unusual condition is presented for the three mature markets. Last, the lagged spot,futures price deviations perform as an information variable for the variance-turning process. However, the portion of the variance-switching process accounted for by this signal variable is statistically marginal for the three mature markets selected for this study. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Conditioning Information and European Bond Fund Performance

EUROPEAN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2003
Florinda Silva
G11; G12; G14 In this paper we evaluate the performance of European bond funds using unconditional and conditional models. As conditioning information we use variables that we find to be useful in predicting bond returns in the European market. The results show that, in general, bond funds are not able to outperform passive strategies. These findings are robust to whatever model (unconditional versus conditional and single versus multi-index) we use. The multi-index model seems to add some explanatory power in relation to the single-index model. Furthermore, when we incorporate the predetermined information variables, we can observe a slight tendency towards better performance. This evidence is consistent with previous studies on stock funds and comes in support of the argument that conditional models might allow for a better assessment of performance. However, our results suggest that the impact of additional risk factors seems to be greater than the impact of incorporating predetermined information variables. [source]


The Impact of Regulation FD on Institutional Investor Informativeness

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010
Douglas O. Cook
Although there is conflicting evidence and resulting skepticism regarding the value provided by professional investment management, Gibson, Safieddine, and Sonti (2004) document institutional investor informativeness relative to seasoned equity offering (SEO) purchases. We find that Regulation Fair Disclosure's significantly reduces institutional investors' ability to identify mispriced SEO firms. Informativeness is diminished not by investors following analysts who have experienced a reduction in forecasting accuracy, but limiting investors' direct access to private information. This information loss is replaced by reliance on a greater number of public information variables resulting in less consideration for prudence proxies and a liquidity motive and more for higher price momentum. [source]


Residual income, non-earnings information, and information content

JOURNAL OF FORECASTING, Issue 6 2009
Ruey S. Tsay
Abstract We extend Ohlson's (1995) model and examine the relationship between returns and residual income that incorporate analysts' earnings forecasts and other non-earnings information variables in the balance sheet, namely default probability and agency cost of a debt covenant contract. We further divide the sample based on bankruptcy (agency) costs, earnings components and growth opportunities of a firm to explore how these factors affect the returns,residual income link. We find that the relative predictive ability for contemporaneous stock price by considering other earnings and non-earnings information is better than that of models without non-earnings information. If the bankruptcy (agency) cost of a firm is higher, its information role in the firm's equity valuation becomes more important and the accuracy of price prediction is therefore higher. As for non-earnings information, if bankruptcy (agency) cost is lower, the information role becomes more relevant, and the earnings response coefficient is hence higher. Moreover, the decomposition of unexpected residual income into permanent and transitory components induces more information than that of the unexpected residual income alone. The permanent component has a larger impact than the transitory component in explaining abnormal returns. The market and industry properties and growth opportunity also have incremental explanatory power in valuation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Models of Municipal Budget Allocation: Empirical Data from Spanish Municipalities

PUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE, Issue 2 2010
JOSÉ A. DORTA-VELÁZQUEZ
The present work empirically analyzes diverse budgetary theories (incrementalism, garbage can, rational) in municipal cost programs, paying special attention to the utility of financial information in decision making. The sample analyzed corresponds to a set of Spanish city councils in the period 1996,2004, and the econometric methodology used is a dynamic panel data model. The main conclusion reached is that the budgetary allocation of municipal costs does not follow a random path; incrementalism is of particular importance, together with financial information variables. The utility of budgetary indicators is reflected in the fact that municipal managers adopt rational elements, although incrementalism remains the habitual behavior. [source]