The Dynamic Relationship between Stock Prices and Exchange Rates: evidence for Brazil

This paper studies the dynamic relationship between stock prices and exchange rates in the Brazilian economy. We use recently developed unit root and cointegration tests, which allow endogenous breaks, to test for a long run relationship between these variables. We performed linear, and nonlinear causality tests after considering both volatility and linear dependence. We found that there is no long-run relationship, but there is linear Granger causality from stock prices to exchange rates, in line with the portfolio approach: stock prices lead exchange rates with a negative correlation. Furthermore, we found evidence of nonlinear Granger causality from exchange rates to stock prices, in line with the traditional approach: exchange rates lead stock prices. We believe these findings have practical applications for international investors

Forecasting Bonds Yields in the Brazilian Fixed Income Market

This paper studies the predictive ability of a variety of models in forecasting the yield curve for the Brazilian fixed income market. We compare affine term structure models with a variation of the Nelson-Siegel exponential framework developed by Diebold and Li (2006). Empirical results suggest that forecasts made with the latter methodology are superior and appear accurate at long horizons when compared to different benchmark forecasts. These results are important for policy makers, portfolio and risk managers. Further research could study the predictive ability of such models in other emerging markets.

Determinants of Bank Efficiency: the case of Brazil

This paper analyzes the efficiency of the Brazilian banking sector over the post-privatization period of 2000-2007. We employ a Bayesian stochastic frontier approach, which provides exact efficiency estimates and confidence intervals and thus, allows an accurate comparison across institutions and bank groups. The results suggest that large banks are the most cost and profit efficient, supporting the concentration process observed in recent years. Foreign banks have achieved a good performance through either the establishment of new affiliates and the acquisition of local banks. The remaining public banks have had improvements in cost efficiency, but are relatively profit inefficient. Finally, we observe a positive impact of capitalization on efficiency.

The role of banks in the Brazilian Interbank Market: Does bank type matter?

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the Brazilian interbank network structure. The Brazilian interbank market clearly presents a topology that is compatible to the free-scale networks. This market is characterized by money centers, which have exposures to many banks and are the most important source of large amounts of lending. Therefore, they have important positions in the network taken into account by the minimal spanning tree and the power domination measures of the network. We also develop a methodology to compare di®erent banks and their relative importance in the network.

Fluctuation Dynamics in US Interest Rates and the Role of Monetary Policy

This paper presents empirical evidence suggesting that the degree of long-range dependence in interest rates depends on the conduct of monetary policy. We study the term structure of interest rates for the US and find evidence that global Hurst exponents change dramatically according to Chairman Tenure in the Federal Reserve Board and also with changes in the conduct of monetary policy. In the period from 1960's until the monetarist experiment in the beginning of the 1980's interest rates had a significant long-range dependence behavior. However, in the recent period, in the second part of the Volcker tenure and in the Greenspan tenure, interest rates do not present long-range dependence behavior. These empirical findings cast some light on the origins of long-range dependence behavior in financial assets.

Characterizing the Brazilian Term Structure of Interest Rates

This paper studies the Brazilian term structure of interest rates and characterizes how the term premia has changed over time. We employ a Kalman filter approach, which is extended to take into account regime switches and overlapping forecasts errors. Empirical evidence suggests that term premia depends on international global liquidity and domestic factors such as the composition of public debt and inflation volatility. These results provide guidance for the formulation of fiscal and monetary policies.

Evaluation of Default Risk for The Brazilian Banking Sector

This paper employs new methods to measure and monitor risk in the Brazilian banking sector. We prove that the option-based risk measure is negatively sensitive to interest rates. As this is an important issue for emerging market economies, the risk measures are built as deviations from mean. Additionally, the option-based indicator is compared with market-based financial fragility indicators. Results show that these indicators are useful for risk managers and regulators, especially during crisis. Furthermore, option-based methods are preferable to classify banks in periods of high distress, such as the banking crises that occurred in the early nineties in Brazil.