Pinning in the S&P 500 Futures

We document that S&P 500 futures finish in the proximity of the closest strike price more often on days when serial options on S&P 500 futures expire than on other days. The effect is driven by the interplay of market makers' rebalancing of delta hedges due to the time-decay of the hedges as well as in response to reselling (and early exercise) of in-the-money options by individual investors. Consistent with limits to arbitrage, we find that the effect is asymmetric and stronger above the strike price. In line with increased options activity, pinning becomes more pronounced in recent years.Pinning, Futures, Options, Option Expiration, Hedging

Price support in the stock market

The interplay of delegated portfolio management and asset management ownership generates a double agency problem that may result on trading to support security prices. We test this hypothesis analyzing the trading patterns of mutual funds affiliated with banks with the stocks of their controlling banks. We show that affiliated mutual funds tend to increase the holdings of the parent bank stock following a large drop in the stock price of the bank. Further, we provide evidence that these patterns of trading are not consistent with portfolio rebalancing into the banking sector, contrarian trading or timing skills. We also provide evidence that the patterns of trading are not information-driven. This leads us to conclude that affiliated mutual funds follow this strategy to support the price of the parent bank.price support; conflict of interests; agency problem; mutual funds; asset management; fund families; banks; prosecution

Price support by bank-affiliated mutual funds

Fund managers are double agents; they serve both fund investors and owners of management firms. This conflict of interest may result in trading to support securities prices. Tests of this hypothesis in the Spanish mutual fund industry indicate that bank-affiliated mutual funds systematically increase their holdings in the controlling bank stock around seasoned equity issues, at the time of bad news about the controlling bank, before anticipated price drops, and after non-anticipated price drops. The results seem mainly driven by bank managers' incentives. Ownership of asset management companies thus matters and can distort capital allocation and asset prices. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Both authors acknowledge Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness (MEC Grant ECO2012-39423

Pinning in the S&P 500 Futures

We show that Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 futures are pulled toward the at-the-money strike price on days when serial options on the S&P 500 futures expire (pinning) and are pushed away from the cost-of-carry adjusted at-the-money strike price right before the expiration of options on the S&P 500 index (anti-cross-pinning). These effects are driven by the interplay of market makers’ rebalancing of delta hedges due to the time decay of those hedges as well as in response to reselling (and early exercise) of in-the-money options by individual investors. The associated shift in notional futures value is at least $115 million per expiration day

Horizon bias and the term structure of equity returns

We label the degree to which individuals are more optimistic at long horizons relative to short horizons as the horizon bias. We examine whether time-series variation in the horizon bias can explain the time-series variation in the equity term structure. We use analyst earnings forecasts to measure the degree of the horizon bias in the stock market. Consistent with the intuition from a stylized present value model, we find that periods of above-average horizon bias are associated with negative term premiums, whereas periods of below-average horizon bias are associated with positive term premiums

Funding Liquidity Implied by S&P 500 Derivatives

We derive a funding liquidity measure based on synthetic borrowing in the S&P 500 derivative markets. Our measure captures funding constraints of option liquidity providers and affects importantly the returns of leveraged managed portfolios. Hedge funds with negative exposure to changes in the funding liquidity earn high returns in normal times and low returns in crises periods when funding liquidity deteriorates. The results are not driven by the existing measures of funding or market liquidity. To an extent, our funding liquidity measure also affects leveraged closed-end mutual funds and asset classes where leveraged investors are marginal investors.publishe

Horizon bias and the term structure of equity returns

We label the degree to which individuals are more optimistic at long horizons relative to short horizons as the horizon bias. We examine whether time-series variation in the horizon bias can explain the time-series variation in the equity term structure. We use analyst earnings forecasts to measure the degree of the horizon bias in the stock market. Consistent with the intuition from a stylized present value model, we find that periods of above-average horizon bias are associated with negative term premiums, whereas periods of below-average horizon bias are associated with positive term premiums

Financial market misconduct and public enforcement : The case of Libor manipulation

What is the role of public enforcement in preventing widespread financial market miscon- duct? We study this question using the events surrounding the manipulation of the London Interbank Offer Rate (Libor). We find pervasive evidence consistent with banks misreporting Libor submissions to profit from Libor-related positions in the full sample 1999-2012. The evidence is initially stronger for banks incorporated outside the U.S., where enforcement is historically weaker, and it disappears in the aftermath of Libor investigations. Overall, our results suggest that improvements in public enforcement can be effective in deterring financial market misconduct.publishe