Exchange rate forecasting and the performance of currency portfolios. IHS Economics Series 326

We examine the potential gains of using exchange rate forecast models and forecast combination methods in the management of currency portfolios for three exchange rates, the euro (EUR) versus the US dollar (USD), the British pound (GBP) and the Japanese yen (JPY). We use a battery of econometric specifications to evaluate whether optimal currency portfolios implied by trading strategies based on exchange rate forecasts outperform single-currency and the equally weighted portfolio. We assess the differences in profitability of optimal currency portfolios for different types of investor preferences, different trading strategies, different composite forecasts and different forecast horizons. Our results indicate that the benefits of integrating exchange rate forecasts from state-of-the-art econometric models in currency portfolios are sensitive to the trading strategy under consideration and vary strongly across prediction horizons

Exchange rate forecasting and the performance of currency portfolios

We examine the potential gains of using exchange rate forecast models and forecast combination methods in the management of currency portfolios for three exchange rates: the euro versus the US dollar, the British pound, and the Japanese yen. We use a battery of econometric specifications to evaluate whether optimal currency portfolios implied by trading strategies based on exchange rate forecasts outperform single currencies and the equally weighted portfolio. We assess the differences in profitability of optimal currency portfolios for different types of investor preferences, two trading strategies, mean squared error‐based composite forecasts, and different forecast horizons. Our results indicate that there are clear benefits of integrating exchange rate forecasts from state‐of‐the‐art econometric models in currency portfolios. These benefits vary across investor preferences and prediction horizons but are rather similar across trading strategies

An Integrated CVaR and Real Options Approach to Investments in the Energy Sector

The objective of this paper is to combine a real options framework with portfolio optimization techniques and to apply this new framework to investments in the electricity sector. In particular, a real options model is used to assess the adoption decision of particular technologies under uncertainty. These technologies are coal-fired power plants, biomass-fired power plants and onshore wind mills, and they are representative of technologies based on fossil fuels, biomass and renewables, respectively. The return distributions resulting from this analysis are then used as an input to a portfolio optimization, where the measure of risk is the Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR)

GMM Estimation of Affine Term Structure Models

Parameter estimation of affine term structure models by means of the generalized method of moments is investigated. Exact moments of the affine latent process as well as of the yields are obtained by using results derived for polynomial processes. Then the generalized method of moments, combined with multi-start random search and Quasi-Bayesian methods, is used to get reliable parameter estimates and to perform inference. After a simulation study, the estimation procedure is applied to empirical interest rate data

The role of the marginal rate of substitution of wealth for a loss averse investor

The marginal rate of substitution and the relative prices of goods have been used in economics to explain household's behavior but they have not been used yet in the behavioral economics literature. This note attempts to fill the gap in the literature with an application to a loss averse investor's demand for a risky asset in a one period model

Forecasting errors, directional accuracy and profitability of currency trading: The case of EUR/USD exchange rate

We provide a comprehensive study of out-of-sample forecasts for the EUR/USD exchange rate based on multivariate macroeconomic models and forecast combinations. We use profit maximization measures based on directional accuracy and trading strategies in addition to standard loss minimization measures. When comparing predictive accuracy and profit measures, data snooping bias free tests are used. The results indicate that forecast combinations, in particular those based on principal components of forecasts, help to improve over benchmark trading strategies, although the excess return per unit of deviation is limited.The Anniversary Fund of the Austrian Central Bank (Project No. 15308)

Agricultural commodity price dynamics and their determinants: A comprehensive econometric approach

We present a comprehensive modelling framework aimed at quantifying the response of agricultural commodity prices to changes in their potential determinants. The problem of model uncertainty is assessed explicitly by concentrating on specification selection based on the quality of short-term out-of-sample forecasts (1 to 12 months ahead) for the price of wheat, soybeans and corn. Univariate and multivariate autoregressive models (autoregressive [AR], vector autoregressive [VAR] and vector error correction [VEC] specifications, estimated using frequentist and Bayesian methods), specifications with heteroskedastic errors (AR conditional heteroskedastic [ARCH] and generalized AR conditional heteroskedastic [GARCH] models) and combinations of these are entertained, including information about market fundamentals, macroeconomic and financial developments, and climatic variables. In addition, we assess potential non-linearities in the commodity price dynamics along the business cycle. Our results indicate that variables measuring market fundamentals and macroeconomic developments (and, to a lesser extent, financial developments) contain systematic predictive information for out-of-sample forecasting of commodity prices and that agricultural commodity prices react robustly to shocks in international competitiveness, as measured by changes in the real exchange rate

The consumption–investment decision of a prospect theory household: A two-period model with an endogenous second period reference level

In this paper we analyze the two-period consumption–investment decision of a household with prospect theory preferences and an endogenous second period reference level which captures habit persistence in consumption and in the current consumption reference level. In particular, we examine three types of household depending on how the household’s current consumption reference level relates to a given threshold which is equal to the average discounted endowment income. The first type of household has a relatively low reference level (less ambitious household) and can avoid relative consumption losses in both periods. The second type of household (balanced household) always consumes exactly its reference levels. The third type of household has a relatively high reference level (more ambitious household) and cannot avoid to incur relative consumption losses, either now or in the future. Note that these households may act very differently from one another and thus there will often be a diversity of behavior. For all three types we examine how the household reacts to changes in: income (e.g., income fall caused by recession or taxation of endowment income), persistence to consumption, the first period reference level and the degree of loss aversion. Among others we find that the household increases its exposure to risky assets in good economic times if it is less ambitious and in bad economic times if it is more ambitious. We also find that in some cases more income can lead to less happiness. In addition, the less ambitious household and the more ambitious household with a higher time preference will be less happy with a rising persistence in consumption while the more ambitious household with a lower time preference will be happier if it sticks more to its consumption habits. Finally, the household’s happiness decreases with an increasing consumption reference level and thus not comparing at all will lead to the highest level of happiness. In addition, the sensitivity of happiness with respect to the reference level gets larger the closer the household moves to the threshold level, and it is smaller for less ambitious households than for more ambitious households due to loss aversion