On the Price of German Treasury Bills

In this paper, we examine the primary and secondary markets for German treasury bills. We look in great detail at the rationale behind banks’ decisions concerning the yield they require to be willing to buy treasury bills in the primary market; and we also mention the reasoning behind household and nonbank firm decisions concerning the price they are willing to pay to buy these bills in the secondary market. We use data from real world tenders to show that the bids set by banks conform to what our theoretical framework would predict. In particular, we show that current monetary policy and the markets’ expectations regarding its future path can be used to define a range where the banks bids lie.FC

A contribution to the study of the German treasury bills market

We study the yields in the German treasury bills market. We take a detailed look at the yield banks require to buy treasury bills in the primary market, and we also examine the yield households and nonbank firms demand to buy these bills in the secondary market. We use data from real world tenders to show that the bids set by banks are in accordance with the predictions of our theoretical framework. In particular, we show that current monetary policy and the market's expectations regarding the future path of monetary policy can be used to define an interval in which the bids from banks lie. Our theoretical predictions for the secondary market also match the data.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dynamics of the public-debt-to-gdp ratio: Can it explain the risk premium of treasury bonds?

We examine the relationship between the risk premium markets demand to hold the Treasury Bonds of a given country and the sustainability of the public finances of the country. We inquire to what extent do markets use the dynamic evolution of the public-debt-to-gdp ratio as an indication of the likelihood of a public debt default. Specifically, our empirical research design involves the following steps: (i) we use the dynamic equation of the public-debt-to-gdp ratio to build forecasts of future values of this ratio in the eurozone countries; (ii) we then use these forecasts in a regression to see how important they are to explain the risk premium implicit in the treasury bond yields. We find that projections of future values of the public-debt-to-gdp ratio do impact current 10 year bond spreads. According to our regressions, markets seem to give more weight to forecasts with a horizon smaller than 10 years. Our results suggest that agents use a relatively simple mechanism to forecast the public debt-to-gdp ratio, a mechanism which can be used while updated forecasts from international organizations are not yet available. On the other hand, according to our estimations, euro area sovereign debt markets ceased to significantly discriminate countries based on their public debt prospects after the 2012 ‘Whatever It Takes” speech and the announcement of the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) program—suggesting that these events had a significant calming effect on the markets

Determinant factors of bank customers' demand for liquidity

In contexts of economic instability investors show an increase in aversion to risk and prefer high liquidity and low-risk financial products. In this paper, we study the reasons behind bank customers holding wealth in the form of immediate liquidity. Using micro data on clients’ portfolios of a Portuguese bank, we ask whether there is a relationship between the bank’s capital ratio and the proportion of wealth that clients allocate to demand deposits, which is a relatively unexplored topic in the literature. Special attention is also paid to the impact of investors' financial knowledge by looking at professional group and age. Results indicate that when banks’ capital ratio decreases, savers put a larger fraction of their investment into demand deposits, especially savers with greater risk aversion and knowledge. Finally, we find evidence of an “age effect” and also that investors belonging to professional groups with more skills follow more sophisticated investment strategies.FC

The relationship between social capital and inflammatory biomarkers in early adulthood: A longitudinal study

Higher levels of social capital (SC) are associated with better health status. However, there is little evidence of the impact of SC on biological health outcomes in the early ages. To identify the association between SC in adolescence and inflammation levels in early adulthood. Prospective study using data from 2435 participants from the Epidemiological Health Investigation of Teenagers in Porto cohort. SC was assessed at age 17 through a self-administered questionnaire, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and leucocytes were measured in a fasting blood sample at 17 and 21 years-old. A principal components analysis was performed to identify the domains of SC. Simple linear regressions were performed to assess the association between SC components and inflammatory status at 17 and 21 years old. Pathway analysis was performed to assess the direct, indirect, and total effects of SC on hs-CRP and leucocyte levels. We did not find a significant total effect between SC at 17 years-old and hs-CRP at 21 years-old. However, the Trust/Reciprocity dimension showed a significant direct effect between SC and hs-CRP levels at 21 (β = −0.065, 95% CI: −0.129; −0.001), as well as a significant total effect (β = −0.075, 95% CI: −0.139; −0.011). Regarding leucocyte levels, total SC at 17 years-old was associated with leucocytes levels at 21 (β = −0.115, 95% CI: −0.205; −0.024). Significant direct (β = −0.104, 95% CI: −0.194; −0.014) and total effect (β = −0.107, 95% CI: −0.199; −0.015) of Trust/Reciprocity on leucocyte levels were observed. Adolescents with higher SC have a low inflammatory level in early adulthood, especially those with greater levels of trust/reciprocity. © 2024 The Authors. Stress and Health published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.The authors like to thank the EPITeen (Epidemiological Health Investigation of Teenagers in Porto) team at the University of Porto (ISPUP), as well as all EPITeen participants who voluntarily shared their experiences and life paths with the team. This work was supported by Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia-Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (UIDB/04750/2020) and Laboratório para a Investigação Integrativa e Translacional (ITR), Porto, Portugal (LA/P/0064/2020) and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Investigator contract CEECIND/01516/2017 (to SF)

Bovine embryos cultured in vitro in the presence of antioxidants: implications for blastocysts development, quality and cryotolerance.

(ISABR 2012)